Web Browser Automation - Geb
BY: KYLE ROGAHN
COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR
UW PLATTEVILLE
4/3/2012
Introduction
 Geb is a web browser automation tool
 JQuery + Webdriver + Groovy
 Advantageous in certain web development projects
 New: not even at version 1.0
On Deck
 Browser Automation – Geb at a high level
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 What is it – the details
 Webdriver
 Groovy
 Jquery
 Page Object Model
 Example code
 testing
Web Browser Automation
 Programmatically control
your web browser
 Use this ability to write
tests for web applications
 Improved quality
assurance process
Advantages
 Eliminate tedious manual
testing


Good fit for large projects
with many test cases
Unit tests not enough to catch
errors
Integration of complex
systems
 MVC example
 Data Access Objects –
retrieving customer
information

Advantages
 Save time (and money)
 Speed
up navigation
through many pages
 Reduce data entry
 What takes a person
minutes Geb can do in
seconds
Advantages
 Easy to learn
 Readability
 Semantics
easy to figure out
 Going to the google home page
“To” keyword, google home page defined as an
object
To GoogleHomePage
 Low learning curve
Disadvantages
 Less useful on smaller projects
 May
cost more time than it saves
 Manual testing may suffice
 Could still use it if desired
 Guaranteed Learning curve
 Since it’s new there’s a high chance developers
will not know it
 Comes down to affordability
 Although, learning curve is not that high
Disadvantages
 Configuration issues
 Specific
environment needed
If using a compatible environment already it is
easy
May be tough otherwise
 Grails, Maven, Gradle are suggested
 Switching environments may be too costly
 Software Engineering Management Decisions
What Makes Up Geb
 WebDriver
 Handles automation
 JQuery
 Used for content selection
 Groovy
 Syntax based on this language
 Page Object Model
 Architecture that makes Geb powerful
WebDriver
 Driving force behind browser automation
 Modifies document object model (DOM) components
 Control browser behavior
 DOM components
 Interface content
 Buttons, text fields…etc
 WebDriver by itself vs. Geb
 Geb is simpler, more readable, and easier to learn
WebDriver Example
Groovy
 Dynamic programming language for the JVM
 Similar to Ruby
 Combined with some of the powerful features of Java
 Integrates well with all Java libraries
 Supports mocking for unit testing
 Easy to learn and read
Groovy Example
Comparing to Ruby
Class HelloExample
Def hello entity
puts “Hello, #{entity}!”
end
End
def main
example = HelloExample.new()
example.hello(‘world’)
end
JQuery
 Content Selection
 Improvement over WebDriver’s DOM content selector
 Important to quickly locate desired objects on a page
 Ability to modify html code
 Event handlers and overwriting
 Support for all major browsers
 Some of its syntax makes its way into Geb
Jquery Example
Testing Frameworks
 Geb can be combined with
many testing frameworks
 Or used in-line
 Spock is the recommended
framework



Included in the Geb package
Configuration: Import
geb.spock.GebSpec
Clearest and most concise way to
write Geb tests
In-line Geb
 Go vs driver.get(…)
 Assert without test
framework

Webdriver:
driver.getTitle() then
compare using .equals
 $ - Jquery
 sendKeys() in
WebDriver
Page Object Model
 Non inline Geb programs – preferred
 Increase maintainability and reusability
 Based on the notion of page objects
 Define
a class for each page of your application
 Call on page components when needed
 Only have to use JQuery for lookup once
 Powerful!
Typical Page Class
Geb Testing Using Page Classes
 Test specifications
Specific names
 Readability/Maintainability
 Spock framework
 Extra keywords to simplify
tests
 Do something then check the
result
 Are we on the right page?
 Did a certain component
change?

Testing Example
 Go to the login page
 Make sure we’re there
 Try to login as an admin
 Click login
 Check if we are at the
admin page
Conclusion
 Geb is easy to read, write, learn, and modify.
 Saves a large amount of testing time
 Larger application test coverage
 Page object model is powerful
 Effective keywords
 Read The Book of Geb

www.gebish.org
 Watch the selenium conference speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2qXCBT_QBs