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BrowserStack SDK Overview

Achieve enhanced stability, boosted performance, and seamless test management with the BrowserStack SDK

BrowserStack SDK benefits diagram

Using the BrowserStack SDK to integrate with App Automate offers significant benefits in stability, performance, and ease of management.

In this topic, you’ll learn:

Ease of integration

Integration Steps BrowserStack SDK Manual Integration / Other Cloud providers
Webdriver changes to run tests on BrowserStack Yes Supported without any code changes Changes Requires code changes to change RemoteWebdriver
Sending test context to BrowserStack for reporting Yes Supported without any code changes Changes Requires code changes in test suite
Integration with BrowserStack Local Yes Supported via config Changes Requires code changes in test suite
Basic device parallelisation Yes Supported via config Changes May require code changes in test suite
Advanced parallelisation strategies* Yes Supported via config Changes May require code / architecture changes in test suite
Time taken to complete integration Time Less than 15 min Time Up to 4 hours, depending on your framework

Feature comparison

Category Feature With SDK Without SDK
Stability Error reduction 35% fewer errors due to improved error handling Higher likelihood of errors due to lack of advanced error handling
  Idle timeout handling 35% improvement, preventing premature session timeouts Increased risk of premature session timeouts
  Page load issues 17% reduction, ensuring smoother test outcomes More frequent page load issues
Performance Hub allocation Optimized for better latency and faster test execution Potentially higher latency and slower test execution
  HTTP timeout Extended, allowing tests to run for over 15 minutes Shorter timeouts leading to potential interruptions
Test run management Auto fail detection Automatically identifies failed sessions for easier debugging Manual identification required, making debugging harder
  Binary management Simplified, effortless local binary management More complex, increasing difficulty of local testing
  Single file setup Easy setup using a single configuration file (browserstack.yml) Multiple files required, complicating the setup process
  Efficient parallel testing Configure and run parallel tests across multiple devices and OSes Complex setup for parallel testing, making it harder to run tests across multiple environments

Gateway to other solutions

BrowserStack offers a range of products for a comprehensive testing experience. Running application tests on App Automate is a significant part of the experience, but that’s just the start. You can also use:

  • Test Observability: Analyze, debug, and improve your tests.

  • Percy: Maintain visual aesthetics and integrity of your application with visual testing.

BrowserStack SDK is your gateway to all of these and more.

Conclusion

It’s true that some initial effort is required to adopt the SDK, especially if you are using BrowserStack without it. However, the benefits far outweigh the costs. The SDK reduces ongoing code changes and maintenance by handling many functionalities through configuration. It keeps you up-to-date with BrowserStack’s latest features, supports advanced parallelization and resource management for scalable tests, and integrates seamlessly with other BrowserStack solutions.

Next step

Now that you know about the benefits of using the SDK, let’s look at how the SDK works next.

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