CODEWITHSUNDEEP
testingautomated-tests
user180574
user180574

Reputation: 6094

how to perform auto-test with GUI applications?

Just new on software testing...

Regarding testing, I think GUI applications are pretty difficult to automate. Some testing involves with interacting particular GUI objects in particular sequence (e.g., clicking buttons). The interface often changes from one window to another. And the timing and sync sometimes also pose an issue (e.g., recording mouse clicks and replaying may screw up).

Is there any solution for testing such applications with less human labour? Thank you for sharing your experience.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 777

Answers (1)

Jim Holmes
Jim Holmes

Reputation: 1690

Yes, GUI apps are indeed tough to automate. Regardless of the app's technology (Swing, web, WPF, iOS), you first have to focus on automating high-value tests. Moreover, test automation shouldn't be at just the GUI level, it should be a mix across unit, integration, and functional (GUI) tests too.

Are you working on a web app? If so, have a look at great open source tools like Watir or WebDriver. (I'll also pitch Telerik's Test Studio to you; however, for full disclosure I'm their evangelist for that tool.)

Desktop applications (or mobile) bring a lot of challenges to automation, and it's totally dependent on what platform you're working with. Test Studio supports WPF, but you can also look to other commercial and a few free tools. I don't know of any tools for Swing apps, but that lack of knowledge is due to me having been out of that domain for many years. (And maybe I'm so out of it that Swing's not even the normal Java GUI toolset...)

iOS and Android are tough ones to find reliable automation tools for. I know the Frank framework/API will work on iOS (Test Studio has a free recorder in the App Store), but I don't know of any other tools that reliably support the extraordinary matrix of Droid hardware and OS versions.

Regardless of your platform and toolset, you need to learn the basic approaches for dealing with GUI testing: focus on high value tests, learn to avoid duplication through approaches like Page Object Pattern, learn how to deal with synchronization/timing issues in your specific application.

It's a long haul, but if you work carefully it's totally worth it.

(And fun, too, IMO.)

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions