Windows Mobile/CE Test Automation using Eclipse
Eclipse is a development environment that has been extended by M-eux Test with the necessary functionality to create test scripts against mobile applications by recognizing the user interface objects on the mobile device. The benefit of using Eclipse for creating automated test cases is that you have now a powerful platform for testing, scripts can run in parallel on different mobile devices and compiled test scripts can be disturbed to external companies which ensures IP protection.
M-eux test can access the attributes of the user interface elements as they are defined in the mobile operating system. This is an essential technique that has been used by test automation tools on the PC for many years. M-eux Test brings this functionality to the mobile world.
In the enclosed figure you can see the Menu selection window from a test application on a Windows Mobile device. The tool can access the definition of the combo box and thus test/verify that the list field is enabled, the number of items in the list without actually dropping the list, the text of each item in the list, etc. Without this technique, the tool would not be able to retrieve this information from the combo boxfield. Using M-eux Test you can access all these attributes and create simple scripts that are at the same time very powerful and reusable.
It is the only technique to deal with the high dynamic interfaces of the mobile applications. Windows of mobile applications are not classic windows. They interact with the user using swipes, gestures, expanded spinner elements, highly interactive lists and many other techniques.
M-eux Test installs as a plug-in for Eclipse. The scripts can be created by recording or programming or a mix of both. The user interface objects are stored as java classes. The intelli-sense of Eclipse can be used to create the script.
With the M-eux Test add-in loaded, Eclipse can recognize the user interface elements on the actual device or in the emulator.
All user interface objects are directly recognized by their attributes. This ensures:
- Recording from the actual device or emulator
- Replay on the actual device or emulator
- Recognition of standard GUI elements on the mobile display
- Recognition of standard HTML elements rendered in the mobile browser.
- GUI learn functionality
- Automatic GUI class mapping functionality for customized objects.
- Creation of an Object Pool that can be shared between Eclipse-based test cases.
- Parallel execution of test scripts on one PC.
Verification of UI elements using the values of the attributes so that bitmap verifications are used as less as possible leading to highly re-usable scripts.Using the attributes, the tool can manipulate and verify all characteristics of the mobile user interface object. No bitmap scraping or pattern matching or OCR techniques are applied ensuring high reliability and re-use of the test scripts.
The tool has proven its value in testing mobile applications handling dynamic data or mobile applications that are localized.
The tool contains also utility functions in order to complete the support for testing mobile applications. For example: incoming phone calls can be intercepted. SMS, e-mail messages can be sent from the background. Diagnostic functions are available showing for example the memory allocation, the number of processes running on the device and many other functions related to the hardware and software configuration of the device.