Can we automate a web appplication/mobile app without using element locators

Question

This is shocking for me , one of the organisation offering service ,they do automation without using any element locators through their own framework , and they are promising to support web, mobile iOS and android as well…. As a use you just want to define you BDD scenarios along with any one action like select, click,wait…

example: I want to login and read an ebook

As a user I want to login when i access one of the book then I could read the book

here we need to provide user name: password: book name 'select ' action

Is it possible handling test automation without using Xpath,css,id,tag…any locators?

if anyone have any information ,please do let me know…if this is correct then why we are using many locators, many tools…?

is it called SAAS model automation?

Answer 1

There are other ways of

handling test automation without using Xpath,css,id,tag…any locators

the simplest is through image recognition libs (like sikuli). Not optimal, but works like a charm.

Depending on how well

their own framework

is architected, designed and implemented - it could leverage the look&feel of the application. Meaning that such selectors:

//*[@class='medium-input-field']

become

//*[contains(@label, 'Your username here:')]//input

In simple words, the automation ties to the app UI design, not to the DOM.

As for this

example: I want to login and read an ebook

most likely they are using some from of DSL. More info on how to implement this in BDD frameworks can be found here.