A Complete Guide On Graphical User Interface Testing

When we create something for our customers, we make sure to check once before delivering the product. In the IT sector, this process is known as software testing. 

Software testing evaluates and verifies the quality of a product or an application. And it works on removing bugs and improving performance.  

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) works with icons, menus, and a mouse to manage interaction with the system. For instance, Windows, macOS, or Android environments, work on commands sent through mouse movements. 

Do you know how a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is tested?

Learn about Graphical User Interface testing in this blog. 

GUI Testing

• Graphical User Interface (GUI) testing is a process of testing the system's GUI of the system under test.
• GUI testing involves checking the screens with the controls like menus, buttons, icons, and different types of bars - toolbar, menu bar, dialog boxes, and windows.
• GUI stands for Graphical User Interface and it use where you interact with the computer using images rather than text.
• Following GUI elements which can be used for interaction between the user and application.

Why Is GUI Testing Important

• To Find out if all functions work correctly are on various platforms.
• To find out if all functions are user friendly.
• To find out all displays are user understandable.
• To find out all wording makes sense and is consistent.
• To have new released tested and be sure nothing is broken.

What Do You Check In GUI Testing?

• Check all the elements for size, position, width, length and acceptance of characters or numbers. For example, you must be able to provide inputs to the input fields.
• Check you can execute the desired functionality of the application using the GUI.
• Check error messages are displayed correctly.
• Check for clear delimitation of different sections on screen.
• Check font used in application is readable.
• Check alignment of the text is proper.
• Check the color of the font and warning messages is aesthetically delight.
• Check that the images have good clarity.
• Check that the images are properly aligned.
• Check the positioning of GUI elements for other screen resolutions.

GUI Testing Techniques / Methods

It can be done in three ways:

Manual Based Testing in GUI:

Testers checks all the graphics with the prerequisites in business document manually.

Example Of Manual Based Testing In GUI

Record And Play In GUI:

This is an automated GUI testing tool; all the tasks are recorded during the test. The recorded steps or tasks are executed with expected behavior. Now, this can be repeated several times with various data sets.

Example Of Record & Play In GUI Testing

Model-Based Testing in GUI:

• It is a software testing technique where run time behavior of software under test is checked against predictions made by a model.
• A model is a description of a system's behavior.
• Behavior can be described in terms of input sequences, actions, conditions, output and flow of data from input to output.
• It should be practically understandable and can be reusable; shareable must have a certain description of the system under test.

Example Of Model-Based Testing

Types of MBT:

Two types of Model based testing framework.

Offline: Generation of test suites before executing those suites. A test suite is nothing but a collection of test cases.

Online: Generation of test suites during test execution.

Challenges Of Model-Based Testing

Deployment of MBT in every organization obviously requires a high amount of investments and effort. Following are drawbacks of MBT in Software Engineering.

• Necessary skills required in testers.
• Learning curve time will be more.
• Difficult to understand the model itself.

Model-Based Testing (MBT) Advantages:

Following are the advantages of Model-Based Testing (MBT).

• Once MBT is completed, it become easier to main test cases or suites.
• It reduces the recurring cost for test cases or suites maintained in long-term.
• Test coverage improved for any project under test.
• It is capable for execute different tests on multiple machines.
• It helps to determine early defect detection.
• It can increase the defect volume.
• It has proven for be time-saving and quality testing approach.

GUI Testing Tools

• Ranorex
• Testim
• Selenium
• QTP
• Cucumber
• SilkTest
• TestComplete
• Squish GUI Tester

Demo Of GUI Testing:

TC1. To verify that the size, position, width, height of the elements proper or not.

TC2. To verify the different sections of the screen.

TC3. To verify the font whether it is readable or not.

TC4. To verify the screen in different resolutions with the help of zooming in and zooming out.

TC5. To verify the alignment of the texts and other elements like icons, buttons, etc. are in proper place or not.

TC6. To verify the TAB button must work properly while jumping on another field next to previous.

TC7. To verify whether the image has good clarity or not.

TC8. To verify the alignment of the images.

TC9. To verify the spelling right or wrong.

TC10. To verify the error must be generated in the RED color wherever it is necessary.

TC11. To verify the proper labels must be used in the error messages.

TC12. To verify the only 1 radio button must be selected and more than single checkboxes may be selected.

TC13. To verify the single radio buttons must be selected by default every time.

TC14. To verify the clicking on any radio button the default mouse pointer must be changed to the hand mouse pointer.

TC15. To verify the color of the hyperlink.

TC16. To verify that after updating any field a proper successfully updated message must be displayed.

TC17. To verify there must be a proper error dialog generated if something has been wrong.

Conclusion:

This blog is wrapped up with GUI testing techniques and methods, various types of Model-Based Testing (MBT), benefits and challenges, testing tools, and a testing demo for you. 

Now, you can understand what GUI testing is and how you have to work on it. Try and start testing Graphical User Interface (GUI) for your clients.