Desktop automation tools

Talking to one of my colleagues today. He asked me about testing desktop applications. As someone who predates the Internet, testing desktop applications was not foreign to me. However I realized that many testers today have only worked on web or mobile device applications.

Testing things like Microsoft Word, Notepad, Calendar or Eclipse isn't something many testers have done.

You wouldn't use something like Selenium, cucumber or Watir to test a desktop application.

So where would you go to find desktop application test tools? The first place I look is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GUI_testing_tools. At this time this page notes:

• AutoIt: http://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/ (free)
• IBM/Rational Functional Tester: http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/functional (commercial)
• Quality First Software: http://www.qfs.de/en/index.html (commercial)
• Sikuli: http://www.sikuli.org/ (free)
• SilkTest: http://www.borland.com/products/silktest/ (commercial)
• Test Automation FX: http://www.testautomationfx.com/ (commercial)
• Telerik TestStudio: http://www.telerik.com/teststudio (commercial)

In addition to these links I would also check out:

• http://www.ministryoftesting.com/resources/software-testing-tools/
• http://sourceforge.net/directory/development/development-testing/freshness:recently-updated/

The first site has a wide range of links and it currently actively maintained. Unfortunately, it has more links for web and mobile testing but there are some desktop application tools listed.

The second link is to sourceforge. It will take you to the recently updated testing links. It includes open source applications for all sorts of testing. You can remove the "recently-updated" filter and see more but I usually restrict myself to recently updated tools. 

If the tool is for desktop testing and it has not been recently updated, there is a strong chance it does not work with modern applications or a current operating system. The older the tool the higher the risk it will not work on Windows 7 or 8, Mac OS X 10.8 or 10.9.

If you enter in a search term, like "testing" then a whole set of menus will appear below the search term and you can narrow things down even further. For example, after entering "testing" into the search text box I can select OS to be "Mac" and category "Quality Assurance".

I can also clear all the filters and search for things which might help narrow it down in different ways. For example, if I know how to program Java and I think I might want to add to the open source tool then I can filter for things with Programming Language "Java". Additionally, if the desktop application is written using Swing and Java I could search for Programming Language "Java", Category "Testing" then enter "swing". From the results I find jrobot (http://jayrobot.sourceforge.net/) and gtt (GUI Test Tool; http://gtt.sourceforge.net/). 

It is also worth just poking around sourceforge and keeping a mental note about things you find. This is because you'll be surprised what you stumble. For example, JFCUnit is a good tool for testing Java Swing applications but it didn't come with JFCUnit (http://jfcunit.sourceforge.net/).

2009 was a bad year?

You might notice that I've been posting more regularly lately. I used to keep a personal journal. Whenever I moved (I moved a lot) I'd find my old journals and read them. It was interesting to see how I've changed. Today I decided to look at my old postings and see how I've changed.

I had ONE entry for 2009. What happened? I know that work seemed to be going well. I started a new job in December 2008. A lot of my time was dealing with the new job. One day melts into the next. In September I went away on holiday. I didn't get a lot of time off work so I took all my vacation time for one trip to Europe. I'd sold my home and was unable to find a new home. I was living out of a suitcase. I really needed a vacation... or did I? At the end of September I got ill. Really ill. I'd take a day or two off work. Because I was the entire QA department, I felt I couldn't afford to take too much time off. When I got back from vacation, the person who was supposed to run my test automation couldn't get it to work. There was a bit of panic when I got back.

Just as I was recovering from one illness another would strike. Things started looking better. I felt better, found a house and the neighbours were great. Then my dog died. I'd had Dante since he was a pup. He was my heart dog. Its been two months and I still cry when I think of him.

So was 2009 a bad year? Not really. I got to see Europe. I didn't cling to the hope Dante would survive (I wanted to) and we had 3 good months at home rather than 5 really bad months in the hospital. I learned a lot about working on a start up company. I met some really interesting people. I was in a rut up until 2008. I think 2009 was just say, "Hey! Wake up. Get your priorities right." I think 2009 was the kick in the pants I needed.

Alex Aitken, one the guys I work with, started pointing out articles by some pretty interesting and bright individuals. I knew these guys and had read their work previously but like K&R's book The C Programming Language, you need to go back and read these guys again and again. I've been reading Kent Beck's blog. I highly recommend everyone read his blog.

Thanks Alex.