Automatically Testing a Web Application That Has Independent Display Trees

• US 20120198351A1
• Filed: 01/31/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahmed, Diar, Singh, Prashant, Lee, Teck Hua, Look, Gary, Zhang, Hugh
• Granted Patent: US 8,572,505 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

An automatic testing application is provided that can simulate a user interaction with a web application. The automatic testing application can determine that the web application has been completely displayed within a graphical user interface of a web browser using a consistent global page state. The automatic testing application can test that the web application has been correctly displayed by verifying a state of a visualization component of the web application using a communication component. Subsequently, the automatic testing application can transmit an event to the web application that can modify the state of the visualization component using the communication component. Once the automatic testing application has determined that the web application has been completely re-displayed, using the consistent global page state, the automatic testing application can test that the web application has been correctly re-displayed by verifying a modified state of the visualization component using the communication component.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to automatically test a web application, the instructions comprising:

determining that the web application has completely displayed in a graphical user interface of a web browser using a consistent global page state, wherein the web application comprises a web component and a visualization component, wherein the web component is displayed in the graphical user interface using a first display tree, and wherein the visualization component is displayed using a second display tree;

verifying a state of the visualization component of the web application using a communication component of the web application;

transmitting an event to the visualization component to modify the state of the visualization component using the communication component;

determining that the web application has completely re-displayed in the graphical user interface of the web browser using the consistent global page state; and

verifying the modified state of the visualization component using the communication component.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the web component comprises a dynamic hypertext markup language component, wherein the visualization component comprises an Adobe®

Flash component, and wherein the communication component comprises a JavaScript interface.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the consistent global page state comprises a value stored by the web application that indicates the web component and the visualization component have completely displayed in the graphical user interface.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the verifying the state of the visualization component further comprises receiving the state of the visualization component from the communication component and comparing the received state with an expected state.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4,

wherein, when the received state matches the expected state, the visualization component is displayed correctly within the graphical user interface;

and

wherein, when the received state does not match the expected state, the visualization component is displayed incorrectly within the graphical user interface.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the state of the visualization component comprises one or more values of an object displayed within the visualization component.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the state of the visualization component comprises an image of an object displayed within the visualization component.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the object displayed within the visualization component comprises an object of the display tree of the visualization component.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the transmitting the event to the visualization component modifies the state of the visualization component by modifying one or more values of an object displayed within the visualization component;

and

wherein the transmitting the event to the visualization component comprises transmitting the event over the communication component.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the transmitting of the event to the visualization component and the modifying the state of the visualization component cause the web application to re-display in the graphical user interface.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the verifying the modified state of the visualization component further comprises receiving the modified state of the visualization component from the communication component and comparing the received modified state with an expected modified state.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11,

wherein, when the received modified state matches the expected modified state, the visualization component is displayed correctly within the graphical user interface;

and

wherein, when the received modified state does not match the expected modified state, the visualization component is displayed incorrectly within the graphical user interface.

13. A computer-implemented method for automatically testing a web application, the computer-implemented method comprising:

determining that the web application has completely displayed in a graphical user interface of a web browser using a consistent global page state, wherein the web application comprises a web component and a visualization component, wherein the web component is displayed in the graphical user interface using a first display tree, and wherein the visualization component is displayed using a second display tree;

verifying a state of the visualization component of the web application using a communication component of the web application;

transmitting an event to the visualization component to modify the state of the visualization component using the communication component;

determining that the web application has completely re-displayed in the graphical user interface of the web browser using the consistent global page state; and

verifying the modified state of the visualization component using the communication component.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the verifying the state of the visualization component further comprises receiving the state of the visualization component from the communication component and comparing the received state with an expected state.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13,

wherein the transmitting the event to the visualization component modifies the state of the visualization component by modifying one or more values of an object displayed within the visualization component;

and

wherein the transmitting the event to the visualization component comprises transmitting the event over the communication component.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the verifying the modified state of the visualization component further comprises receiving the modified state of the visualization component from the communication component and comparing the received modified state with an expected modified state.

17. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store a collection of software modules; and

a processor configured to execute the collection of software modules stored on the memory;

wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the collection of software modules stored on the memory, to;

determine that the web application has completely displayed in a graphical user interface of a web browser using a consistent global page state, wherein the web application comprises a web component and a visualization component, wherein the web component is displayed in the graphical user interface using a first display tree, and wherein the visualization component is displayed using a second display tree;

verify a state of the visualization component of the web application using a communication component of the web application;

transmit an event to the visualization component to modify the state of the visualization component using the communication component;

determine that the web application has completely re-displayed in the graphical user interface of the web browser using the consistent global page state; and

verify the modified state of the visualization component using the communication component.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the collection of software modules stored on the memory, to receive the state of the visualization component from the communication component and compare the received state with an expected state.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the collection of software modules stored on the memory, to:

modify one or more values of an object displayed within the visualization component; and

transmit the event over the communication component.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the collection of software modules stored on the memory, to receive the modified state of the visualization component from the communication component and compare the received modified state with an expected modified state.