Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

This study introduced some new approaches for software test automation in general and testing graphical user interfaces in particular. The study presented ideas in the different stages of the test automation framework. Test automation framework main activities include test case generation, execution and verification. Other umbrella activities include modeling, critical paths selection and some others. In modeling, a methodology is presented to transform the user interface of applications into XML (i.e., extensible Markup Language) files. The purpose of this intermediate transformation is to enable producing test automation components in a format that is easier to deal with (in terms of testing). Test cases are generated from this model, executed and verified on the actual implementation. The transformation of products' Graphical User Interface (GUI) into XML files also enables the documentation and storage of the interface description. There are several cases where we need to have a stored documented format of the GUI. Having it in XML universal format, allows it to be retrieved and reused in other places. XML Files in their hierarchical structure make it possible and easy to preserve the hierarchical structure of the user interface. Several GUI structural metrics are also introduced to evaluate the user interface from testing perspectives. Those metrics can be collected automatically using the developed tool with no need for user intervention.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.3923/jse.2011.1.19

Volume

5

Issue

1

Comments

© Asian Network for Scientific Information. Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.3923/jse.2011.1.19.

Alsmadi I. "Activities and Trends in Testing Graphical User Interfaces Automatically," Journal of Software Engineering, vol. 5, pp. 1-19, 2011.

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