Automated .NET CF GUI Testing (Windows Mobile 5)

Question

My company is exploring the use of automatic GUI testing for our current application before moving on to alpha. Our main focus is reliability testing, one of the ways we want to achieve this is to automatically test the user interface, which can be repeated for several hours / days.

In our desktop version, we decided to use AutomationElement, and I saw some free open source frameworks. For .NET CF, options seem more limited. I found the M-eux Test , but the license fee is a little cool. I also found Test Complete 7 , which I plan to study.

Tests will be written by programmers. Supporting the ability to influence specific user interface elements will be enjoyable, although simple recording / playback may be satisfactory for our current needs.

Development for Windows Mobile 5.0. Support for Windows CE would be nice, but not required.

Has anyone been in this situation before? What tools do you recommend? Any best practices I should know about?

Answer 1

AutoHotKey is available for windows ce / mobile, see http://www.autohotkey.net/~Micha/AutohotkeyCE/html/index.htm . I use this together with a script for automatic testing. The application under test displays registration information, in which I state that it is necessary to prove that the test works.

Before that, I used the ActiveSyncRemoteDisplay tool with toys for Windows mobile devices and the autohotkey on the desktop. I still use this combination (along with Windows spy) to mark the xy coordinates of specific screen spots.

Answer 2

No WM GUI testing has been tested, but we recommend that HoppeR also participate in the testing.

Answer 3

I did a simple graphical test using AutoHotKey http://www.autohotkey.com/ . This, of course, will only work when launching your mobile application in a virtual machine, but it would be useful for testing regression. As a developer, I tried other test platforms, but they always had serious flaws, they were overrated and used. The main reason for this may be the lack of a dedicated testing department. If you don’t start development based on tests, then move on to something [relatively] simple and free, like AutoHotKey. If you find that AutoHotKey is used and detects or helps prevent problems, then explore the possibility of moving to more powerful tools as needed.

Answer 4

We create websites at work, and we use sikuli http://groups.csail.mit.edu/uid/sikuli/ to do simple gui testing and unit testing. We use the siculi graphical programming aspect to perform certain gui operations on a specific widget.

Macro autohotkey and siculi graphic programming style complement each other purrrfectly. Personally, I prefer sikuli because it supports python syntax, the coding style is more structured and consistent than ahk.

Answer 5

I have not tried it, but it looks like an amazing tool. EggPlant performs automated user interface testing using pattern recognition and allows testing through a VPN connection. It supports Andriod and iOS, as well as standard desktop operating systems. This is not a cheep, but it would be great for anyone who developed cross-platform applications, or someone who does not want to put a lot of effort into a bunch of platform-specific tools.