Lightweight Test Automation Framework for ASP.NET
What is the Lightweight Test Automation Framework for ASP.NET?
The Lightweight Test Automation Framework for ASP.NET was developed and is used
by the ASP.NET QA Team to automate regression tests for the product.
It is designed to run within an ASP.NET application.
Tests can be written in any .NET Framework language. They use an API to manipulate
and verify the DOM of the browser. This framework supports running tests in Microsoft
Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Opera.
Note that even though the Lightweight Test Automation Framework for ASP.NET can
be used to automate testing for any general-purpose Web application, its design
was driven by the needs of the QA Team to automate ASP.NET regression tests.
How do I use the samples?
1. Download the sample from the Web site and then open it in Visual Studio 2008.
The Web site contains a small application and tests to automate it. The following
illustration shows the Web site structure.

2. Navigate to Home.aspx to interact with the Web site. To log in, use the user
name ValidUser and use any string for the password. The page contains a GridView
control that lets the user edit, delete, and insert data about school classes and
grades. The following illustration shows a screen shot of the sample application.

3. Navigate to \test\Default.aspx. This loads the testing UI, shown in the following
illustration:

4. Select tests from the tree view and then click Run Tests. The tests will run
and display their progress in the right-hand frame.
5. To examine the test code, browse to the App_Code\Tests folder, and then open
any file to inspect the test source code.
How do I debug test errors?
When a test fails, it is marked in red in the test tree. To examine the log, click
the test name. The log information is displayed as shown in the following illustration:
The log contains the stack trace of the test and the DOM that was captured by the
Lightweight Test Automation Framework at the moment of failure.
You can also have the test framework write a simple log to disk. To do so, select
the Write Log to Disk check box before you run the tests. Note that this feature
requires write access to the Web site’s root folder.
How do I use the Lightweight Test Automation Framework for ASP.NET with my own Web
site?
To use the test framework in your Web site, follow these steps.
1. Copy LTAF.dll into the Bin folder of your Web site. If
you are testing a Web application, add the DLL as a reference to the project.
2. Copy Default.aspx and DriverPage.aspx into a folder in the Web site.
By convention, the ASP.NET QA team uses the Test folder, but you can use any folder
that you want. These are the pages that are required in order to run the tests.
If you are testing a Web site project, put tests in the App_Code folder. If you
are testing a Web application project, you can put tests in any folder.
How do I filter the test tree?
The automation framework accepts the query-string values that are useful for filtering
and running tests. You add these arguments when you request a page in the browser
in order to start a test.
You can use the following query-string variables:
- Tag=<tag_identifier>
- Selects all tests that are marked with the WebTestTagAttribute and that have the
specified identifier. For example, to have the framework automatically select a
method that is marked with the [WebTestTag("DataScenarios")] attribute,
you can browse to the following URL:
- http://server/site/test/Default.aspx?tag=DataScenarios
-
By default, the names of all classes that are marked with the WebTestClassAttribute
and the name of all methods that are marked with the WebTestMethodAttribute are
already identifiers.
- You can specify multiple tag identifiers by concatenating them with the “@” symbol,
as shown in the following example:
- http://server/site/test/Default.aspx?tag=Pri0@MyTestMethod
-
This example shows how to automatically select all tests that have the [WebTestTag("Pri0")]
attribute and additionally to select the test method named “MyTestMethod”.
- Filter=[true|false]
- Passing true causes the Lightweight Test Automation Framework to remove all unselected
tests from the test tree.
- Run=[true|false]
- Passing true causes the Lightweight Test Automation Framework to start running the
selected tests on load.
Additional Resources
For more information, see the following resources: