Visual Studio has a variety of ways to test your code. \u2013 one of them we call \u201cCoded UI\u201d.\u00a0 Coded UI testing is useful when you want to automate a full functional test, as a user would do it, against the UI of your application.\u00a0 You usually start by recording a test case \u2013 you manually execute the test in the app and the recorder watches what you do.\u00a0 You also define as set of things you want to verify about the result.\u00a0 It turns your actions into a sequence of events to send to controls in your application.\u00a0 It can generate code for that sequence of events and you can then tweak that code if you like.<\/p>\n
In order to do this, the Coded UI tools have to be able to reach into your app and automate actions against its various components.\u00a0 As a general rule, doing that at the top level \u2013 key strokes and mouse clicks is a bad idea because it makes the test too fragile and too difficult to maintain.\u00a0 Those lower level events are turned into application level actions \u2013 button pushes, list selection, etc.\u00a0 In order to do that, your app must expose the structure\/behavior of its controls in a way that can be automated.\u00a0 Of course, we\u2019ve made sure it works for all the built in controls but what about custom controls or 3rd party controls?<\/p>\n
We need to understand them.\u00a0 To enable that we support automating using Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) which is the same interface screen readers and the like use to help people with disabilities use software.\u00a0 The advantage of doing it that way is that a control implementer can, in one fell swoop, make their controls both accessible and testable \u2013 a double benefit.<\/p>\n
MSAA gives you a basic level of testability but you can go further \u2013 enabling validation, composition of lower-level actions into logical actions, etc.\u00a0 And the more you do, the richer your testing support can be.\u00a0 For automating tests on custom controls, one can follow the below ladder to add Coded UI support as described in the blog http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/b\/visualstudioalm\/archive\/2011\/10\/28\/coded-ui-test-extension-for-3rd-party-controls-the-basics-explained.aspx<\/a>.\u00a0 The graphic here shows a path from no support to\u00a0rich testing support with Coded UI tests.<\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/7776.clip_image001_thumb_4E7B8F49.jpg\")
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