Run FlexMonkey Tests from ANT

Like FlexUnit tests I am going to assume a few things:
1) You already have a working understanding of FlexMonkey.
2) You already have a build script set up (or have read the previous posts in this series.
3) You already have a properties file you are using (or setting all the properties directly into the build script.

If you do not know about FlexMonkey, FlexMonkey is:
FlexMonkey is a testing framework for Flex apps that provides for the capture, replay and verification of Flex UI functionality. FlexMonkey can record and playback Flex UI interactions, and generates ActionScript-based testing scripts that can easily be included within a continuous integration process. It uses the Flex Automation API and was created by extending Adobe’s sample automation adapter, AutoQuick.

For more information visit the Flex Monkey Project Home Site.

Unlike FlexUnit where it is run from a pretty little project, FlexMonkey has a lot of moving parts and requires quite a bit of setup. If you are running the automated tests from their AIR application then the process is pretty simple and all you have to do is hit the run button and you get all the information you need immediately.

However, setting up your application to run with FlexMonkey via ANT be prepared for a lot of setup and making sure everything fits just right. What I am really going to highlight here is what files to make sure to have and at what version.

The SDK version that your Application is built with is very important with FlexMonkey. You MUST be building with at least Flex 3.3 or you will be unable to run your application.

Keep Things In Order
The order of the previous steps didn’t really matter. Unit Test before building the application? Sure. Build your wrapper at the end? Why not. But now we do need to make sure that the application is made prior to running the automation test. I know this seems overly obvious, but I felt that it needed to be said that you had to have a build application to test on. This isn’t so with FlexUnit tests as the application required to run and the code are separate from the main application. Now with the automated tests we need to run against the main compiled application.

Gather the Parts
You can always pull the required parts from my main app, but if you are going to look for them, this is the list that you will need to put together. I would recommend including all this under one folder in your main project so that again the code for your FlexMonkey test isn’t cluttering up the main application.
flexmonkeyfolder
For most of these files I just went straight to their current source and pulled them from a project titled MonkeyAccessories. This is where you can get the MonkeyTestLauncher (html/swf), AC_OETags, AirMonkeyLibrary (for AIR builds), fluint, monkey-ant-task.jar, and MonkeyFlexUnitLibrary.

The remainder of the files are created either by the FlexMonkey AIR Application or by you. When you create a new FlexMonkey project you can select the location for the project to be hosted. This give you the monkeyTestProject and monkeyTestSuites. Then as you make your tests you will be adding in snapshot files into your snapshots folder. Also, the testSuites folder and it’s contents are created when you select to generate AS3 in the FlexMonkey App. The generated code you “can” edit, but you probably should. More than likely you will never have to go into these folders. Finally there s the test module for your project. This is used if you are running under targeting the specific swf or monkey agent mode (in your project properties).

You can name this module however you like and is used to run the automated test in the MonkeyTestLauncher provided by FlexMonkey.

Here is the code for my module, ANTBuildProjectTestModule.mxml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Module implements="net.digitalprimates.fluint.modules.ITestSuiteModule" xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import testSuites.mainTestSuite.mainTestSuite;

public function getTestSuites():Array
{
var suiteArray:Array = [];
suiteArray.push(new mainTestSuite());
return suiteArray;
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
</mx:Module>

You’ll notice that the module implements an interface provided for you in the MonkeyFlexUnitLibrary and then set the array of testSuites to run from your generated AS3 tests.

With your flexMonkey folder all set up we can now start working with our ANT build file.

The FlexMonkey Steps
To run the FlexMonkey ANT build tasks we will need to add these additional steps after the application has been build.

Clean and Create the FlexMonkey Report Folder
Compile the FlexMonkey Tester Module
Copy Launcher Files into Test Folder
Run Automated Test

Defining The Monkey Launcher ANT Task
In the earlier steps we were able to use a simple set of jar files to get all the tasks we need added to our build script. Not so with FlexMonkey. Below is the code necessary to run FlexMonkey specific tasks.

<path id="libraries">
<fileset dir="${FlexMonkey.dir}/${FlexMonkeyLibs.dir}">
<include name="**/*.jar"/>
</fileset>
</path>


<taskdef name="monkey-test-launcher"
classname="com.gorillalogic.flexmonkey.anttask.MonkeyTestLauncherAntTask"
classpathref="libraries" />