Covered in this webinar:
- XML and Xpath 101's
- Visual Analysis
- DEMO
By the end of this webinar, you will be able to better understand how to identify and work with Objects using Perfecto for your next project.
TechTalk: Taking the Mystery Out of Object ID Automation
1. Object Spy, Visual Analysis and
XML/Xpath
Intro and Demo for Partners
David Broerman
Partner Enablement Manager
Phone: 727. 225.2826 / Email:
davidb@perfectomobile.com
2. Agenda
• Basics around XML and Xpath
• What are XML and Xpath?
• Working with XML and Xpath
• Object Analysis and the Perfecto Object Spy
• Visual Analysis
• Quick Demo
• Open Perfecto Automation
• Discuss Object Spy , Visual and Xpath
• Open existing Perfecto Lab Selenium Project in Eclipse
• Discuss Object Spy , Visual and Xpath
3. What are XML and Xpath?
• XML
• EXtensible Markup Language
• XML enables you to create data that can read by any application on any
platform
• Native Object analysis relies on XML
• The Object Tree is an XML document
• Xpath (XML Path Language)
• XPath is the query language for XML documents
• Describes a way to locate and process items in XML documents
• In automation, Xpath allows us to identify the object/objects
4. Importance of Understanding XML and XPath
4
• Native Object analysis relies on XML
• Retrieves the XML document and analyzes it
• However, it this is not enough to identify the object using its location in the
object tree. This approach is fragile.
• It is necessary to use specific XPath expressions to uniquely identify the
object.
• This will enable your object to be found across multiple platforms and
devices.
5. Native Objects Analysis
5
• The Object Tree is an XML document
• The way to find elements inside XML is through XPath
• To properly work with Objects, a good grasp of XML/XPath is needed.
6. The Perfecto Approach for Mobile
Objects
Native Object Analysis
and
Visual Object Analysis
=
HYBRID APPROACH!
Best Practice: Use Native Object
Analysis for Navigating and
Visual/OCR for Validation.
Pros
Cons
7. The Object Spy enables working with objects
• The Object Spy accesses the XML of the application
• Identifies the element and writes an XPath Expression.
• May need to export the XML into Firebug/FirePath.
• Inserts the expression back into the Object Spy.
• Applies the required action:
• Click – click on the element
• Set – an edit field with a value
• Info – to retrieve an element to receive its properties
• Find – find an element
8. Website & Apps – Object Trees/Identifying Objects
• Web Objects
• DOM
• Same Tree (PM or Appium
Framework)
• Native App Objects
• PM or Appium framework
• Appium -Separate naming
for Android and iOS
• Perfecto – Script Once
• Hybrid Application
• PM automation framework
• Mix of Native and DOM
objects
DOM Perfecto
Mobile
Appium
9. Working with the Object Spy
Selected Automation Function and Parameter fields
Object
XPath
Object TreePreview Panel
Search
and
Export
Filter displayed Objects
Object
Properties
Automation
functions
associated
with the
selected
object type
12. Object Spy: Object Locator
Available – Release 8.6
• Object
Locator is now
available for
Native, Web and
Hybrid apps.
• Easily generate
accurate XPath
identifiers from
within the
Perfecto Object
Spy
• Don’t have to
export to XML
and use tools
such as FireBug
and FirePath.
13. Visual Analysis
• Visual analysis is an alternative way of interacting with a device.
• Its’ source is the screenshot taken from the device (what the user sees).
• Perfecto can analyze the screenshot looking for either text or
images, with text being the recommended option.
Best Practice: Use Native Object
Analysis for Navigating and Visual for Validation.
16. Did You Know?
• When talking with users of the Perfecto Solution
• Approximately 90% of testing defects are found using Visual
Validation!
• Mobile is different as we want to understand the UX
• Need to see what the user sees
• An object on the screen may be found, but it may be hidden
behind something else (need visual validation).
18. Example of Power of Xpath with Objects
18
Let's say that we want to work on a username field.
Remember:
The default path generated by the Object Spy refers to its location; its placement on the
page.
The placement of that object can change, or be slightly different in another platform
(i.e. tablet vs. smartphone).
So, it's important to refer to it by its logical function instead of an arbitrary placement on
the page.
XPath will allow this to be specified: //[@username]
This expression explicitly refers to the input field called 'username'.
Advantages:
It is easy to read.
It is likely to work well with minimal maintenance.
It is likely to be identical across devices and platforms.
19. XPath Expression Syntax
19
Expression Description
nodename Selects all nodes with the name "nodename"
// Selects nodes in the document from the current node that match
the selection no matter where they are
//vehicle Selects all vehicle elements no matter where they are in the
document
//@make Selects all attributes named make
//*[@make="Toyota"] Select all attributes named make with value of Toyota
//vehicle[@*] Selects all vehicle elements which have any attribute
//*[text()=’Corolla’] Select all objects with the text Corolla
//vehicle[2] Select the second vehicle element
20. Demo
• Open Perfecto Automation and also Open existing Perfecto Lab Selenium
Project in Eclipse
• Discuss Object Spy , Visual Analysis and Xpath
21. Resources
• Sample script and Demo Apps
• https://community.perfectomobile.com/series/25427/posts/1064930
• Working with Object Spy and XPath
• https://community.perfectomobile.com/posts/914140-web-objects
• XPath Tutorial
• http://www.w3schools.com/XPath/
• XML Tutorial
• http://www.w3schools.com/xml/
How it works:
-Receives Object tree (XML) from App or Website
Main Features:
-All objects are exposed by Perfecto
-Objects can be clicked, set or queried
When the Object Spy accesses the XML (shows the Object Tree),
These are the steps to work with objects, we will now drill down and show you step-by-step
Identifying objects on the different types of mobile applications can be done in many ways. We will focus on using the following frameworks, according to Perfecto Mobile best practices:
the DOM objects for testing web applications
Appium framework for testing Native applications, and
Perfecto Mobile framework for testing hybrid applications
This Framework selection is for what Trees you see (Perfecto or Appium)
(Remember, since in these examples we are working on a native application, we will be setting our Automation Framework and Driver to Appium. To do this, go to: More > Settings > Automation Tab > Framework tab)
Using the Object Spy and picking an Automation Framework enables us to find, view properties, and perform interactions on the application using objects (such as a clicking on something on the device screen, selecting an image or text element, and setting text in an edit field).
(A little more about identifying objects:
Application User Interfaces are drawn to the screen based on a definition (that’s provided by the application) of how and where to draw the different UI Elements. The definition is a hierarchy of available UI Elements that can be described as an Object Tree.
The Object Tree for Web applications uses a standard set of UI Element types to describe how to draw the User Interface. This is the DOM tree and the UI Elements in that standard can be used to describe any website or web application.)
The Perfecto Mobile and Appium Frameworks:
In the world of mobile applications, it is not as simple. Apple has its own proprietary set of UI Elements and this is different from the proprietary set used by Android. Perfecto Mobile created a framework that allows us to translate the competing UI Elements of the different application UI sets into a “common” set of UI Elements and describe the UI structure of an application using these generic UI Elements (Script Once). This is the Perfecto Mobile framework Object Tree.
Appium, that we will be using in the latter part of the course to test native apps, references the UI Elements using the names provided by the proprietary description files. This is the Appium framework Object Tree.
The Perfecto Mobile framework identifies the objects in the application with the same standard. This means that the object tree representation of the elements will be the same on both iOS and Android applications.
The Appium framework uses two different object tree representations – UI Automator for Android and UI Automation for iOS. This means that when we develop our automation test, according to this mode of work, we will need to create two separate tests (one for Android and another for iOS).
(For advanced users, the Perfecto Mobile framework supports identification of the objects either with the application classes or based on a translated generic set of classes. This enables using the same objects for both Android and iOS applications, also referred to as ScriptOnce. This will be covered in later modules.)
The framework we choose to work with will determine the object tree representation, in XML format, that we see and work with when using the Perfecto Mobile Object Spy.
(For beginner users, each object is refined by a set of attributes that define what is actually displayed. For example, the text attribute defines the text to display.)
The following slide will describe how to use the Object Spy.
Adding commands to the Automation script
Click on the object in the preview panel
Replace the default XPath with the one you have created
Edit any necessary parameter field values
Click Add to add the function to your script
Optional: enable Execute on Add in the Object Spy to keep the Object Spy window open for additional functions (refresh the Object Spy preview panel to see the updated device screen)
Recap
We saw the object spy and did the full loop, starting in the mobile application, using the object spy to export the XML, writing the Xpath expression and then copying it back to the object spy.
Once the correct expression was in the Spy, we selected the appropriate command, and with “execute on add” we are ready for the next step in the script.
This flow is identical for mobile applications and websites and repeats whenever we want to work with objects.
Step 2: Reading the XML document
Open Firebug (top right of the Firefox browser menu bar)
Inspect the element you want to work with by clicking on the Firebug inspector and then on the object in the page
The object in the page and the location of it in the tree will be highlighted. Also, a default XPath will be automatically provided.
Read the XML, understand what makes the element unique and write an XPath that will be able to find it (more on writing XPath expressions later on)
Note: More on how to write XPath expressions will be covered later.
Example: Android Device
B of A Application
Sign In Button (Click)
Object Locator – provides a more robust xpath instead of just location based
Analyzing a screenshot is slower and less reliable than object analysis, it exists as an addition to objects which is the main way to work.
Its use is limited, but when it is needed it provides an excellent solution.
Visual analysis is a Perfecto extension to RWD & Appium, providing a comprehensive solution that enables automating all test cases.
The main uses for visual analysis are:
In cases where object analysis does not work
When there’s a need to validate what the user sees on a certain page
There are 5 commands available to use with visual analysis. Exactly the same buttons for both Image and Text.
All commands can receive a timeout to which is useful e.g. when a new page is loading.
Can work with either text or an image with text being the preferred option.
Text is easier to use, works seamlessly across multiple devices and requires the least maintenance.
Since visual analysis is a Perfecto command, we use the executeScript method to run it.
The commands require the needle to be provided (in this case the text “welcome back John”) and any additional parameters (in this case we set a timeout of 30 seconds, the system will search for the needle continually for 30 seconds)
The returned true/false result can then be handled by the code.
The following slides contain expressions written for various objects in the PM demo applications.
Go through the expressions, emphasizing WHAT the expression is saying in plain English, and WHY it is saying it.
The sample script MobileObjectsSample.java runs on the same demo applications, you can run it and show the expressions live with the class.
[Trainer Notes:
download the sample test “MobileObjectsSample.java” here https://community.perfectomobile.com/groups/30292/posts/1046689-sample-script-mobile-objects-sample
add it to your project workspace
run the test on an iOS and an Android device
The next slides describe specific XPath expressions, used in the sample, in more detail.]
The elements inside an application or website have a logical meaning a “login” button or “my account” link are not just the third or fourth element, they also have a specific purpose inside the application.
Identifying these elements according to what they are, and not just according to where they are will result in a script that is much more robust, readable and valid for multiple devices and platforms.
For example, the login button will always stay the login button, another element may be added before it changing the where but the what will remain the same.
XPath allows us to specify:
"Give me an element named vehicle that has an attribute with a value Toyota".
XPath enables powerful and complex queries quickly and easily.
Below is a list of the most common XPath syntax you will need to understand.
Notes: Let’s review a sample test.
Use Eclipse Project Named TrainingProjectExample
RemoteWebDriverTest.java – run as java test
Credentials in code: To run the sample remember to add your credentials and Lab URL
String host = “myLab.perfectomobile.com";
capabilities.setCapability("user", “myUser");
capabilities.setCapability("password", “MyPassword");
Selenium and Perfecto Tree
Uses BB&T U application – tried to login with username, password and validates error message for unsuccessful login
Also opens device browser, goes to perfecto sample page, logs in and validates successful login
