Flying on Rooftops - A New Tool for Cross-Browser Application Testing

Creating a perfectly up-to-date application in the market can be compared to climbing a long set of stairs to reach the top of a building. Just when everything has been fixed to accept the latest version updates, a stair falls out from under our feet, hindering our progress towards our goal.

Engineering teams today face some of the greatest challenges yet because they have to make sure that their code is valid and working across all browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc. Developing an application like this is a herculean effort, but testing it on a living, breathing, and ever-changing environment of browsers is definitely the hardest part of trying to build a strong, reliable stairway.

Some teams have to force their end-users to stick with a particular browser. This greatly limits their consumer market and can result in a loss of clients. In today’s world, consumers need to be able to access material from many different platforms and browsers. It’s not too hard to imagine yourself in their shoes. Would the gaming industry go anywhere if the most recent games only played on Windows rather than on all platforms and even gaming consoles such as X-BOX and Playstation 3?

The answer is a definite “no”.

But, with industry leaders constantly forcing their users to ride the roller coaster of updates to the most important platform ever created – the browser – developers can’t be punished for having to adapt to agile testing in such unstable conditions.

In recent years, consumer demands have changed. No longer are most applications running on windows-based browser platforms. Today, we have to develop an application that is capable of being accessed and tested on many different platforms. With this new change comes the challenge of having to execute tests on all of these platforms to be assured that the app is working as expected. Having the right tool to help to address these testing needs is critical to success.

Conventional test automation technology cannot support testing and execution on all of these platforms due to the fact that it is API based. They are limited because they need to address combinations particular operating systems and technology under test. This multiplies the number of artifacts that have to be produced and maintained to address the same goal.

All of these parameters – limited tools and an extensive variety of environments – make our stair analogy very different. Instead of one building and one set of stairs, we have several that we have to reach at the same time. Walking is no longer sufficient. If only we could be like Spiderman and his trusty web, flying between these buildings at dizzying speeds. Our only option is to find a tool that makes cross-browser testing less of a hindrance and more of a benefit.

ZAP-fiX is just that tool. ZAP Technologies offers this solution to teams who are seeking to create a script once and test it anywhere. This directly results in a broader spectrum of clients and saves countless challenges and set-backs.  With ZAP-fiX, there is less room for error, and more room for progress. ZAP-fiX allows testing teams to automate cross-browser testing.

The ZAP-fiX unique object recognition system,  ZOE (ZAP ObjectConnector Engine) makes this possible. Today’s, users can develop a script once and play it across browsers without additional modification. This is a tremendous return of investment among test automation practices, especially when companies have put money into the use of the still leading HP QuickTest Professional. ZAP-fiX will help save time, budgets, and frustration while developing an application that holds its own in the vast ocean of the competitive market.
ZAP-fiX supports all versions of all browsers, including: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, etc.

Read more about our solution at www.zap-fix.com!

ZAP-fiX - The Go-To Solution for the Modern Tester

Over the past several years, the Mobile industry has exploded with inventions. If an interested client searches the keyword “mobile”, they will be bombarded with countless options to step out into the bold environment of modern communication. The world that previously saw the domination of the web may now discover that the rising success of such conveniences as tablets, apps, smart phones, and the Cloud may overtake the internet in popularity.

Yet, despite the lucrative mobile market, some companies still struggle to stay ahead of the game. The difficulty lies at the heart of the creative process. All applications must be rigorously tested for errors and hiccups before they are sent out into the public eye. Nobody wants their application to crash in the middle of an important task. But, with so many platforms and so many different outlets to cater to, testing an application and modifying it to fit all of them is extremely time-consuming and expensive.

ZAP Technologies recognizes and understands the complex needs of the testing community and seeks to provide flexible solutions to assist in their work. The most extensive and popular tool is ZAP-fiX (ZPX) that extends the HP Quality Center or HP Application Lifecycle Management desktop testing environment. ZAP-fiX seamlessly integrates with this environment, enhancing the scripting process and allowing testers to reach out to all platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile.





ZAP-fiX allows users to efficiently carry out various, critical, tasks including automated test emulations of mobile OS-based applications using HP QuickTest Professional and performance testing and monitoring with HP LoadRunner via a graphical user interface. ZAP-fiX also provides an ergonomically friendly environment for manual testing of mobile applications on a client site, using tools such a PC monitor, keyboard, and mouse instead of testing on the mobile device itself.

ZAP-fiX seamlessly integrates with this software, extending each tool’s capabilities by adding custom-support libraries for mobile application environments. ZAP-fiX is 100% keyword-enabled, giving QA engineers and analysts the ability to build logical test flows through drag-and-drop. ZAP-fiX test scripts are fully compatible with other environments, so it is easy to build end-to-end test cases that validate complete business processes.

The most recent addition to the ZPX solution includes the Instrumenter for Android and iOS. Instrumenter gifts the testing community with a much-needed choice of either rooting (jailbreaking) their current device under test or instrumenting the application under test to be tested on any un-rooted device.





ZAP-fiX also introduces cross-browser testing. Switching between Mac and Windows – Safari and IE – is now easier than ever. All testing can be done in the Cloud, and ZAP Technologies provides a private Cloud as part of our offerings. Scripts can quickly and simply be moved from one platform to another – no hassle and less room for error.

With ZAP-fiX, you can  now script once and play anywhere!





ZAP-fiX is an extension to several HP products:

-Application Lifecycle Management– provides a centralized platform for managing and automating the application lifecycle from inception to retirement. ZAP-fiX Viewer extends the development, execution, and results validation of the test framework by providing snapshots of the mobile AUT’s expected results.

-QuickTest Professional– enables building functional and regression test automation for software applications and environments. Featuring a graphical user interface, it captures, verifies, and replays user interactions automatically and quickly helps identify and report on application effects.

-Quality Center and Sprinter – is the market-leading Web-based quality management platform that enables you to manage application quality with a consistent, repeatable, process that reduces risk and costs while increasing efficiency across the entire application lifecycle. All of this is done within a single platform that provides traceability and visibility across your entire process – delivering the information you need to make informed application release decisions.

-LoadRunner – allows the prevention of application performance problems by detecting bottlenecks before a new system or upgrade is deployed. LoadRunner is one of the most widely used testing solutions in the world today. ZAP-fiX for LoadRunner enables performance testing through a GUI-based approach, extending the test strategy to include load and scalability testing.

Visit the ZAP-fiX page at www.zap-fix.com to learn  more about the ZAP flexible solution to learn more about this widely-used and flexible tool that can help push your testing to the next level.

ZAP technologies Shares Success with Interview at HP Discover 2012!

HP Discover 2012 in July was an exciting experience for ZAP technologies. Each year, ZAP attends this large-scale event to present revolutionary solutions and show off their new and innovative features.  This year, we were even asked to participate in a personal interview with Diane England of HP to help give some insight about ZAP technologies and our unique MOBILE application testing solution products. Here is an excerpt from the interview:


Interviewer:           Welcome, Alex, and thank you for joining us today at Discover 2012! I want to start off our conversation today with an introduction of ZAP Technologies and who they are.

Alex Chernyak:           Hello, Diane. ZAP Technologies has been an HP Software and Mercury partner for over a decade. We started as an extension of Mercury Professional Services Organization, focusing on test automation processes using Mercury and HP Software and Technologies. Today, over the years, we have emerged to be a software development company, implementing our rich experience in the field to extending HP ALM on the market. ZAP Technologies has a number of products in development, including ZAP-fiX. The ZAP-fiX Solution acts as an add-in for HP ALM and QuickTest Professional, extending QTP to different platforms, such as MOBILE, cross-product devices, Apple, UNIX, and also focusing on Windows Rich Internet Applications and Agile Test Automation.

Interviewer:            Great! So could you tell us a little bit about how ZAP-fiX integrates with some of the HP Solutions?

Alex Chernyak:           In summary, ZAP-fiX acts as an add-in for QTP, allowing developers to extend their automation functionalities onto different platforms. Thus, using ZAP-fiX, any QTP development team can flawlessly extend automation on mobile devices, on a Mac-based operating system. This includes cross-browser testing and encompasses browsers such as Safari and Chrome on Mac and different native applications, including iOS layers. Also, this includes UNIX and Windows cross-browser development with Chrome and Agile Test Automation.

Interviewer:            Great! And can you tell me a little bit about the most exciting thing that you worked on jointly with HP Software this year?

Alex Chernyak:           One of the biggest and most exciting deals that we worked on this year was a large retail vendor that was searching for a test automation solution to extend their latest portal development. ZAP came up as the leading expert in the process of using HP ALM as a main platform. Considering its diverse customer base, this particular retailer needed to extend their testing to multiple platforms, including MOBILE, Mac, UNIX, and also Rich Internet Application. As a result, ZAP-fiX acted as the main extension of HP ALM to address this need. Utilizing ZAP’s vast experience in the industry and the revolutionary capabilities of ZAP-fiX, ZAP and HP could jointly win the business of this retailer. Therefore, we added another happy customer to our portfolio.

Interviewer:            Good! Perfect! So Alex, how do you see the role of IT and the role of the C-level executive emerging or changing in the next three to five years?

Alex Chernyak:           Since the information exchange is very rapid today, the role of the CIO makes very big difference in impact for any organization.Since information is driving the business of today, the CIO is not just a technology expert. The CIO leads the company on the path it takes in terms of information exchange. Therefore, the CIO makes a tremendous impact on any company’s revenue and the success.

Interviewer:            Okay. Great! Well, thank you very much for joining us today!

Alex Chernyak:           Thank you for having me!

For a more in-depth look at this exciting interview, stay tuned to our Youtube channel for a complete video!

ZAP-fiX 12 Meets the Challenge of a Shifting Consumer Market Armed with New Features!

The mobile world of apps and their platforms is growing at a dizzying speed. Consumers are now relying on mobile applications for many things, ranging from entertainment to relieve a long wait in the doctor’s office to accessing bank accounts while waiting in traffic. Smart phones and tablets are continuing to steadily draw attention away from computers to mobile devices. The phrase “there’s probably an app for that” is tossed around among thousands. With such a demanding market for new ideas and new uses for apps, developers and testers have to rush to catch up at a breakneck pace to stay afloat among the maelstrom of mobile growth.
Developers be ware – the demand is shifting quickly!
Along with this visible increase in usage of entertainment and utility applications, social networking apps have also taken their place among the top used tools among consumers. Flurry quantifies this dramatic increase in popularity, showing that networking apps such as Facebook, Path, and Scout are now rivaling the previous leader in time per active user – games. By running an in-depth analytics study about the various amount of app usage in various categories, Flurry has given developers a direction to follow. In this study, Flurry Analytics tracks more than 180,000 applications for more than 67,000 companies across iOS, Android, HTML5, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. The chart below shows the fastest growing app categories:

The categories in the chart above (provided by Flurry) shows the top five fastest growing categories in mobile apps over the last 6 months. By following the indications and results given in this study, developers now have their work cut out for them.
ZAP technologies is with you every step of the way. With our many testing solutions, including our most popular ZAP-fiX, mobile application testing has never been easier. ZAP-fiX grows to accommodate all of the new demands and changes in the market and puts an efficient, innovative, and responsive solution into the developers’ hands. ZAP-fiX has evolved, along with its features!
What’s new in ZAP-fiX 12 –

• New look
• Workbench for easy test object management for local or remote access
• HP Quality Center Integration
• ZAP ObjectConnector Engine
• OCR Tool for simplifying the process of test object recognition
• ZAP Mockup Viewer with full rotating and scaling support
• ZAP Instrumenter  give the choice of jailbreaking or instrumenting

To view a full video describing the new features of ZAP-fiX 12, visit our Youtube channel here or click on the image below.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates as ZAP technologies continues to add more features and solutions to our portfolio!

Real Devices - The ZAP Solution

Mobile is the future.

The web hosts an endless valley of opportunity. Even though there are already seemingly countless horizons explored on the internet, there are still many more to be discovered. One of these is the frontier called “mobile”. Although the word “mobile” brings up an image of a cell phone or tablet device, it is a word that should go hand in hand with “web”. Starting from web design and spanning all the way across to mobile applications, the internet encompasses it all. Whether you are a web designer or an applications developer, you will, at some point, run across the challenges of the current times.

In modern 2012, it isn’t enough to simply post a sleek website to advertise your business. The website must also adhere to the rather high-maintenance requirements of the “mobile” industry. Is your website iPhone and Android compatible? Can users easily browse through your website on their mobile devices without a hitch? And don’t forget – the website must look just as astonishing on Firefox as it would on all three versions of IE, Opera, Google Chrome, and Safari! The climb continues past this, however; after conquering the internet browsers, it is time to face the challenge of making your app/website compatible with mobile browsers on systems such as:

• iOS
• Android
• Blackberry Webkit
• IE Mobile
• Opera Mobile
• Opera Mini
• Firefox Mobile
• Silk
• Ovi
• pre-6.0 Blackberry browsers
• WebOS Webkit
• Nokia Webkit
• Netfront
• UCWeb
• Dolfin
• and more!

Now, enter a new challenge – testing all of this on real devices!

After taking a step back and looking at the list above, you might feel more than a little overwhelmed. After analyzing your resources and the amount  of them you would have to expend to meet all of the above challenges, you may compare the statistics and decide to reach as far as making your website/app iOS and Android compatible (the two systems that make up more than half of mobile traffic).



Doing this would certainly cover many popular bases, but it would still leave other points untouched. It is vital to test products on every platform possible, because even though other browsers and operating systems may not be as popular as iOS and Android, they are still in use!

ZAP technologies recognizes the challenges that modern developers face and is offering a solution that will make testing on real devices easier than ever. This solution is called zapFARM. Along with ZAP-fiX, zapFARM is a powerful tool that makes testing on real devices easy, affordable, and efficient. Not only that, but zapFARM is there with you every step of the way, providing support whenever you need it most.

Read more about zapFARM at www.zap-t.com and find out how real device testing can be within your reach!

Internet Browsing Declines as Mobile Apps Lift Off

As smart phones get smarter, and app stores get larger, the conventional internet browser may find itself abandoned in favor of the thousands of mobile apps that people use every day. According to recent data, mobile apps are being used more often at the expense of browsing the internet. With the recent tsunami of mobile apps taking the world by storm, statistics are showing that people lean more towards using their phone apps rather than visiting the net on both their smart phones and on the PC.

According to Flurry, an analytics firm, mobile apps usage has steadily increased over time. Flurry originally noted this phenomenon in June of 2011, when their statistics showed that app usage was ahead in the race with browser consumption with users spending 81 minutes a day on apps compared to 74 minutes a day on the internet. For the original study, Flurry surveyed app usage in 140,000 apps running Flurry analytics and compared it to web data usage from comScore and Alexa. On Monday, Flurry updated this study by providing recent data that shows web consumption numbers remaining the same while time spent on apps continues to soar.

Facebook may be one of the culprits of this shift, as users are leaning more towards accessing Facebook from their phones than from a browser, Flurry stated. Visitors to Facebook are streaming in from mobile apps. Flurry’s analysis shows that gaming and Facebooking combine to represent an astounding 80% of all time spent in mobile apps.

Despite this obvious gap between web browsing and apps, Flurry estimates that this race for dominance is far from over. “By the end of 2012…the cumulative number of iOS and Android devices activated will surge past 1 billion,” said Flurry senior marketing manager Charles Newark-French. “As Apple and Google continue to battle for consumers through the operating system and devices, Facebook is demonstrating that it can leverage its hold over consumers at the software level, through the power of the social network, across multiple platforms.”

So perhaps we shouldn’t count PC’s out of the lead just yet, but instead consider that consumers’ need to have access to News Feeds “now” and “on the go” (a need satisfied largely by Facebook) is truly the driver behind the wheel.

The debate of native apps vs. HTML5 will continue for some time. In conclusion, Flurry also attributes the decline in web usage to users’ growing favor of native applications.

Automated Testing Solutions leaders Zap Technologies and Tekstrom, Inc. partner to deliver leading consulting and technology solutions

January 9th, Atlanta, GA – ZAP Technologies, the leading provider of full lifecycle test automation solutions for mobile, rich internet applications (RIA), Apple and Unix applications today announced a formal strategic partnership with Tekstrom Inc. an information technology company focused in the niche segment of software testing life cycle  since its inception and is based in Newark, Delaware with offices in Chicago – Illinois, Brampton- Canada, Amritsar  &  Bangalore – India.

Tekstrom‘s Software Testing and Quality Assurance practice with focus on Test Automation brings diverse expertise in QA to a global customer base and, like ZAP, is a Certified Business Partner with HP, the leading Automated Software Testing Tools provider. Under this agreement, Tekstrom will resell the extensive portfolio of ZAP products and services, including ZAP-fiX, the industry leading full lifecycle mobile application testing suite that seamlessly extends the functionality, management and reporting capabilities of HP’s market leading Quick Test Professional (QTP), enabling the rapid application transformations to corporate mobile network and device infrastructures that is one of today’s critical initiatives for global organizations in finance, insurance, healthcare, retail, technology and other key markets as they rapidly adopt mobile technologies to reach new markets and increase revenues.

“We are extremely excited to build this relationship with Tekstrom for many important reasons, but are particularly attracted to our common cultures and histories as HP Software partners and the incredible QA and testing expertise that Tekstrom brings to our collaboration on a worldwide basis. We both strongly believe that as corporations increasingly develop and deploy key business and commercial applications to diverse and dynamic mobile platforms in order to increase revenues and competitive position, it is critical that they can collaborate with vendor partners that bring more than technology alone, but can demonstrate expertise and experience throughout the entire delivery and testing environment. Both ZAP and Tekstrom can immediately take a seat across the table from customer QTP experts and speak a common language,” said Alex Chernyak, Founder and CTO of ZAP.

“As an organization with a strong legacy and reputation for delivery of consistently high quality expert QA & testing services to our corporate customers, we are increasingly being asked to assist and consult on major application migrations to mobile devices and infrastructures. We have assessed the marketplace for tools and partners that can help us deliver effective responses to these demands, and selected ZAP and ZAP-fiX for a number of key reasons. Primarily, unlike other options, ZAP provides a true portfolio of testing platforms, all delivering the same consistent functional capabilities, from emulators to real devices to device clusters delivered as a hardware/software combination; truly a full application delivery lifecycle solution. Also, with customer concerns about security and integrity of confidential data, like QTP, ZAP-fiX is installed as a software product, in-house and within a company’s security protections,” said Harpreet Minhas, Chief Promoting Officer (CPO) of Tekstrom Inc. “We look forward to a long and successful partnership”.

ZAP Technologies Introduces Real Device Test Automation

ZAP Technologies has been developing and delivering leading consulting services through HP Software for more than a decade. ZAP’s specialty is designing best practices around QA management, test automation, performance validation, and application management utilizing HP software products. ZAP experts are actively involved in and work closely with HP Software research and development and product marketing teams on the latest product innovations.

Recognizing and understanding the need for automated testing for mobile apps, ZAP Technologies has developed a solution called ZAP-fiX (ZPX) that extends the HP Quality Center or HP Application Lifecycle Management desktop testing environment to many mobile platforms: iPhone, iPad, WebOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile®, Mac OS, and Unix.

Media Contact: Ishita Sharma Tekstrom Inc, 3025254281, info@tekstrom.com