Introduction
Automated verification of PDFs has traditionally been a challenging task in test automation. Due to this, teams would often automate their applications, leaving PDF testing in manual hands, which is error-prone. In this article, we will review the requirements of PDF testing and approaches to automating PDF tests using Applitools. By leveraging advanced tools and methodologies, businesses can ensure the accuracy and reliability of their digital documents, enhancing both quality and compliance.
Why PDF Testing?
As organizations digitally transform, their operating models increasingly require documents to be electronically produced and sent to customers. For instance, consider a customer visiting an insurance company or bank to open an account. Today, this process often involves exclusively electronic records. After successful setup, a digital copy of the record is provided to the customer. PDF offers the most sophisticated document layout and necessary security to serve as an electronic record. Account statements, invoices, receipts, documentation, and disclaimers are all distributed as PDFs.
Importance of PDF Testing:
Accuracy and Quality Assurance: Ensuring that the content and layout of PDFs are correct is crucial for maintaining quality.
Legal Compliance: Incorrectly formatted or erroneous documents can lead to legal implications.
Customer Satisfaction: Accurate and well-formatted documents enhance customer trust and satisfaction.
What to Automate in PDF Testing?
In sectors like insurance, medical, and banking, the end-user documents need to be highly accurate. Ensuring that PDFs are fully tested before being published to recipients is essential. Consider an application producing customer letters using a PDF template. The output files are produced using a template where various sections of the PDF are dynamically updated with customer data.
Key Aspects to Automate:
Layout Verification: Ensure that the document is fully formed with the specific sections present in the right location and order.
Content Accuracy: Verify that the content is accurate, present on the desired page, and sometimes in the correct location as it could impact downstream processing.
Goals of PDF Testing:
Validate both the content and layout of the output document.
Ensure that dynamic data is correctly populated.
Maintain the integrity of the document’s design and structure.
How Traditionally Organizations Did PDF Testing?
Traditionally, organizations have approached PDF testing by validating the data using API testing and solutions such as PDFBox to test them on a page. However, fully formatted document testing is rarely automated, and most organizations rely on manual testing to validate the output document. With the increasing generation of electronic documents, it becomes problematic to review each one manually, leading to testing based on sample sizes.
Traditional PDF Testing Methods:
API Testing: Validate data endpoints and ensure correct data retrieval.
Manual Testing: Review output documents manually, checking for data accuracy and layout integrity.
Sample-Based Testing: Test a subset of documents due to resource constraints.
Challenges:
Time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Prone to human error.
Inefficient for large volumes of documents.
Application of Visual AI in Testing PDF
Applitools is an AI-powered visual testing platform. Using various algorithms, it enables testing of any user interface with 99.99% accuracy, reporting only real differences visible to the human eye, including changes to color, contrast, position, size, or content.
Advantages of Visual AI in PDF Testing:
Automated Verification: Automate the testing of all or selected pages from the fully formatted PDF document, highlighting any visible differences.
Specific Targeting: Refine tests by targeting specific sections of the page or ignoring irrelevant sections.
Structure Validation: Validate the structure of the document without testing for content using layout algorithms.
Using Applitools for PDF Testing:
Automate the comparison of PDF documents against a baseline.
Highlight differences in positioning, color, contrast, and content.
Use annotations to ignore sections or test specific regions, enhancing test accuracy.
PDF Testing Solution with Applitools
Applitools PDF Tester is a codeless utility that allows you to automate the PDF testing of your small or large documents using Visual AI. It also allows for validation of the content in a page or a region across selected pages or all pages of the PDF.
Steps to Automate PDF Testing with Applitools:
Identify Pages: Determine which pages to test for layout and content.
Set Up Job: Create a job XML specifying pages and content assertions.
Execute Tests: Run the Pdftesting.jar application with the job XML.
Review Results: Analyze the results, which report ‘Passed’ or ‘Failed’ for each content assertion.
Dashboard Analysis: Use the Applitools dashboard to review differences and annotations.
Example Scenario:
Validate customer and branch addresses on a PDF while testing the remaining layout.
Set up a job XML to specify these checks and execute the test.
Analyze the results on the Applitools dashboard to ensure document accuracy.
Benefits:
Efficiency: Automate repetitive and labor-intensive tasks.
Accuracy: Reduce human error and enhance test precision.
Scalability: Handle large volumes of documents with ease.
Conclusion
While organizations have largely automated the testing of their web and mobile applications, they have struggled to automate PDF testing within various processes. Utilizing the capabilities of AI in testing completed documents along with testing dynamic data will help teams include PDF testing as part of their end-to-end testing instead of using a manual approach.
Key Takeaways:
Automated PDF testing ensures accuracy, quality, and compliance.
Visual AI, such as Applitools, offers advanced capabilities for thorough and efficient testing.
Implementing automated PDF testing can significantly reduce errors and enhance operational efficiency.
FAQs
What is PDF testing?
PDF testing involves verifying the accuracy and layout of PDF documents to ensure they meet specified standards and requirements. This includes checking content accuracy, layout consistency, and dynamic data population.
Why is PDF testing important?
PDF testing is crucial to maintain document quality, ensure legal compliance, and enhance customer satisfaction. Errors in PDFs can lead to significant operational and legal issues.
What are the challenges of manual PDF testing?
Manual PDF testing is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to human error. It is inefficient for handling large volumes of documents and often relies on sample-based testing.
How does Applitools enhance PDF testing?
Applitools uses AI-powered visual testing to automate PDF verification. It highlights differences in layout, content, and formatting, ensuring high accuracy and efficiency in testing.
What aspects of a PDF can be automated in testing?
Both the layout and content of a PDF can be automated in testing. This includes checking specific sections, dynamic data, and overall document structure.
How can organizations transition to automated PDF testing?
Organizations can transition by integrating tools like Applitools into their testing workflows. This involves setting up test cases, defining content assertions, and using visual AI to automate verification processes.
What is the role of visual AI in PDF testing?
Visual AI in PDF testing automates the comparison of documents against a baseline. It identifies differences in color, contrast, position, size, and content, ensuring accurate and reliable verification.
Can PDF testing be fully automated?
Yes, PDF testing can be fully automated using advanced tools and methodologies. This includes automating both content and layout verification to ensure comprehensive testing.
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