Visual Studio 2010 Test Automation - Coded UI

Coded UI Test and Test Automation

Test automation is the process of automating successfully executed manual tests using specific automation software, comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting function. Although manual tests may find many defects in a software application, it is a laborious and time consuming process. In addition it may not be effective in finding certain classes of defects. Test automation is a process of writing a computer program to do testing that would otherwise need to be done manually. Once tests have been automated, they can be run quickly. This is often the most cost effective method for software products that have a long maintenance life, because even minor patches over the lifetime of the application can cause features to break which were working at an earlier point in time.

What to automate, when to automate, or even whether one really needs automation are crucial decisions which the testing (or development) team must make. Selecting the correct features of the product for automation largely determines the success of the automation. Automating unstable features or features that are undergoing changes should be avoided.

Coded UI Test is the Test Automation offering within Visual Studio 2010. The process of automation using Coded UI test is slightly different to others in the market place as it does not have dependency on expensive automation specialist