[wxPython-users] Automated testing of wxPython

[Kevin Ollivier]

Hi Don,

On May 23, 2007, at 9:08 AM, Don Dwiggins wrote:

> Kevin Ollivier wrote:
>> We currently don't have automated testing in place, and so  
>> unfortunately it's not uncommon to get regressions in the  
>> codebase, but until we have an automated solution in place we are  
>> very, very dependent on users reporting bugs that they found to  
>> improve wxPython. Robin, myself, and a few other people really  
>> can't test hard enough to find all the problems in wxPython  
>> ourselves.
>
> This seems to suggest that you're working on an automated way to  
> test wxPython components; is this right?

Yup, it's one of the wxPython SoC projects. :-) Frank Tobia is  
currently researching what tools are out there and getting ready to  
start work on the project. There's a start on a wiki page here:

http://wiki.wxpython.org/GUI_Unit_Testing_Project

> If so, could it also be used for automated testing of wxPython  
> applications?

That is the idea, yes, and one of the goals we've stated for the  
project is actually a tutorial on how wxPython users can use this  
themselves. In the meantime, you might want to check out Zephyr  
(links can be found on the above Wiki page), an automated GUI testing  
tool that's actually written using wxWidgets. :-) (I found it by  
accident while browsing through wiki.wxwidgets.org) There's only a  
Windows binary (though there's Linux support in the project's SVN  
tree), and the developer seems to have moved on, but the Windows  
version works so well that I'm probably going to convert the project  
to use Bakefile so that we can build it on Win,Mac and Linux. It's  
built in a manner that's very simple but allows you to test almost  
any action, so long as it produces a visual result. It also looks  
like it could support Mac by implementing a dozen or so functions  
using Mac-specific code.

> I generally write my apps in a semi-MVC style that allows automated  
> unit testing of the model, but it'd be neat to be able to do the  
> same for the GUI component.

If you give Zephyr a try, please let me know how you like it! On the  
homepage there's a demo movie on how to use it - you can literally be  
up and using it in 5 minutes. The coolest part is that it can test  
any app, not just wxPython apps. :-)

Regards,

Kevin

> -- 
> Don Dwiggins
> Advanced Publishing Technology
>
>
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