UI Automation. Can it be done?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ink
  • Start date Start date
I

ink

Hi all,

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have so far been very unsuccessful.

I have found some desktop examples using Reflection on the Microsoft
website, but they don't seem to port to CF and I also don't think that they
would work in a multiple form environment even if I did get them up and
running.

If any one has any suggestions for me on the best way to do this on Windows
mobile devices, I would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ink
 
What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to do,
rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better answer...

Paul T.
 
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
 
Your best course of action for the compact framework is to use
mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage(), etc. to send the user
actions to the application. Of course, you could, alternatively, just use
PostMessage() with suitable WM_COMMAND messages to tell the application that
a given button was pressed or something, rather than actually simulating the
mouse click down and then up again inside the outline of the button.

I see no way to use reflection to automate an application. You could use
reflection to find out about types, call methods, etc., but I think that
those types would all be instantiated inside your automation application,
not some other application on the device.

Paul T.

ink said:
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD
application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to do,
rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better
answer...

Paul T.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I'm not sure why you would want to test all 50 devices - unless they are
different devices and different versions of the OS.

But have you tried using Hopper:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb158517.aspx

It's a fairly basic rugged tool that is quite good for basic testing.
--
Simon Hart
http://simonrhart.blogspot.com


ink said:
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to do,
rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better answer...

Paul T.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I want to automate tests primarily for load testing.

We actually have closer to 1500 devices in use at any given time and waiting
until the pilot faze to do a decent load test is unacceptable.



And this kind of thinking has already caused a few embarrassing situations,
not necessarily problems with the code.

But we have had things like Wifi Drivers crashing, Key board crashing and OS
crashing after just a few hours of usage. And most of these issues are to do
with the OS setup on the Symbol devices.



I also want to automate them so that regression testing can be done over
night.



Thanks for the Link I will have a look at it now.



ink







Simon Hart said:
I'm not sure why you would want to test all 50 devices - unless they are
different devices and different versions of the OS.

But have you tried using Hopper:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb158517.aspx

It's a fairly basic rugged tool that is quite good for basic testing.
--
Simon Hart
http://simonrhart.blogspot.com


ink said:
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD
application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam
DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to
do,
rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better
answer...

Paul T.


Hi all,

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have so far been very unsuccessful.

I have found some desktop examples using Reflection on the Microsoft
website, but they don't seem to port to CF and I also don't think that
they would work in a multiple form environment even if I did get them
up
and running.

If any one has any suggestions for me on the best way to do this on
Windows mobile devices, I would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ink
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for getting back to me paul

These evernts (mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage() ) are they
framework events or do i have to use p/Invoke on the Corelib.dll?

You wouldn't happen to have an example of these being used?

Thanks,
ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Your best course of action for the compact framework is to use
mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage(), etc. to send the user
actions to the application. Of course, you could, alternatively, just use
PostMessage() with suitable WM_COMMAND messages to tell the application
that a given button was pressed or something, rather than actually
simulating the mouse click down and then up again inside the outline of
the button.

I see no way to use reflection to automate an application. You could use
reflection to find out about types, call methods, etc., but I think that
those types would all be instantiated inside your automation application,
not some other application on the device.

Paul T.

ink said:
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD
application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam
DOT com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to
do, rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better
answer...

Paul T.


Hi all,

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have so far been very unsuccessful.

I have found some desktop examples using Reflection on the Microsoft
website, but they don't seem to port to CF and I also don't think that
they would work in a multiple form environment even if I did get them
up and running.

If any one has any suggestions for me on the best way to do this on
Windows mobile devices, I would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ink
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
They're native calls, so you'll have to P/Invoke them. I'm not sure about
mouse_event, but I'm pretty sure that the keyboard items are in OpenNETCF's
Smart Device Framework. I'll check...yes, they're in core.cs in v1.4 (no
sign of mouse_event). There are some example uses of the call in the
framework itself, so that might help. keybd_event() is the low-level call
and would mostly be used to press 'keys' like Ctrl and Alt.
PostKeybdMessage() works better for sending actual characters, like what
would happen if you pressed Shift+A or something.

Paul T.

ink said:
Thanks for getting back to me paul

These evernts (mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage() ) are they
framework events or do i have to use p/Invoke on the Corelib.dll?

You wouldn't happen to have an example of these being used?

Thanks,
ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Your best course of action for the compact framework is to use
mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage(), etc. to send the user
actions to the application. Of course, you could, alternatively, just
use PostMessage() with suitable WM_COMMAND messages to tell the
application that a given button was pressed or something, rather than
actually simulating the mouse click down and then up again inside the
outline of the button.

I see no way to use reflection to automate an application. You could use
reflection to find out about types, call methods, etc., but I think that
those types would all be instantiated inside your automation application,
not some other application on the device.

Paul T.

ink said:
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD
application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam
DOT com> wrote in message What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to
do, rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better
answer...

Paul T.


Hi all,

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have so far been very unsuccessful.

I have found some desktop examples using Reflection on the Microsoft
website, but they don't seem to port to CF and I also don't think that
they would work in a multiple form environment even if I did get them
up and running.

If any one has any suggestions for me on the best way to do this on
Windows mobile devices, I would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ink
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You would be better office writing a unit test to simulate load as I am
assuming you want to test your back office/middleware?
--
Simon Hart
http://simonrhart.blogspot.com


ink said:
I want to automate tests primarily for load testing.

We actually have closer to 1500 devices in use at any given time and waiting
until the pilot faze to do a decent load test is unacceptable.



And this kind of thinking has already caused a few embarrassing situations,
not necessarily problems with the code.

But we have had things like Wifi Drivers crashing, Key board crashing and OS
crashing after just a few hours of usage. And most of these issues are to do
with the OS setup on the Symbol devices.



I also want to automate them so that regression testing can be done over
night.



Thanks for the Link I will have a look at it now.



ink







Simon Hart said:
I'm not sure why you would want to test all 50 devices - unless they are
different devices and different versions of the OS.

But have you tried using Hopper:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb158517.aspx

It's a fairly basic rugged tool that is quite good for basic testing.
--
Simon Hart
http://simonrhart.blogspot.com


ink said:
hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD
application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam
DOT
com> wrote in message What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to
do,
rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better
answer...

Paul T.


Hi all,

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have so far been very unsuccessful.

I have found some desktop examples using Reflection on the Microsoft
website, but they don't seem to port to CF and I also don't think that
they would work in a multiple form environment even if I did get them
up
and running.

If any one has any suggestions for me on the best way to do this on
Windows mobile devices, I would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ink
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
mouse_event can be grabbed from my kluge code here:

http://blog.opennetcf.org/ctacke/PermaLink,guid,f281d989-ee71-4fdf-9ced-63fd37ac731d.aspx


--

Chris Tacke, Embedded MVP
OpenNETCF Consulting
Managed Code in an Embedded World
www.OpenNETCF.com


"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
They're native calls, so you'll have to P/Invoke them. I'm not sure about
mouse_event, but I'm pretty sure that the keyboard items are in
OpenNETCF's Smart Device Framework. I'll check...yes, they're in core.cs
in v1.4 (no sign of mouse_event). There are some example uses of the call
in the framework itself, so that might help. keybd_event() is the
low-level call and would mostly be used to press 'keys' like Ctrl and Alt.
PostKeybdMessage() works better for sending actual characters, like what
would happen if you pressed Shift+A or something.

Paul T.

ink said:
Thanks for getting back to me paul

These evernts (mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage() ) are
they framework events or do i have to use p/Invoke on the Corelib.dll?

You wouldn't happen to have an example of these being used?

Thanks,
ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam
DOT com> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Your best course of action for the compact framework is to use
mouse_event(), keybd_event(), PostKeybdMessage(), etc. to send the user
actions to the application. Of course, you could, alternatively, just
use PostMessage() with suitable WM_COMMAND messages to tell the
application that a given button was pressed or something, rather than
actually simulating the mouse click down and then up again inside the
outline of the button.

I see no way to use reflection to automate an application. You could
use reflection to find out about types, call methods, etc., but I think
that those types would all be instantiated inside your automation
application, not some other application on the device.

Paul T.

hi Paul

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my Compact
Famework 2.0 application.

I have to do Unit and Stress tests on 50 Devices using our POD
application.
As i am sure you can imagine this is not practical for 1 developer.

So i am trying to find a way to Automat user actions on the device..

Any idea's,

ink




"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam
DOT com> wrote in message What's the purpose of doing it? If you tell us what you're trying to
do, rather than how you've been trying to do it, you'll get a better
answer...

Paul T.


Hi all,

I have been trying to write a UI automation application for my
Compact Famework 2.0 application.

I have so far been very unsuccessful.

I have found some desktop examples using Reflection on the Microsoft
website, but they don't seem to port to CF and I also don't think
that they would work in a multiple form environment even if I did get
them up and running.

If any one has any suggestions for me on the best way to do this on
Windows mobile devices, I would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ink
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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