P<scp>esto</scp>: Automated migration of DOM‐based Web tests towards the visual approach

Abstract

Summary Test automation tools are widely adopted for testing complex Web applications. Three generations of tools exist: first, based on screen coordinates; second, based on DOM–based commands; and third, based on visual image recognition. In our previous work, we proposed P esto , a tool able to migrate second‐generation Selenium WebDriver test suites towards third‐generation Sikuli ones. In this work, we extend P esto to manage Web elements having (1) complex visual interactions and (2) multiple visual appearances. P esto relies on aspect‐oriented programming, computer vision, and code transformations. Our new improved tool has been evaluated on two Web test suites developed by an independent tester. Experimental results show that P esto manages and transforms correctly test suites with Web elements having complex visual interactions and multistate elements. By using P esto , the migration of existing DOM–based test suites to the visual approach requires a low manual effort, since our approach proved to be very accurate.