Re: [platform-swt-dev] swt.Robot?

[Mike_Wilson@xxxxxxxxxx]

I realize this isn't exactly what you
are asking for, but I did see this in the R2.2 plan:

"
( new) Support automation of common
tasks. To make it easier for users to automate common and repetitive
tasks, the user should have a simple way of recording the sequence of actions
as they perform them. The recording can be edited, saved persistently,
and played back under similar circumstances in the same or later session,
or possibly another workspace. [Platform UI, Platform Core, Platform Text,
JDT Core, JDT UI, PDE]
"

McQ.

Thomas L Roche/Raleigh/IBM@IBMUS Sent by: platform-swt-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx 12/23/02 08:37 PM Please respond to platform-swt-dev

To:        platform-swt-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx         cc:                 Subject:        [platform-swt-dev] swt.Robot?

Are there plans for providing, or has anyone thought
much about how to
provide, an SWT substitute for java.awt.Robot? Why I ask:

I'm writing code-generation wizards in SWT/JFace, and regressing them
manually. As functionality grows, so does tedium, sloth, and error.
Also envy--Swing folks can use a number of GUI test automation
packages (see

http://www.superlinksoftware.com/cgi-bin/jugwiki.pl?TestingGUIs

for an incomplete list), but, since these wrap java.awt.Robot (or else
manipulate the AWT EventQueue directly), I can't use them. This annoys.

Almost 8 months ago the following feature request was made

http://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=15025
>> Summary: implement java.awt.Robot for SWT
>> Reporter: mfaraj@xxxxxxxxxx (Mazen Faraj)
>> Opened: 2002-05-01 14:39

<heavily edited>

>> The quick answer to why this is needed is for automating Eclipse
UI
>> testing, not through the usual "recording" software
products out
>> there, but through writting Java testcases that actually represent
>> your UI automated test. Picture this, when you run your automated
>> JUnit testcases in Eclipse, you are running these automated UI
>> testcases also. So your JUnit testcases are not only for "backend"
>> or "logic" testing! you are also testing your UI functionality.

UI automation would also be useful for marketing (e.g. code demos),
usability testing, rapid prototyping, etc.

>> THE PROBLEM :(
>> Even though I had a prototype working that used Sun's Robot class
>> to automate Eclipse UI testing, there are gltiches. the
>> java.awt.robot class was designed for AWT classes. I worked around
>> some of the problems with using that class with SWT, as opposed
to
>> AWT. but still, things where not working as designed just because
>> of the SWT mix with Robot.

Mike_Wilson@xxxxxxx 2002-05-02 09:20
> I understand the kinds of capabilities you are looking for. There
is
> no plan to implement this for R2.0, but we do want to look at
> providing something along these lines at some point.

> The challenge, of course, is doing this in a way which doesn't
> require a lot of extra state to be maintained in the widgets or
> drastic changes in the underlying event model. SWT is so close to
> the o/s that typically platform specific scripting facilities will
> work, and hooking into these is likely the direction we would take
> at the SWT level.

> Another interesting alternative would be to generalize the
> mechanisms already found in Eclipse for invoking commands,
> activating windows, etc. and based on these add "scriptable"
u/i
> support to Eclipse. This would allow Eclipse to be driven by a 'bot
> without requiring low-level platform specific hacks in SWT.

Note however that, given the large amount of working tooling built
upon awt.Robot, an workalike, API-compatible substitute would be
Greatly Preferred to scripting.

Is any work ongoing in this direction? Is any work planned?

Alternatively, can anyone sketch a roadmap of how to code something
(for want of another term, call it "swt.Robot") that would allow
SWT/JFace users to be able to use GUI-unit-test packages like Abbot,
JFCUnit, etc? At this stage, handwaving and generalities are
acceptable :-)

TIA, Tom Roche, WSSD Struts Tooling
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