Eggplant Test Reviews

GUI testing is the strength of the tool. We have been satisfied with the tool, and not only the tool, but the service behind it. The tool works as expected, and the response from eggPlant, as a company, has been quick and substantial.

We are able to now automate tests, which so far have been manual. Now, it is possible to automate them.

• The availability of the support. 
• The internet presentation: If there are any questions, most of the questions can be answered with the web presentation and documentation. 
• The strength of the tool is we almost have no unwanted influence on the system of the test, because Eggplant is based on the reality approach. 
• It can be used for different operating platforms.
• It is easy to use.

A step forward would be to have event support; supporting different events. At the moment, it is more or less linear. We write the code, but from the tool, we do not have support of events in the system. E.g., programming timers where we have different actions in case certain timers expire. If one part of the program is running, we can get a key event. At the moment, we can implement everything in a linear manner, as predicted. 

The world is not linear and can have unpredictable events where you have to react, which should be allowed in a system on a test. The system on a test should be able handle different events at the same time with different elements or servers. At the moment, this is not supported in eggPlant, and it would be a big step forward.

Stability is okay, and has improved from version to version. However, it has not been 100 percent reached, and it will not be reached as long as the software is being developed, used, and new elements are being introduced. Errors and failures can happen, but if you detect them, the support is quick. 

I had a case that they improved over the weekend. Friday evening, I detected a bug, and by Monday morning, it was corrected. From this standpoint, the stability with the support behind it, I am very satisfied.

It is scalable, but it is a matter of money in the pocket. You can scale it, but then you have to have additional licenses. The licensing approach of eggPlant is not the best. 

The support is good. I would rate the technical support between an eight to nine out of 10.

Previously, we used C# based implementation. The reason that we changed was the instability and inflexibility of the tool. If the system on the test has improved and developed, then we needed a test tool which we could adapt in the same or even faster manner. Our previous tool did not help us in this direction. With eggPlant, we have this possibility and can keep all our tests up-to-date all the time.

The initial setup was easy.

I did the initial setup myself.

We did evaluate another US vendor, but I have forgotten their name. They reused something which were the property rights on eggPlant's site, which is why we did not select them.

You should be very clear about what your goals are. If you have this, then check the fit and the match. Afterwards, have a trial period and again check how the tool fits. 

When discussing eggPlant, it is important to use it, implement the scenarios, and run the tool in a regression mode, permanently. Then, you can see the benefit of what you have done and what it is improving. Working with it, this is the important part.

The most important criteria when selecting a vendor is the product. The product has to fulfill our requirements. Then, the vendor should be one that we can trust in.

Object recognition on applications with minimal data input, and the fact that it is designed to run on a machine when you can install automation software on the actual device.

Prior to using the product, all regression testing was done manually for our POS system. Now regression test packs are 70% automated. We have also integrated eggPlant into HP ALM.

eggPlants data input is text based and does not easily conform to data driven test, and this makes data management painful. Integration into other vendor tools are important in today’s market, Even though Vendors would like us to use only their toolset, it is not always possible, Integration into JIRA, Mantis, and HP ALM etc. is important as most of us use a combination of them.

I've used it for two years.

Deployment went smoothly, installed on server and on the client with no problems, and upgrading to new versions were also seamless.

We did however have problems when we tried running the scripts on multiple machines concurrently.

We had licence errors even when we had the correct licences and we got connection issues as well when trying to scale.

Service has been impressive time wise, with basic queries I always got a working answer with more complicated questions (integration or data driven) I would get the “Sales answers” but after speaking to a more senior support person I was given a decent answer.

The set-up was straightforward.

We implemented with an in-house team.

I think the licencing model needs to be looked at as it is very expensive, other companies are using/looking at multiple models to assist with various sized companies.

I did evaluate other automation tools, the problem with the other tools is that you had to install it on the machine with the software being tested. At the time eggPlant was the only tool that could be installed on another machine other than the POS machine and create tests and the object recognition and methods were superior at the time.

If the company only writes systems like POS, and GPS – graphical systems, then eggPlant is a great choice. If the company writes a mix of systems POS, SAP, and insurance software, then I would advise you to use a different tool. The other tools are better suited for high data input systems and have built in mechanisms for tables and similar objects.