National Instruments SystemLink vs. WebdriverIO

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

Best suited where frontend developments are in React and where BDD and TDD test frameworks are to be used. Its syntax is very easy to write and understand. Even the non-programmer can do the initial setup. Not suited when the language you are using is other than Javascript(or Typescript).

Incentivized

• Setup
• User Interface
• LabVIEW Integration

Incentivized

• numerous integrations to tools
• fast easy location of page elements
• tool setup is amazing - they have a script to walk you through everything with prompts!!

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

• wdio.conf can contain too much where everything is encapsulated there, like the before and after functions
• A data provider-like testing would be useful. The only way to input different data into the same test is via a loop
• everything is needed to be done using the 'browser' object. Can be limiting where you don't have access to the browser depending on where you are in the code

Incentivized

Other tools we selected don't work in our application, it does or doesn't support multiple frames or need more tweaking just to make it works. When testing out WebdriverIO it just works as expected, no need to do such walk around to make it works multiple frames. It also can handle multiple tabs and windows.

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

• It helped in cross browser testing
• It helped in automating multiple browsers at a time.
• Code coverage is optimum as this supports Javascript(Typescript)

Incentivized