QF-Test 10 – WebAPI, AI and more
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Hi there! Today I’m going to show you how you can test web APIs with QF-Test 10. I’ll also walk you through the new AI features in QF-Test, and we have some exciting updates on accessibility testing for web applications in QF-Test 10.
Finally, we’ll take a look at all the other great new features that come with version 10.
QF-Test is the tool for professional UI test automation.
WebAPI
Testing web interfaces has long been possible in QF-Test, but only in a limited way. With QF-Test 10 and its new WebAPI testing capabilities, this test type has become both much more comfortable and significantly more powerful.
You can now send GET, POST, and other HTTP requests directly via the new « Web Request » node. You get full control over every detail of your requests, with freely configurable headers and bodies.
Authentication data can be neatly managed with the new « Request Authentication » node.
Cookies and proxy settings can be configured via the new « Request Options » node.
You can validate API responses by checking the expected status code or use QF-Test’s powerful scripting tools to parse and verify JSON, XML, or any other kind of server response.
For maximum flexibility in designing your tests, QF-Test also provides « Pre-Request Handler » and « Post-Request Handler » nodes, enabling advanced configuration and post-processing of requests and responses.
A comprehensive scripting API lets you model even complex scenarios in a clean and maintainable way.
Unlike other API tools, QF-Test not only offers extensive tools for sending and receiving web requests. You also get access to all of QF-Test’s proven automation and reporting features within WebAPI tests, and QF-Test is excellent for hybrid testing that combines web UI and API interfaces.
AI Integration and the AI Text Check
Version 10 also brings the world of “Artificial Intelligence”- or more precisely, LLMs – into QF-Test. In the new « Check Text with AI » node, you can let an LLM dynamically decide whether a given text is correct or contains errors.
In addition, the new scripting API « ai.ask » lets you communicate with LLMs at any point during test execution to accomplish tasks that were previously cumbersome or impossible.
QF-Test supports integrating various externally hosted LLMs so you can get started right away with your provider of choice. And through our powerful scripting interface, you can connect any LLM provider or API to your tests.
This makes QF-Test 10 ideal for testing chatbots and other UI components with non-deterministic output. It also allows you to check texts for semantic criteria for which no algorithm exists – but for which a good prompt does. Updated Accessibility (A11y) Checks for Websites
Since QF-Test 9, you’ve been able to check websites for their accessibility. QF-Test 10 now includes additional accessibility tests.
For example, you can now verify the visibility of the keyboard focus on elements.
You can also ensure that your pages use the HTML « lang » attribute correctly.
All of this is configured through our clean, new « Check Accessibility » node and can be tailored exactly to your needs.
Accessibility tests created in QF-Test 9 continue to work normally, but if you’d like to take advantage of the new features, you can easily convert your old procedure calls to the new node using the context menu function « Transform node into ».
The heart of the node is this text input area, where tests are defined interactively in a clean YAML syntax. Multiple tests can be enabled and configured at once.
You can also flexibly exclude known issues or potential false positives from the test report.
New Nodes for Image Handling
Image comparisons have never been the ideal mechanism for UI test automation—but they can certainly be useful. Until now, QF-Test could only generate, process, and compare images through scripting.
With QF-Test 10, image handling becomes dramatically simpler. The new « Set Image » node lets you assign an existing image directly to a QF-Test variable. Likewise, « Fetch Image » allows you to store the image of a specific UI component in a variable.
We’ve also enhanced the familiar « Check Image » node and many procedures in the standard library so that they now accept images from variables. This gives you more flexibility when designing tests, making it much easier to reuse or log images.
Product Editions
Starting with version 10, QF-Test comes in four editions: Pro, Web, Desktop, and Mobile.
QF-Test Pro is the full version with the complete feature set.
If you want to focus on a specific UI technology, you can now use the Web, Desktop, or Mobile editions. These contain only the features needed for the respective application types, making them streamlined and easier to navigate. All new editions remain fully compatible with existing licenses.
Modeless Editing
QF-Test itself becomes easier to use in version 10. We’ve simplified our node editing concept so all invalid fields in your testsuite are now clearly marked, helping you immediately detect and fix issues that might break a test run. And you no longer need to endlessly click “OK” before continuing to edit your test suite.
New Debugger Dialog on Errors
When using QF-Test’s integrated debugger, you now get more detailed feedback when the test run stops due to an error or exception. In this new dialog, you can conveniently choose how to proceed with a single click.
Improved Manual
We’ve further optimized our HTML manual so it’s easier than ever to navigate the wealth of available information. The secondary sidebar lets you jump directly to specific sections of a page without losing context.
You’ll also find the helpful Copy to Clipboard buttons for code snippets not only here but also in our HTML report and directly inside QF-Test.
As always, you can learn more about everything that’s new in QF-Test 10 from the detailed release notes on our website, qftest.com. There, you will also find a download link so you can get started with it right away.