National Instruments SystemLink vs. Protractor

There are definitely scenarios where NI SystemLink will be useful but just didn't work out well for us. I needed to be able to replace an EXE file on a computer with a new EXE to do the upgrades but I was not able to do that through SystemLink. You had to work with packages in order to perform this and I didn't want to revamp my distribution plan. We also didn't need to do any asset management or calibration documentation through SystemLink. I was excited about being able to view data from the test stations through a browser but our engineers need historical data available and everything resets to a live view when you click back to the UI.

Incentivized

It is a strong fit for end-to-end acceptance and regression testing inside the browser.

Incentivized

• Setup
• User Interface
• LabVIEW Integration

Incentivized

• Async operations for browser-based validation tests. This kind of feature is a must-have for building tests to scale.

Incentivized

• Licensing
• Not able to see data from all test stations on one UI
• Lack of data history

Incentivized

• It would be great to see the Protractor API implemented successfully inside a non-Angular web application.

Incentivized

Cypress.io is an alternative end-to-end test framework that does NOT use Selenium. Since I've only evaluated this tool as a possible solution, my estimation of its performance against Protractor is incomplete. However, if you and your team are looking for automation solutions outside of the Selenium scope, then Cypress.io may be a good fit given the problems you're trying to solve.

Incentivized

• Availability to monitor multiple test stations remotely
• Was quick to integrate into existing LabVIEW codebase
• Ultimately did not justify the licensing cost for the benefit

Incentivized

• Increased the number of reliable end to end tests inside my test suites.
• Decreased the number and frequency of false-positive test runs/results.

Incentivized