Learning-Replay Based Automated Robotic Testing for Mobile App

Abstract

Record-replay testing is widely used in mobile app testing as an automated testing method. However, the current record-replay methods are closely dependent on the internal information of the device or app under test. Due to the diversity of mobile devices and system platforms, their practical use is limited. To break this limitation, this paper proposes an entirely black-box learning-replay testing approach by combining robotics and vision technology to achieve a record-replay testing that can support cross-device and cross-platform. Firstly, vision technology is used to extract the critical information of GUI and gesture actions during the tester’s testing process; secondly, the GUI composition and test actions are analyzed to form a test sequence; finally, the robotic arm is guided to complete the replay of the test sequence through visual judgment. On the one hand, the approach in this paper does not access the interior of the app, shielding the association between test actions and device; on the other hand, it captures more abstract test action information instead of simple operation location records and supports more flexible test action replay. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by evaluating the learning-replay of 12 popular apps for 13 typical scenarios on the same device, across devices, and across platforms.