[platform-swt-dev] Announcing early WebDriver-like framework for SWT Bro

[Misha Koshelev <misha680@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear All:

I have been working on some end-used web automation projects, and have, in the process, developed some code to (partially) implement a WebDriver-like framework for the SWT browser objects.

The WebDriver browser automation framework 
http://code.google.com/p/selenium/
works quite well for web site testing. However, for end-user Web automation applications, where it is desirable to hide the browser window, it is not possible (on all platforms) to use this framework.

On the other hand, the SWT Browser object 
http://www.eclipse.org/swt/
http://help.eclipse.org/galileo/topic/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/api/org/eclipse/swt/browser/Browser.html
allows execution of arbitrary JavaScript code on a _native_ browser without any constraints as to its visibility.

Although it is possible to write a formal WebDriver driver for the SWT Browser, both projects are rather large. Rather, I have, so far, implemented a subset of the WebDriver functions for the SWT Browser Object using Javascript commands. There is much work to be done (e.g., xpath support). However, as proof of concept, I have implemented a simple Web Automation App for Facebook, as well as a Javascript Viewer that allows one to view the results of Javascript commands that return HTML Elements or lists of elements.

I have posted my early framework here under GPLv2:
http://www.mkosh.com

I am very interested in contributing the org.swt.eclipse.browser.webdriver classes within my framework to the SWT framework. Please let me know if there is interest in this, and I can try to make these classes (i) more robust and (ii) in the format of patches to SWT trunk.

Thank you so much

Sincerely yours
Misha Koshelev