Extending HtmlUnit for test automatisation of Web applications using AJAX

Abstract

Software testing is a part of the software development process.<br />It is a challenging task and testing Web-based applications may be even more difficult, due to the peculiarities of such applications. New technologies in internet applications require adaptations of most test frameworks. A very popular technology which is widely used from many well known internet services is called AJAX. AJAX stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML" and is a combination of many known technologies, which allow asynchronous data communication between server and client. In contrast to the standard synchronous data communication, which means loading an entire web page after each request, AJAX allows dynamic refreshes of the web page and data exchange of parts of the page. Thus testing of such internet applications is different from testing of "normal" applications because there can be interactions with the server without the need to load a new page. Communication is done in the background and the current page stays the same except of minor changes.<br />This paper gives an overview of the basic principles of automated software tests, especially automated testing of web based applications. Furthermore it shows the influence of AJAX concerning web development and testing of web applications. The main issue of this paper is to extend HtmlUnit for test automation of web applications using AJAX.<br />Based on the used concepts it is possible to extend further test frameworks.<br />HtmlUnit is a test framework for internet applications. It simulates a web browser and provides many functions to check the content of a web page. HtmlUnit doesn't have a graphical user interface but it is written in the programming language Java. Test cases are written using JUnit tests but like many other test frameworks HtmlUnit has some problems testing AJAX enabled internet applications.<br />

Software testing is a part of the software development process.<br />It is a challenging task and testing Web-based applications may be even more difficult, due to the peculiarities of such applications. New technologies in internet applications require adaptations of most test frameworks. A very popular technology which is widely used from many well known internet services is called AJAX. AJAX stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML" and is a combination of many known technologies, which allow asynchronous data communication between server and client. In contrast to the standard synchronous data communication, which means loading an entire web page after each request, AJAX allows dynamic refreshes of the web page and data exchange of parts of the page. Thus testing of such internet applications is different from testing of "normal" applications because there can be interactions with the server without the need to load a new page. Communication is done in the background and the current page stays the same except of minor changes.<br />This paper gives an overview of the basic principles of automated software tests, especially automated testing of web based applications. Furthermore it shows the influence of AJAX concerning web development and testing of web applications. The main issue of this paper is to extend HtmlUnit for test automation of web applications using AJAX.<br />Based on the used concepts it is possible to extend further test frameworks.<br />HtmlUnit is a test framework for internet applications. It simulates a web browser and provides many functions to check the content of a web page. HtmlUnit doesn't have a graphical user interface but it is written in the programming language Java. Test cases are written using JUnit tests but like many other test frameworks HtmlUnit has some problems testing AJAX enabled internet applications.