Flexible Automated GUI Test

There are different approaches to test automation, but are they really flexible? For instance if the tested application will change a little will the test continue to work properly?

If we talk about tests of the report and playback type then most likely script like this will stop working. More over, if you will move or replace buttons on your form the script might do some wrong clicks and will generate incorrect testing results.

Image based testing is flexible

The image based testing is much more flexible that report and playback tests. Image based testing, which iTestBot uses will not stop or generate in appropriate results if the buttons were moved or replaced or resized.

Here is the source window, which will show how flexible image based testing is:

Window sample

Using iTestBot or some other test automation software tool we will create image patters. There are some rules that testing specialists show follow:

Try to take as a pattern images that won't change;
Try to make image patterns smaller, so if there would be some changes, they won't affect the pattern.

The patterns for this form might be:

Note: with "Text Box" pattern you cannot focus on the text field, but using text field as a pattern in not a good idea as text field can change its value. Better idea is to focus on "Text box" and then use some commands to move mouse relatively to the text box.