Controlling and testing native MacOS applications

At the moment QF-Test primarily supports functional testing of Java and Web applications. We are working on a comparable module for testing native MacOS applications with equivalent processes and features. The module described in this chapter provides a temporary solution when simple control of native MacOS applications is required during testing of process flow across Java, Web and MacOS applications.

The module allows control of native MacOS GUI elements via the MacOS Accessibility interface. It can trigger actions and check certain values. Further information about this interface can be found in the corresponding documentation.

Procedures in the standard libraryqfs.qft wrap the methods of the module most frequently required.

It is not possible to record actions or checks directly (capturing). The parameters identifying a GUI object need to be determined and then be passed to the respective procedure.

Actions are replayed via 'hard' system events mainly. This results in a different replay behavior than you are used to with QF-Test for Java or web applications.

Despite these restrictions the module can be very helpful for simple testing and controlling tasks on native MacOS applications.

Proceeding