Dark Mode Testing, Other Languages, Other Screens: One Test for All Variations

To test dark mode, other languages and other screens without copying the test, keep one test whose checks hold a version per variation.A run picks the variation, and the steps stay the same.

It is one of the most common problems in test automation.A test passes in light mode on your desk, then fails in dark mode, in French or on a colleague's laptop, while nothing is broken.

Why does a test fail in dark mode when nothing is broken?

In GUI Test Studio, what a check expects is the visual target of a Visual Assert, the expected text of a Text Assert, the shape of a Dynamic Text Assert or the arrangement of a Layout Assert.The recording gives each check its first expected look, called the default.

Dark mode, another language, another screen: what changes on a correct screen

The same screen can rightly look different.The app is not broken, it is shown in another variation, and a check that holds one version cannot tell the difference.

Why copying the test for each variation does not last

When a correct screen keeps failing in one variation, teams usually reach for one of three shortcuts.

Why a passing test can still miss what users see is the subject of visual bugs your automated tests miss.Why a check that fails for no reason is worse than no check is in flaky tests and false positives.

What it takes in a coded test framework

In a coded framework such as Playwright, Selenium or Cypress, the variations are yours to build and keep up in code.

The idea is the same: one variation, one set of expectations.What differs is how much you write and maintain to get there.

One test for all variations: baseline profiles

GUI Test Studio, which automates end-to-end tests on Windows without code, keeps every version inside the test.You name your variations as baseline profiles, such as Dark mode, French, 4K monitor or Windows 10.Each check can then hold one version of what it expects per profile, next to its default.

Every kind of check can hold versions: Visual Asserts, Text Asserts, Dynamic Text Asserts and Layout Asserts.In a Group Assert, each member holds its own.See the Baselines guide for every window involved.

What changes from one variation to the next, and what never does

A profile changes what a check expects.It never changes how the check looks for it.

Testing an app in several languages: the steps change too

A test in another language often needs more than other pictures.It types other words, opens another address or uploads another file.So every step of the test can hold a profile's version of what it does, while its place on the screen and its moment stay shared.

A shortcut can differ too: in Microsoft Word in French, bold is Ctrl+G rather than Ctrl+B, so the Key Press step holds a French version.

How a Text Assert reads and compares a text is explained in Text checks.

How to add dark mode to an existing test, step by step

The quickest way to fill a profile is a run under it.The checks that look different fail, you review them, and you keep the ones that are right.

1. 1

   Name the profile

   In Settings, Project Settings, add a baseline profile named Dark mode in the Baseline Profiles card.A profile is only a name until its checks get their versions.

2. 2

   Run the test under the profile

   Switch your app to dark mode.On the test's page in GUI Test Runner-Recorder, choose Dark mode in the Baseline row, then click Run Test.

   

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3. 3

   Review each failed check

   The checks still compare against the light look, so the ones that look different fail.Open each one in the Confidence Report and decide whether the dark look is right.

4. 4

   Accept the dark looks that are right

   Click Accept actual as baseline for Dark mode on each check you reviewed.The default light look stays as it was.

   

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5. 5

   Save, then run again

   Save the report's changes into the test, and run it once more under Dark mode.Every check now compares against its own dark version.

Or capture the version in GUI Test Studio

Select a check, open its Baselines tab and select the profile.Every field of the Properties panel now shows that profile's version, and an edit of what the check expects goes into it.Capture... starts a screen capture with the check's region drawn where it stood, and Capture the Same Region takes the profile's picture from that very place.

You can also ask your AI assistant to add a profile or capture a version, through Create a test from a prompt.

When the app changes on purpose: accept the new look in one click

A new look is accepted when the app changes on purpose.Accept only what you have reviewed, and keep a way back.

Update a test after a change walks through the report's accept, and the Confidence Report explains everything it shows.

Run every variation in CI/CD

A run uses one profile.In GUI Test Runner-Recorder, it is the Baseline row of the test's page.On a build agent, gtr-cli takes --baseline-profile followed by the profile's name.

gtr-cli run tests\Checkout.GTS --junit results\default.xml
gtr-cli run tests\Checkout.GTS --baseline-profile "Dark mode" --junit results\dark.xml
gtr-cli run tests\Checkout.GTS --baseline-profile "French" --junit results\french.xml

Run tests in your pipeline lists every option of gtr-cli.

Browsers and devices are handled another way

A web test does not need a profile per browser or device: GUI Test Runner-Recorder generates a version of the recorded test for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and emulated phones and tablets, with pictures cut from each one.See cross-browser testing from one recording.

Baseline profiles are for what changes the look of the same app on the same kind of screen: a theme, a language, a scaling, a version of Windows or an edition of your app.That works for desktop apps, web apps, games and phones alike.

What to know before you start

Key takeaways

• 1A test that expects one look fails a correct screen in dark mode, in another language, at another scaling or on another version of Windows.
• 2Copies and looser checks do not last: the copies drift apart, and a looser check hides real bugs.
• 3GUI Test Studio keeps every variation inside one test, one version per baseline profile, for every check and every step.
• 4Where to look, how long to wait and how strict to be stay shared, so no variation makes the test more forgiving.
• 5A run picks one variation, and a new look comes from accepting a reviewed result in the Confidence Report.

Questions

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