What Is Katalon Recorder? Overview & Tour Of Features
Katalon Recorder is a browser automation testing solution that offers a beginner-friendly and scalable option for start-ups and small-sized QA teams. This article will give a quick overview of this tool and how it makes automation testing a stress-free experience for everyone.
What Is Katalon Recorder?
Katalon Recorder is a free web extension for Record and Playback and browser automation testing that offers robust test creation and execution.
As a Selenium IDE alternative, Katalon Recorder first offered basic Selenium IDE-compatible Record and Playback, Selenese commands, and exporting options to different programming languages and frameworks. In its recent releases, Recorder has introduced more advanced features like self-healing, global variables, and dynamic test suites.
Along with Katalon Studio and Katalon TestOps, Katalon Recorder is a part of the Katalon ecosystem that has been awarded multiple recognitions, namely:
- 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Best Test Automation Software
- Capterra’s Top Automated Testing Software
Who Is Katalon Recorder For?
Start-ups and small businesses
As a free and low-code web extension, Katalon Recorder covers small teams and start-ups' limited resources and experience, helping them start automation testing easily.
Katalon Recorder can also accommodate the dynamic growth of teams by supporting test exporting to more comprehensive testing frameworks like Katalon Studio or Selenium WebDriver.
Test automation beginners and non-tech users
Katalon Recorder removes all the stress of complex configurations and setup. All users need to do is head to their browser store and install Recorder with just one click.
Its simple UI, low-code commands, and handy training materials are other life-savers for newbies. They can get started quickly, with less stress and more confidence.
Beginners can easily access Katalon’s blogs, webinars, and reports to learn automation-related tips & tricks, troubleshooting, and best industry practices.
What Challenges Does Katalon Recorder Help Solve?
1. Difficult and lengthy test creation and execution
Creating and executing tests easily and immediately are the goals of many teams. However, not every automation testing tool allows this; they may require users to open a test project or specify a URL before doing anything else.
With Katalon Recorder, users can start testing right away in a few simple clicks without any additional actions.
This saves a considerable amount of time for projects at scale, especially with in-sprint automation, where teams often handle last-minute requirement changes.
2. Lack of reporting capabilities
Tools without reporting capabilities means automation testers will have to write and collect reports manually or invest extra time and effort in 3rd party tools. This eventually leads to frictions in communication and poor collaboration among team members and stakeholders.
Recorder has a default integration with Katalon TestOps, a test orchestration platform that provides users with real-time analytics and test reports. This allows users to access a built-in dashboard with shareable and publicized test information. Team members and stakeholders can therefore engage and stay well-informed altogether.
3. Transitioning to other frameworks
At the start of test automation, small teams usually look for solutions that correspond with their current needs and resources. However, as teams grow in sizes and demands over time, switching to other tools or frameworks is inevitable.
Katalon Recorder enables users to transition smoothly to Katalon Studio and other popular frameworks like Selenium WebDriver in their test automation journey. The tool also supports test exporting in different programming languages, including:
- Python (unittest and AppDynamics)
- Groovy (Katalon Studio)
- Java (TestNG and JUnit)
- Ruby (RSpec)
- Robot Framework
- C# (NUnit)
4. Repetitive browser tasks
Day-to-day browser tasks like inputting data from various sources to a given CRM, applying web filters, or form-filling can be time-consuming and error-prone.
Besides browser automation testing, Recorder's Record & Playback can help you automate those repetitive manual tasks.
All you need to do is record your actions on the web and save the auto-generated test cases. On your next visit, replay the test cases to automate everything your way.
Katalon Recorder also supports data-driven testing and compatibility with CSV or JSON files for more advanced use cases.
What’s On The Katalon Recorder Roadmap?
Katalon Recorder is constantly optimized with new features to serve the current demands of users.
In the future, Recorder is planning to introduce more advanced features to cover the dynamic growth of its user base and market trends, including APM testing and synthetic test scripts.
Katalon Recorder Features Overview
1. Self-Healing
Self-healing automatically finds and replaces invalid (or broken) locators with working ones so that test execution is carried on without interruption.
2. Global Variables
Global variables are pre-defined sets of values that users can reuse across multiple test cases. This feature reduces maintenance effort and the likelihood of human errors since users don’t need to replicate and edit similar data sets manually.
3. Dynamic Test Suites
Users can add tags and execute test cases of different test suites. Dynamic test suites eliminate the time wasted on running tests irrelevant to new functionalities, thus shortening the test cycle.
4. Flexible Test Exporting
Recorder allows users to zip multiple tests into a single file and export that to other frameworks, like Katalon Studio or Selenium WebDriver, and different programming languages (Java, Python, and C#, etc.) Users can safely migrate their test artifacts and projects without losing the invested infrastructure.
Katalon Recorder vs. Selenium IDE
Recorder and Selenium IDE both help teams kick-start browser automation testing. While Selenium IDE is perhaps one of the most popular tools, its complexity and instability can be a considerable challenge for beginners.
In contrast, Katalon Recorder offers a better user experience with robust features like smart reporting or flexible migration to other frameworks.
Katalon Recorder Integrations
TestOps
Katalon TestOps is a test orchestration platform that documents and demonstrates test results and reports in interactive views and metrics. In Katalon Recorder, users can upload and view execution reports in the TestOps Dashboard.
Katalon Studio
Katalon Studio is an all-in-one automation testing platform that serves a broad range of testing needs, including web, API, mobile, desktop.
While Katalon Studio is not integrated into Recorder since it’s a different and more comprehensive automation testing solution, users can view Studio as a feasible migration option.
Katalon Recorder Pricing
Download Katalon Recorder for free on Chrome, Firefox, and MS Edge.
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