Installing CubicTest

Have you ever been in need of an advanced testing tool that makes it easy to:

• Test your web-applications by interacting with them as an human user would do
• Let you define test-steps by drawing simple flow-chart-like diagrams
• Auto-draw the test-steps by recording your actions from the browser window
• Automatically re-execute so-recorded texts against a web-browser

Well, this kind of tool really exists: it's CubicTest and in the last days it really lived up to its promises.

In just one day I wrote a complete test-plan and linked each one of the tests planned to a testcase created with CubicTest.
And not only I "wrote" the tests by simply recording my activities inside the browser, but I also left CubicTest the task of executing them automatically, presenting me with the exact step where the failures occurred.

This way I obtained a "real" test-plan, consisting of human-readable, auto-generated and repeatable acceptance-tests.
Something I could easily bundle into an Eclipse application that could be used by my customers when they will try out my project.

Here's how to install CubicTest:

1. Download and install Eclipse at http://download.eclipse.org
2. Add the following update site to Eclipse: http://boss.bekk.no/cubictest/update/ (or download it from http://boss.bekk.no/cubictest/download.html)
3. Select the CubicTest plugins and install them
4. When asked whether to apply the changes or restart click "Apply Changes" and then manually shut-down Eclipse
5. Open the eclipse.ini configuration file (/path/to/eclipse/eclipse.ini or C:\Program Files\Eclipse\eclipse.ini) and add the following line:

On Linux: -DfirefoxDefaultPath=/path/to/firefox_installation/<firefox_executable>

On Windows: -DfirefoxDefaultPath=C:\path\to\firefox_installation\firefox.exe

6. Start Eclipse
7. Follow the tutorials provided by the CubicTest Team and start using it

Let me know if you like this tool (by clicking the title of this post and leaving me a comment).