Why Should Low-CodeLow-code Applications Be Tested?

In today’s complex IT environment where business enterprises look to deliver quality-rich, scalable, compatible, secure, and reliable software applications, the need for low-code app frameworks becomes important. These help developers to create software applications with minimal coding, thereby reducing time. Low-code frameworks can help businesses in many ways, such as achieving better productivity, faster time to market, and better automation, among others. Besides, these allow developers even with low programming skills, to write the codes for software applications. All said and done, low-code apps do not mean test automation services are ignored and testing is off the hook for the QA teams. In fact, performance and functional testing of low-code apps are as important as other app types. So, before getting into the details of low-code testing, let us first understand what a low-code app is.

What is a low-code app?

A low-code app uses a platform, tool, or framework that reduces the amount of original code that developers need to write for the app. Here, developers use point-and-click interfaces to implement business logic instead of using a text editor or IDE to write the code. Importantly, low-code does not necessarily mean no code, as many apps may require some form of custom coding or configuration. At the same time, there are a few no-code tools that are leveraged by programmers to facilitate codeless development. There are primarily two reasons why business enterprises opt for low-code apps:

l This allows programmers with basic coding skills to create applications.

l Accelerate the time to market for such apps by letting experienced programmers build applications quickly using prebuilt components or functions.

Why choose low-code testing?

Since low-code app frameworks allow developers to use minimal code in writing an application, there is a perception that QA teams need to spend less time executing codeless testing. There is a grain of truth in this, for low-code apps do not necessarily need unit tests due to the presence of a minimal number of "original units" in the codebase. This is because each function or component of the app happens to be a prebuilt unit whose source code may not be visible to the developer and the QA team.

Reasons for testing low-code apps

Low-code apps need rigorous testing and vetting before being released into the production environment. The reasons low-code apps should be subjected to low-code testing are:

Bugs in low-code platforms: Low-code frameworks that contain prebuilt functions or components to aid in the development of applications may contain bugs Low-code. The fact that a low-code framework is tested before delivery does not guarantee it is free of bugs across configurations or architectures. This is where the functional testing of low-code apps is critical. Using scriptless automation, functional testing enables QA testers to identify the prebuilt components that may cause issues even if they cannot pinpoint the exact nature of the bugs therein.

External resources: Low-code applications are not self-contained entities that exist on their own. Rather, they function by integrating with external resources and workflows through APIs. This makes the testing of APIs a crucial requirement in the overall scheme of things. The QA team using low-code test automation needs to ensure the availability of any external storage, resources, networking, and others, for the low-code app to function as per the mandate and quality specifications.

Professional oversight: Because low-code apps may be built by non-programmers, their quality may be jeopardized. In such cases, the QA team executing low-code testing is the only barrier before the apps hit the market. The team should ensure the apps are devoid of any bugs, issues, or vulnerabilities before they are handled by the end-users. This is in stark contrast to traditional apps created by seasoned programmers, who are less likely to have professional coding oversight.

Performance: The primary goal of developing low-code apps is to achieve rapid deployment rather than to ensure performance. Hence, such apps are not likely to perform optimally vis-à-vis conventional apps. This makes it more important to test such apps, especially performance testing, and make them free of bugs or any performance issues.

Conclusion

Low-code apps do not mean low quality apps and should be tested as rigorously as conventional apps, preferably using codeless automated testing. These apps are gaining prominence and are chosen by businesses for their quick development processes, but may cause performance issues should they be ignored for quality testing.

James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.