Comments on: Don’t unit-test GUI

By: www.hans-eric.com » Blog Archive » Did I say don’t unit-test GUIs?

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:48:20 +0000

[...] life funny? Two weeks ago I stated my opinion that unit-testing graphical user interfaces isn’t worth the trouble. Now I find myself doing it, writing unit-tests for GUI [...]

By: » Daily Bits - December 25, 2007 Alvin Ashcraft’s Daily Geek Bits: Daily links plus random ramblings about development, gadgets and raising rugrats.

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 01:49:21 +0000

[...] Don’t Unit Test GUI (via Arjan’s World) [...]

By: Grayger

Grayger — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:07:46 +0000

GUI is unit-testable (automatically tested)! I test my Swing code with UISpec4J and I am satisfied with it. I admit testing GUI still has some limitations, but the limitations are decreasing due to tools’ support.

By: BlogReader

BlogReader — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 22:58:54 +0000

[ and compared to my programming interfaces, my guis tend to change relatively often. ]

How do you make your changes? Compile, redeploy, and then go to that screen? Unit tests could save you this time consuming way of developing by running a small test right there.

And if it breaks often, good It might save you from shooting yourself in the foot.

By: Hans-Eric

Hans-Eric — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:06:16 +0000

I believe a view in not important as is, it should be a state representation of the application.

Amen to that!

By: Hans-Eric

Hans-Eric — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:05:12 +0000

I think you are right, but I suggest a different solution. I believe a lot of the GUI-related problems could be addressed by changing the design, pulling the presentation logic out of the GUI layer.

By: Hans-Eric

Hans-Eric — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:57:34 +0000

That’s exactly my point of view too. Make the GUI dumb. Maybe one should think of the GUI as composed of a View layer (dumb components, no need for unit-testing) and an Application Logic layer (which can be tested).

By: Hans-Eric

Hans-Eric — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:50:06 +0000

Peace brother!
I might also become a GUI tester one day, but as today I’m not convinced it’s to my benefit.

By: Hans-Eric

Hans-Eric — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:43:42 +0000

You’re definitely right about business applications and GUI bugs, that’s my experience too. But then again, a lot of the presentation logic, like enable/disable of fields and interrelated dropdowns as you mention, could be built into the business logic layer (maybe application logic layer is a better name). The GUI would then be a mere displayer of state through an observer pattern, and an invoker of change. That’s how I like to build my user interfaces.

By: Samori Gorse

Samori Gorse — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:37:07 +0000

By building the application logic and then the GUI you may focused on the behaviour of the application, not on the implementation.

You could then test the logic, and the view right after. Since you would provide interfaces between logic and view.

I believe a view in not important as is, it should be a state representation of the application.