Design and Implementation of a Framework for Automating Graphical User Interface (GUI) Testing Applied to Dynamic Web Applications

Abstract

This research aims to develop a framework to improve the automated testing process of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) in web applications, focusing on addressing challenges posed by the dynamic nature of modern web applications. These challenges include the instability of automated tests due to changes in GUI elements locators, inadequate coverage of input scenarios, and incomplete coverage of untested paths resulting from dynamic interactions. The research seeks to enhance automated tools’ adaptability to dynamic changes in interface elements by using Document Object Model (DOM) analysis techniques and decoupling elements from test scenarios through the Page Object Model (POM). It also aims to expand input scenario coverage by generating random test data stored in JSON files and improve the detection of untested paths through an automated framework that covers all interface elements. This project employs Selenium WebDriver alongside PHP, JavaScript, and JSON to build a practical web application featuring seven pages in order to test the applicability and evaluate the framework presented by the researcher. The research demonstrates that this framework significantly enhances automation tools’ ability to adapt to dynamic GUI changes by improving code maintainability and reusability. It also improves the scope and efficiency of test coverage by capturing all GUI elements and provides detailed performance analysis reports that display test results, coverage percentage, and the time consumed during the testing process.