New from Pragmatic Bookshelf: How to Test User Interfaces Reliably and Repeatedly

Raleigh, NC - infoZine - If you need to automatically test a user interface, this book is for you. Whether it's Windows, a Java platform (including Mac, Linux, and others) or a web application, you'll see how to test it reliably and repeatably.

Many automated test frameworks promise the world and deliver nothing but headaches. Fortunately, you've got a secret weapon: Ruby. Ruby lets you build up a solution to fit your problem, rather than forcing your problem to fit into someone else's idea of testing.

Scripted GUI Testing with Ruby (Pragmatic Bookshelf, $34.95) is for people who want to get their hands dirty on examples from the real world-and who know that testing can be a joy when the tools don't get in the way. It starts with the mechanics of simulating button pushes and keystrokes, and builds up to writing clear code, organizing tests, and beyond.

This book is a practical, quick-moving tutorial based on real life, and real-world GUI applications.

Author Ian Dees says, "This is the book I wish I had four years ago. That's when I faced the equally unpleasant tasks of fixing old, broken GUI tests and coaxing a rickety third-party toolkit into running new tests. I started looking for a how-to guide on GUI testing to help me down this road. Unfortunately, there were none. Plenty of people had written beautifully about testing in general but not about user interfaces specifically. What few GUI books did exist were long, dry, restricted to technologies I couldn't use, or built on test frameworks that looked like someone's homework assignment."

Ian addressed that need by writing a very pragmatic book. Right out of the gate you'll start working with code to drive a desktop GUI. You'll discover the kinds of gotchas and edge cases that don't exist in simple, toy programs. As you add more tests, you'll learn how to organize your test code and write lucid examples. The result is a series of "smoke tests" your team will run on Continuous Integration servers.

Next, you'll explore a variety of different testing tips and tricks. You'll employ a series of increasingly random and punishing test monkeys to try to crash programs. Table-driven techniques will show you how to check dozens of different input combinations. See how to use longer acceptance tests (in the form of stories) to represent the way a typical customer would use your program.

If you're a coder who tests, or a tester who codes, this book is for you.

Ian Dees was first bitten by the programming bug in 1986 on a Timex Sinclair 1000, and has been having a blast in his software apprenticeship ever since. He has debugged assembler with an oscilloscope, written web applications nestled comfortably in high-level frameworks, and seen everything in between. He currently hacks C++ application code, automates laboratory hardware, and yes, writes user interface test scripts for a test equipment manufacturer near Portland, Oregon.

Scripted GUI Testing with Ruby
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
Ian Dees
ISBN: 9781934356180, 192 pages, $34.95 USD, £21.99 GBP