Ways to support manually executed tests? (that can be used on a Mac)

Posted by Rinzwind on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Rinzwind
Published on 2010-03-24T11:08:42Z Indexed on 2010/03/24 11:13 UTC
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Are there any tools that can be used on a Mac to support manually executed tests? I have a number of tests that I'm executing manually and which I'm currently documenting using merely a plain text file. "Tools" can be interpreted rather loosely here, anything that's a step up from the plain text file would be useful: a template for some suitable application, supporting AppleScript scripts, a web-based system, a full-blown application ...

Some things that would be great to have better support for (see also the example below):

  • Checking off each step while you're manually executing the test.
  • Showing the next step(s) in a small window that is always kept in front of all other windows.
  • Automatically updating the 'last tested' and 'using svn revision' info.
  • Keeping a record of all previous testing rounds (not just the last one).
  • ...

Any suggestions for any such "tools" that can be used on a Mac?


An example (faked) entry from the plain text file to give you a better idea of what I'm looking for:

- Check that exported web pages render properly in Safari.
  Last tested: 2010-03-24
  Using SVN revision: 1000

  Steps:
  - Open a new document.
  - Add some items to the document.
  - Export the document to a web page "Test.html" in a new folder "Export Test"
    on the Desktop.
  - Open the web page in Safari, script:
      tell application "Finder"
        open file "Test.html" of folder "Export Test" of desktop
      end tell

  Expected results:
  - The web page should appear properly with all items shown.

  Clean up steps:
  - Remove the folder "Export Test" from the Desktop.

( Note: for those unaware, the snippet of AppleScript in the above can be executed from most text editing applications through the Services menu by selecting the snippet and using: the application menu > Services > Script Editor > Run as AppleScript. This is quite useful to automate some steps for tests that are difficult to automate as a whole. )

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