About Cross-Platform Web Tests

Starting from version 14.4, TestComplete introduces a new, cross-platform, approach to web testing. The main idea is to create a single web test on your local computer once and then reuse it in a wider range of web browsers — not only in those that TestComplete supports, but also in new ones, like Opera and Safari, running in a broad range of environments — Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS, and mobile Android and iOS.

To achieve this, we have created a Device Cloud add-on for TestComplete. The add-on provides support for Selenium Grid. You can run your web tests on any remote computer that Selenium Grid manages directly from TestComplete.

This way you can:

• Create web tests easily by recording user actions with TestComplete.

• Use TestComplete testing features like:

  • Debugging web tests,

  • Special operations for simulating user actions over web elements and controls,

  • The mapping of web objects used in your tests if you have TestComplete version 14.50,

  • Checkpoints,

  • Data-driven web tests,

  • and so on.

• Run tests with a wider range of browsers, operating systems, and platforms.

• Run TestComplete tests in remote environments where neither TestComplete nor TestExecute is installed.

• Maintain your test environments easily.

• TestComplete 14.4.

• An active license for the TestComplete Web Module and for the Device Cloud add-on.

  If you are running your cross-platform web tests by using TestExecute, you have to purchase the license for the Device Cloud add-on for TestExecute separately.

• The Web Testing plugin must be enabled in TestComplete (it is installed and enabled by default).

• The Device Cloud add-on must be installed and enabled in TestComplete (it is installed and enabled by default).

• To run tests in various browsers and on various devices, you must have Selenium Grid that manages them. It can be:

  • A private hub with Selenium Grid configured. It can be Selenium Grid running on your local computer or on a remote computer in your network. To learn more about installing and configuring Selenium Grid, see selenium.dev.

  • Selenium Grid provided as a service by CrossBrowserTesting.

    Note: The Device Cloud add-on provides free access to one parallel test run and an unlimited number of automation minutes you can use to run your tests in CrossBrowserTesting.com environments.

• Your Selenium Grid must be accessible from the computer where TestComplete is installed.

Supported web browsers

TestComplete has a new recording mode that relies on using XPath expressions and CSS selectors when identifying web elements on web pages. This mode is compulsory for creating cross-platform tests. You record a test on your local computer in the new mode, modify the test to run in remote environments managed by your Selenium Grid, and run the test:

1. On the Properties > Open Applications > Web Testing page of your project, enable the new mode:

   

   Click the image to enlarge it.

2. Record a web test on your local computer in one of the browsers that TestComplete supports.

   Note: The choice only affects the test recording. You can then run the test in any web browser, including those that TestComplete does not support directly, like Opera, Safari, and so on.

   To learn more about recording cross-platform tests, see Creating and Running Cross-Platform Web Tests.

3. Remove all local-browser-dependent commands (if any) from the recorded test. For instance:

   • From your keyword test, remove the Run Browser operation.

   • From your script test, remove the Browsers.Item().Run methods.

   • Remove any operations that interact with the browser own interface, for example, with its File menu or with standard dialogs called from the browser.

4. To your test, add instructions that will connect to your device lab provider, access the needed environment, and launch a web browser there:

   If you use CrossBrowserTesting

   If you use any other provider

   Using Name Mapping and Aliases

   Without Name Mapping

   If you use CrossBrowserTesting

   In keyword tests

   To your test, add the Run Remote Browser operation and configure it to run the needed mobile or desktop browser.

   In scripts

   Use the Generate Run Code for CrossBrowserTesting dialog to generate code for running the needed mobile or desktop browser and insert the generated code into your test.

   If you use any other provider

   1. Use capabilities to describe remote environments in which you want to run the recorded test. Which capabilities you can use depend on your Selenium Grid provider. Please view your provider documentation for the list of available capabilities.

   2. Use the Browsers.RemoteItem(server, capabilities).Run method to run a web browser in the described environments. Here, capabilities is an object that describes the target remote environment and server is the URL of your Selenium Grid hub.

5. Iterate through remote browsers and run your recorded test in each of them. For an example, see Iterate Through Remote Testing Environments.

   To run tests in various browsers and on various devices, you must have Selenium Grid that manages them. It can be:

   • A private hub with Selenium Grid configured. It can be Selenium Grid running on your local computer or on a remote computer in your network. To learn more about installing and configuring Selenium Grid, see selenium.dev.

   • Selenium Grid provided as a service by CrossBrowserTesting.

     Note: The Device Cloud add-on provides free access to one parallel test run and an unlimited number of automation minutes you can use to run your tests in CrossBrowserTesting.com environments.

6. After the test run is over, the test results will be available on your local computer.

Using Name Mapping and Aliases

By default, when you record a test, TestComplete automatically adds objects with which you are interacting to the Name Mapping repository of your project. It, how it is called, “maps” the objects: assigns a custom name to them and specifies identification properties that will be used to locate the object on a web page. In cross-browser web tests, the criteria are the collection of XPath expressions and CSS selectors.

TestComplete uses names it assigns to mapped objects (such names are called aliases) to refer to them in tests:

Click the image to enlarge it.

Without Name Mapping

To work with objects that are not added to the Name Mapping repository, you can address them using the FindElement (or WaitElement) method. It locates web elements by CSS selectors and XPath expressions.

Click the image to enlarge it.

To learn more, see Addressing Objects in Cross-Platform Web Tests.

To simulate user actions in cross-platform web tests, you use special methods and properties that TestComplete provides for most common web elements, for example, Click, DblClick, SetText, Keys, and so on.

TestComplete supports standard web elements. That is, your tests can interact with elements implemented as standard tags, like p, div, table, input, and so on. See List of Web Objects.

In addition, TestComplete provides support for third-party web controls and frameworks. It can recognize custom controls implemented with these frameworks and libraries as standard web elements and interact with them.

TestComplete provides advanced support for CrossBrowserTesting which is a web service for running web tests in real mobile and real desktop web browsers. You can find detailed information on CrossBrowserTesting on its website:

crossbrowsertesting.com

TestComplete is tightly integrated with CrossBrowserTesting providing a number of features to simplify running cross-platform web tests in its environments:

• In keyword tests, you can use the Run Remote Browser operation and Remote Browser Loop operation to specify and run a single or multiple remote web browsers in a remote environment managed by CrossBrowserTesting.

• In scripts, you can use the Generate Run Code dialog to generate code that will specify and run a mobile or desktop web browser in a remote environment managed by CrossBrowserTesting.

• You can store your CrossBrowserTesting account credentials directly in your project not to specify them each time you connect to remote environments from your test (AuthKey is stored in the encrypted form).

  In addition, if you still do not have a CrossBrowserTesting account, you can sign up for a free trail directly from TestComplete.

• With the Device Cloud add-on license, you get free access to one parallel test run and an unlimited number of automation minutes for your CrossBrowserTesting.com account. You can use them to run your cross-platform web tests.

You can find the list of devices and browsers that CrossBrowserTesting provides for cross-platform testing on its website:

help.crossbrowsertesting.com/live-testing/general/browsers-devices-available

When creating cross-platform web tests, you may face a number of limitations. See Limitations.

When running your cross-platform web tests in remote environments, you may encounter a number of issues. For detailed information, see Known Issues.

TestComplete includes a sample cross-platform web test project that demonstrates how to connect to Selenium Grid and run web tests in remote environments. To open the project, select Samples > Cross-Platform Web on the TestComplete Start page:

Click the image to enlarge it.

You can also open the project file from your hard drive: <TestComplete 14 Samples>\Web\WebStore_CrossPlatform\WebStore_CrossPlatform_Sample_Project_Suite.pjs.

Note: To use the sample project, you need access to Selenium Grid managed by CrossBrowserTesting.com. If you do not have a CrossBrowserTesting.com account, you can sign up for a free trial directly from the TestComplete IDE.