One important task in software development is the testing of graphical user interface to ensure that it functions with the highest level of accuracy. It is advisable to start GUI testing early in the software development cycle because is speeds up the process. One can decide to do the GUI testing manually or use a software to perform the testing. Testing the GUI of a software manually can be a daunting task for a software developer because it tends to leave out serious problems. The use of software to test the GUI is normally called Automated GUI Testing. Automated GUI testing is a better way of handling GUI testing than manual because of its efficiency and accuracy in handling testing. It is an answer to all the problems left out by the manual testing.
Automated GUI testing can be very helpful to software developers and here are the reasons why:
Helps to determine how various parts of your GUI functions together. Software testing is a costly affair in software development and code for graphical user interface can constitute over half of the code for an application. Automated GUI testing will allow you to save time and money by giving you a chance to test many aspects of the GUI to determine how components work together. You will find it easy to check inconsistency in the appearance of components of the graphical user interface components such as dialog boxes buttons etc.
Checks the accuracy of the functions of the components of a GUI. This is one of the most important features the testing tool that many software developers seek after because it is very important that the components of a GUI functions according to the requirements of the end users.
Puts down user actions in order to perform useful checks. With automated testing you can record and play the various actions by the users. This feature has the ability to store all the actions like keystrokes with execution timing information. You can also induce some random delays to the testing process with built commands instead of writing code for them. With scheduled services you can perform retests for online applications so that you get the results of how the application will run in the real world.
Records and show results that are easy to read. automated testing reduces the complexity involved in analyzing the results of piece of code by displaying the output in easy to read text, statistical results and graphical objects making it easier to debug the code.
Checks if the functions of GUI work well with internal objects of the software. Any changes made to the GUI can alter how the back end part of an application being developed works. One good way to approaching this problem is using the record and play method and passing the parameters directly from the data source while keeping the back end results as configurable.
Perform automated tests that work with different applications with different levels of complexity. It has the ability to test applications that are made from more than one programming languages. You can also use graphics code from another project in a new project but you will have to be very skilled at graphics libraries to work with high end graphics that has different formats.
Ability to switch between programming mode and scripting mode. All the tools necessary for testing both scripts and code are available in one application so that you will not have to get an additional tool for scripting. So you can switch between modes whenever you need and make changes accordingly within one application.
Stores automated tests when data is involved. You will need to prepare the data to test your application with and determine the expected results so that you will compare the actual results with the expected results. The application records the results of the tests so that when you re-run the code again you will be able to easily compare the results of all the test and therefore you will be able to determine the easiest approach to debugging. You will easily know when the actual results is the same as the output of the application and you will have successfully solved the problem. The beautiful thing about this is that the script to test will always check for existing data before testing because the data has already been recorded.
Ability to retest applications when the code has been modified. You can change the settings of the software to perform tests automatically when you change the code. When code is change, you will have to ensure that the code automatically runs. This is a very important function of an automated GUI tester because it will help you determine easily if the required functionality of the code changes. It also helps in ensuring that the bugs in the previous code are not introduced into the changes that have been made.
GUI testing can be performed across many many work stations. You can also get graphics and code from other projects with this tool. You can easily use functions and graphics from other projects until you find some that fit your needs. Testing an application that works across many work stations helps to detect early the compatibility of the application to different web browsers.
This application is very easy to use and one can learn how to use it within minutes. Examples of how to run code are available in the automated GUI testing tool’s website. Consider carefully your specific requirements and find more information about this application and see if it will be helpful to your own work in developing applications. While the application supports pascal, JavaScript and Basic programming languages it is easy to understand and generate code easily with this application.
You can choose to download RoutineBot for a 30 day trial period or buy it from www.routinebot.com. It is a light weight application of about 2.2mb and it is easy to install. The requirements of the machine in order to install are stated on the download page.
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