Appium Automation Test code development - Assertions for all the intermediate pages

Question

I came across a native mobile application testing framework where if suppose user registration involves navigating to 5 screens, then the validation (assertions) for the field labels and properties (like enabled, checkable, clickable etc) for all the intermediate 5 screens leading upto the last screen of user-registration test has been done.

In my opinion, this is not a good test design. A test should ideally test one acceptance criteria.

But I have been told that one acceptance criteria test would blow up the number of test required to test the application functionalities and also takes a lot of time to test. Whereas, the test that has validations for all the UI features (field properties and label) for the intermediate screens would do more testing, takes less time.

I would really appreciate if I could get some guidance from the fellow automation testers in this forum.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

It's worth considering what happens if your tests fail. Imagine your acceptance test fails , how much will it help you understand where the problems are ? Are you relying on testers ingenuity to get it to pass ?

Having tests that validate each of the parts of the application exists is more sensible for a non trivial application because the possibility of not all of it working at once is more likely as it becomes more complex. You also ensure that the user has the controls to use the program, without those nothing can happen.

The acceptance test is typically a happy path only test , it's usually Minimum Viable Product and it's safe usage implies the usage of other test strategies later that have a more complete approach.