ThoughtWorks Studios has announced Twist 2.0, an updated version of its Agile test automation software. Twist 2.0 is designed to help helps testers, developers, and business analysts work together in a collaborative fashion.

New features in Twist 2.0 include:

• Hybrid Test Execution allows for manual and automated test steps within the same scenario. This improves collaboration and execution efficiency of both automated and manual testing efforts.
• Improved Workflow Reuse provides high-level test scenarios and steps (manual and automated) that can be reused and shared within and across multiple projects.
• Groovy Scripting support.
• Support for Sahi or Selenium for Web testing. The benefit of using Sahi is that it abstracts out most difficulties that testers face while automating Web applications.
• SWTBOT support lets Twist users test Java SWT-based applications
• Data Driven Scenarios lets you build data-driven tests on-the-fly for increased test coverage

"It's very common for people involved in software testing to spend more time trying to keep their automated tests in synch with development rather than actually testing applications," said Cyndi Mitchell, managing director, for ThoughtWorks Studios. "Twist provides a framework for test automation and test-driven development that allows all stakeholders to build test suites and scenarios using plain English, thereby mitigating the complexity of traditional test automation."

According to Thoughtworks Studio, unlike traditional test tools, Twist uses Behavior Driven Development (BDD) and Domain Specific Language (DSL) to allow test automation specialists, developers, and business analysts to work collaboratively. This approach of using the English language to build test scripts expands the testing process to the "business side" of software development, reducing development re-work and faulty software that does not meet strategic business goals. Twist allows teams to adjust and/or react to change effectively through an open and flexible framework conducive to testing within short sprints or iterations.