JavaScript SDK Enables Test Automation Across OTT Platforms

With OTT media services rapidly becoming a key part of digital entertainment globally, viewers expect high-quality experiences. Increased video streaming choices and the low cost of switching providers lead to churn if the viewing experience is poor. Research shows that 76% of users discontinue their streaming subscription if a problem like rebuffering occurs several times.

The key to providing a high-quality streaming media experience lies in testing coverage. With viewers all around the world, it’s imperative that media companies discover as many defects as possible across all regions, networks and platforms to remove friction from the user experience. Test automation is one key way to achieve that. Now, we’re making that process easier for media companies.

Today, Applause is launching our JavaScript SDK to provide businesses additional flexibility to use the world’s most popular programming language in their automation practices. This kit also helps our customers bridge the communication gap to enable faster delivery and expanded coverage.

Let’s dig into why the Applause JavaScript SDK is an enabler for OTT test automation and behavior-driven development.

Expand and enhance coverage with OTT test automation

OTT test automation is a great way to expand and improve your testing strategy, and our JavaScript SDK can play a crucial role in the process. Test automation also maximizes test coverage across the multitude of OTT platforms. With the right OTT test automation strategy, teams can benefit from:

Expanded test coverage. Increase the number of test cases being executed without taking away from manual testing initiatives. Automation lets you distribute tests across a range of operating systems and platform combinations at a faster, more accurate rate.

Reduced strain on manual testers. OTT testing involves a lot of validation: UI, interoperability, security, UX, network, load and performance. By enabling OTT test automation, you free up manual testers to work on more complex and strategic testing initiatives.

End-to-end testing. OTT test automation can simulate high-demand scenarios to verify that your application still performs optimally, from start to finish, even under extreme loads.

Faster time to market. Automation helps eliminate release blockers to help you launch on-time, without sacrificing quality.

Applause OTT service testing takes the user-centric approach by ensuring a seamless subscriber experience through multi-device, multi-browser capability, leading to an exceptional user experience. Add OTT test automation to QA strategy to maximize test coverage and speed up time to market.

Test automation, now with Cucumber

In this SDK, we now have the ability to support Behavior-driven Development through Cucumber. Cucumber is an open source tool that was born out of the frustration with ambiguous requirements and misunderstandings between the people who order the software and those who deliver it. In the JavaScript universe, there is a module called Cucumber.js. It works by allowing you to define JavaScript code that can connect to the various steps defined inside of your Gherkin files.

Behavior-driven development: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

What is BDD, other than yet another buzzword promising increased quality and efficiency? BDD changes the way organizations think, work and interact.

BDD fosters collaboration between developers, testers and domain experts, regardless of their technical knowledge. BDD is a way for software teams to work that closes the gap between business people and technical people. BDD achieves that goal through:

• Collaboration, and building a shared understanding across roles

• Rapid, iterative feedback that flows through your development process as quickly as possible

• Producing system documentation that is automatically checked against the system’s behavior

Cucumber.js is a robust and effective Selenium JavaScript testing framework that works with the BDD process. Cucumber enables the team to focus collaborative work around concrete, real-world examples that illustrate how the system should behave. These examples guide the team from concept through to implementation, in a process of continuous collaboration. Through Gherkin, a business readable syntax, the team can write acceptance criteria, which enables everyone to understand how the system should perform from both the developer’s and customer’s perspectives.

In this release, Applause supports BDD via Cucumber. The improvement in the quality of code drives reduced costs of maintenance and minimizes the associated risks of the project.