Comprehensive Semantic Repair of Obsolete GUI Test Scripts for Mobile Applications

Shaoheng Cao, Minxue Pan, Yu Pei, Wenhua Yang, Tian Zhang, Linzhang Wang, Xuandong Li

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

Graphical User Interface (GUI) testing is one of the primary approaches for testing mobile apps. Test scripts serve as the main carrier of GUI testing, yet they are prone to obsolescence when the GUIs change with the apps' evolution. Existing repair approaches based on GUI layouts or images prove effective when the GUI changes between the base and updated versions are minor, however, they may struggle with substantial changes. In this paper, a novel approach named COSER is introduced as a solution to re-pairing broken scripts, which is capable of addressing larger GUI changes compared to existing methods. COSER incorporates both external semantic information from the GUI elements and internal semantic information from the source code to provide a unique and comprehensive solution. The efficacy of COSER was demonstrated through experiments conducted on 20 Android apps, resulting in superior performance when compared to the state-of-the-art tools METER and GUIDER. In addition, a tool that implements the COSER approach is available for practical use and future research.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2024 ACM/IEEE 44th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2024
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages1096-1108
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9798400702174
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024
Event44th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2024 - Lisbon, Portugal
Duration: 14 Apr 202420 Apr 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering
ISSN (Print)0270-5257

Conference

Conference44th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2024
Country/TerritoryPortugal
CityLisbon
Period14/04/2420/04/24

Keywords

  • Android testing
  • GUI test script repair
  • regression testing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software

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