One order, two files

Order Desk has one scenario in two files. A new order for Ada Shop Ltd goes through checkout and is placed.

• uitest/place-order.json is a recorded test. A person can read it, replay it from the palette or the agent, and run it in Maven and CI. There is nothing to compile.
• PlaceOrderUiIT is a Java test: a JUnit 5 class with @UiTest.

Both were recorded by an agent and reviewed by a person. Both start at a reset and both end with the order placed. They differ in what they may check at the end.

What the recorded test checks

A recorded test holds exact values only: what a person could read off the screen when it was recorded. At the end of place-order, the agent confirms the order and checks the order's tab that opens, then the Invoice tab:

    {
      "action" : "answer",
      "say" : "Confirm the order",
      "button" : "Place order",
      "checks" : [
        {
          "say" : "The new order is Placed",
          "target" : {
            "role" : "label",
            "name" : "Placed"
          },
          "text" : "Placed"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "action" : "click",
      "say" : "Open the Invoice tab",
      "target" : {
        "role" : "tab",
        "name" : "Invoice"
      },
      "checks" : [
        {
          "say" : "The payment line shows the PO number PO-7781",
          "target" : {
            "role" : "label",
            "name" : "Invoice (30 days) · PO PO-7781"
          },
          "text" : "Invoice (30 days) · PO PO-7781"
        },
        {
          "say" : "The invoice total is €37.20",
          "target" : {
            "role" : "label",
            "name" : "Total"
          },
          "text" : "€37.20"
        }
      ]
    }

The file holds no date, so place-order passes on any day. The invoice total, €37.20, is what the order adds up to.

There is no order number in the file. The app gives each new order the next number, ORD-1640 on a fresh start and a different one after that, so the recorded test cannot know it. It checks what is predictable: Placed, the PO line and the invoice total. A recorded test never reads a value from the app to use later; it has no parameters or captures. That is on purpose. It keeps the file readable by anyone who can use the app, and it is why the two kinds do not mix.

What the Java test checks

PlaceOrderUiIT runs the same scenario and ends differently. It reads the new order's number from the status bar, then looks for that order in the Orders table:

// the number is the app's next one: wait for the status bar to name the order whose tab is selected, so a
// rerun against a running app passes too (the last run's "Order … placed" shows until this one replaces it)
String order = eventually("the status bar naming the new order", Duration.ofMillis(8000L), () -> {
    String placed = ui.main().label("placed").contains().text();   // "Order ORD-1640 placed"
    String number = placed.substring("Order ".length(), placed.indexOf(" placed"));
    return ui.tab(number).states().contains("selected") ? number : null;
}, number -> number != null);
assertThat(ui.tab(order)).isSelected();
ui.inWindow("main").saveScreenshot("PlaceOrderUiIT/09-placed.png", 2);

ui.tab("Orders").click();

assertThat(ui.tab("Orders").table().cell("Status")).hasCell(row("Order", order), "Status", "Placed");
assertThat(ui.tab("Orders").table().cell("Status")).hasCell(row("Order", order), "Total", "€37.20");
ui.inWindow("main").saveScreenshot("PlaceOrderUiIT/10-orders-after.png", 2);

That is Java: a variable (order), a wait for a value that changes, and a lookup with it. A recorded test cannot do that. The Java test is also where a 2x screenshot is taken after every step.

Where a technical check would go

Order Desk keeps its data in memory, so it has no database to look into. In a real app, "the order is placed" may also mean a row in a database, a file on disk or a line in a log. The screen does not show those, and a recorded test cannot read them. That check is Java: after the UI steps, the test reads the new order's number as above and asks the database for it. The UI steps can come from a recording; the technical check is code that you or the agent write next to it.

Which one to write

• Start with a recorded test. It covers what a person can see, it is cheap to fix, and it replays from the palette.
• Write a Java test when the test must read a value that changes per run, or check something the screen does not show.

Recorded tests or Java tests has the longer comparison.

Run both

With Order Desk running with the agent, as in Run the tests:

• The recorded test: press Load recorded test… in the palette and ▶ Run, or ask the agent to run_recorded_test.
• Both in Maven: RecordedUiIT replays every file in uitest/, and PlaceOrderUiIT runs next to it, in mvn -B -Pui verify.

What's next

• PlaceOrderUiIT, step by step: the Java test with its ten screenshots.
• Run and edit a recorded test