Functional test web site using python com and Internet Explorer

[Chris Cottee]

Hi,
I am trying to extend PAMIE (sourceforge project to functionally
test web sites using com and python) and I wondered if anyone had done
this sort of thing before and had any pointers. My main reason for
doing this is that the website I want to test is so full of frames and
javascript that it seems painful to try to fix httpunit to be able to
cope with it. The difficulties I am having are in getting IE to behave
repeatably, handling multiple levels of frames and handling events. In
particular when I use dispatchWithEve nts instead of Dispatch the IE6
gui almost seems to block (it gets much slower at any rate). Is this
to be expected ? I have used pythoncom._GetI nterfaceCount() to see if
I was getting loads of references but I only have 2.

Thanks,
Chris

[MarcSchwarz]

Hi,

I am using Internet Macros for almost a year now. I highly recommend
it:

For example, you can't single-step through a macro to debug
your application when a test fails. Painful.
I agree. An acceptable workaround is the "Pause" and "Continue"
feature.

IMHO the best approach is to split the testing in many smaller macros
and use the scripting interface to connect them (see below).
Well, apart from the fact that the scripts it records
really *are* just scripts, not programs with conditional logic &c, so
you can't factor out duplicated test logic, and it rather discourages
writing non-trivial tests, which limits its effectiveness.
While the macros itself are only good for simple testing, the
"Scripting Interface" makes the app extremly powerful. It allows you
to remote control the Internet Macros browser from *any* Windows
programming language. While I use mostly VB and Perl, you could use
Phyton as well (http://www.iopus.com/iim/tutorials/python.htm )

This approach allows me to store the web test results directly in a
database and use any kind of conditional logic, e.g

return = iimPlay ("macro-test1")
if return < 0
'Test1 failed!
return = iimPlay ("do-something")
else
return = iimPlay ("macro-test2")
end if

(iimPlay is a command provided by Internet Macros, it starts the IM
browser and runs a macro.)

I used this approach to automate extensive web testing for several
banks and insurance companies. So far, my clients love it ;-)
Also, it's
IE-only and Windows-only: testing against IE/win is necessary but not
really fully sufficient for a lot of people.

I agree. But I heard they are planning support for Mozilla / Firefox
later this year. In general, I found their support *very* responsive
whenever I had a problem with the software.

Marc