Visual checks

How a visual check works

A visual check holds a small picture of an element, its visual target: a button, an icon, a field, a logo.While the test runs, the GTS Engine + AI finds that element on the live screen, first by asking the application where it is, through its accessibility information, then by sight when the application does not say, and compares it with the picture.

The comparison is smart: it does not fail a test because a screen renders a shade lighter or an edge a little softer than last time.It does fail when a person would see a difference.

Visual Assert

Checks that an element is on screen and looks right.It is the check a recording creates before each click, and the most common check of all.

Show it what to look for

1. 1

   Select the check and click Edit Visual Target

   The Visual Target Editor opens on the frame of the recording at that moment.To cut the visual target from another moment, click Use Another Frame....Its line turns amber while the frame shown is not the check's own.

2. 2

   Draw a rectangle around the element

   Drag a rectangle around the element you want to check, a little beyond its edges.Move it by its middle, resize it by its handles, or nudge it with the arrow keys.You can also drag a picture in from Content Files, or capture one from your screen.

3. 3

   Check the search area

   The dashed rectangle is the search area: where the run looks for the element.It follows the visual target when you move it; click its padlock to keep it where it is.See below.

4. 4

   Apply

   The Properties panel now shows the visual target.

Enlarge

The search area

Visual Absent Assert

Waits until an element is gone: a spinner, a "please wait" banner, a dialog that must close.It passes once the element has stayed away for a moment, and fails if it is still on screen when its time runs out.

Visual Count Assert

Counts how many times an element is on screen and holds the total to a rule.

In the editor, every place the element is found is numbered on the frame, and a line under it says whether the rule holds on that frame: you know before you run.

Enlarge

How strict the comparison is

Each visual check has a Verification Strictness.Standard is right for almost everything.

Ignore Color checks the shape alone, whatever the colours: useful when a theme changes colours you do not want to test.

Clicks follow the element

When a Visual Assert finds its element somewhere else than in the recording, the clicks that come after it are aimed at where the element is now, not where it was.A small layout change does not send a click into empty space.

Text checks can do the same with their Move Mouse To option: the clicks after the check are aimed at the text it found.

See also Timeouts, search areas and failures.