What options are there for building automated tests for GUIs written in Java Swing?
I'd like to test some GUIs which have been written using the NetBeans Swing GUI Builder, so something that works without requiring special tampering of the code under test would be ideal.
I haven't used it personally, but SwingUnit looks quite good. You can use it with jUnit, and it isn't based on "location of components" (i.e. x and y co-ordinates).
The only thing you may have to do with the NetBeans GUI Builder is set unique names for your components.
I'm currently using FEST. It works with JUnit and will also take screenshots of failed tests.
It has default component hunting methods which look for the name of the component being tested (which need to be set manually), but you can also generate the testers for a given component by passing it the component.
I use java.awt.Robot. Is not nice, is not easy but works every time.
Pros:
Cons:
Now if you have the budget I would go for LoadRunner. Best in class.
(Disclosure: relationship to the company that owns LR, but I worked with LR before the relationship)
You can try to use Cucumber and Swinger for writing functional acceptance tests in plain english for Swing GUI applications. Swinger uses Netbeans' Jemmy library under the hood to drive the app.
Cucumber allows you to write tests like this:
Scenario: Dialog manipulation
Given the frame "SwingSet" is visible
And the frame "SwingSet" is the container
When I click the menu "File/About"
Then I should see the dialog "About Swing!"
Given the dialog "About Swing!" is the container
When I click the button "OK"
Then I should not see the dialog "About Swing!"
Take a look at this Swinger video demo to see it in action.