The mobile testing capabilities of IBM® Rational® Test Workbench Mobile Test Edition automate the creation, execution, and analysis of functional and performance tests
for native, web, and hybrid applications on Android and iOS devices.
Stages in the testing process
The goal of
mobile testing is to ensure that your mobile application meets the
requirements that guided its design and development. To help you meet
this goal,
Rational Test Workbench Mobile
Test Edition implements the following stages in the testing
process:
- Installation and configuration: Set up your Android test environment with
Rational Test Workbench Mobile
Test Edition and the Android SDKs. Install the mobile test client on one or more Android devices. Unless you are in a
secure environment, ensure that the mobile devices have WiFi or cellular connectivity, and add those
devices to the test workbench. In secure environments, install
the Android mobile test client with a USB connection and the adb tool that is provided with the
Android SDK. For iOS devices, no installation is needed. See Installing the mobile test client on the iOS Simulator for details about installation on iOS Simulators.
- Application preparation: Import the application that you
want to test into the test workbench,
or use the device to upload the application under test to the test workbench.
- Test recording: Run the app from the mobile test client to start a recording.
The recorder app records all user interactions, sensor inputs, and
application behavior, and then uploads the recorded data to the test workbench, where it can be
converted into a mobile test.
- Test editing: After recording, you can edit the test in
the natural language editor. You can use the mobile data view to display
and select UI elements from the recorded applications. You can replace
recorded test values with variable test data or add dynamic data to
the test.
- Test execution: You can run automated tests on multiple devices to ensure that the app
matches the expected behavior defined in verification points. During the run, each verification
point is checked and receives a pass, fail, or inconclusive
status. Information about each step is saved in the test results. When running a test, you can also
measure the performance of the application and the device. Resources such as processor, physical
memory, network traffic in and out, and battery of the mobile device and the application under test
function as performance indicators.
- Evaluation of results: After the test runs, the device uploads the test data to the
test workbench. You evaluate the test results through the
performance and verification point reports that are generated with the uploaded data. You can also
design custom reports by manipulating a wide range of counters. Functional reports provide a
comprehensive view of the behavior of the app under test. Reports can be exported and archived for
validation.
The test workbench
You
can install the
test workbench on
a Windows, Linux, or Apple Macintosh computer. The following
main components in the
test workbench are
designed specifically to help you test mobile apps:
- A test navigator lists test projects, tests, mobile devices, and
the mobile incoming recordings that are used to generate tests.

- A device editor lists the devices that are connected to the test workbench. This editor displays
detailed specifications of each device, which allows you to select
the hardware platforms on which you can deploy and run your tests.

- An application editor lists the managed apps that are uploaded
and prepared for testing.

- A test editor enables you to edit test scripts in natural language
and add actions, verification points, datapools, test variables, or
stubs in your script steps.

- A mobile data view displays the screen captures that were uploaded
from the mobile device during the recording. Use this view to display
and select user interface (UI) elements and optionally add verification
points to the test script.
Support for testing native, web, and hybrid applications
Use
the test workbench to
test various types of mobile applications, including native applications,
hybrid applications, and browser-based, web applications.
A native Android
or iOS application is built using a native SDK, whose services are
defined according to each platform architecture. Android applications
are typically created with Java™ or
C++, whereas iOS applications are created using Objective-C. All native
applications require installation on the device and can only be installed
on one, particular platform.
A browser-based web application
is developed using pure web technologies, such as HTML 5, CSS3, and JavaScript libraries, such
as Dojo and JQuery. Web applications are developed to run in multiple
browsers and are platform-independent. This release includes support
for Dojo Mobile 1.9 and jQuery Mobile 1.3.
A hybrid application
is an application that combines both native and web technologies.
The web part relies on HTML 5, CSS3, and JavaScript, whereas the native part might
include platform-specific controls, such as the Go button in the following
diagram:

Performance testing
In addition to testing the functional aspects of an app, you can test the performance of an app.
When a mobile test is recorded and its steps are successfully run, response time is calculated for
each user action and reported in the mobile web report and statistical report. For native apps, you
can set the synchronization policy to ensure that the preceding action is synchronized with the
current action. Response times are reported for actions that have been played back successfully and
only if the synchronization policy has been set to allow response time calculation. For more
information, see the following topics:
You can also monitor the application and device's resources such as CPU, physical and virtual
memory, network traffic in and out, and battery level. You can use this data to evaluate application
and device performance. After you enable resource monitoring and run the report, the
Resources tab in the statistical report displays the charts for each
resource. For more information, see the following topics:
Test automation features
There are several capabilities provided to help automate and simplify the testing process. These
include command line tools and several methods for automating test execution. Some of these
features require the full product. For more information, see the following topics:
Note: Some of these features require the full Rational Test Workbench product
and are not supported in Rational Test Workbench Mobile
Test Edition.
Rational Test Workbench Mobile
Test Edition
To integrate with IBM Rational Quality Manager, which
provides advanced test execution and test management capabilities, you must shell share Rational Test Workbench Mobile
Test Edition with
Rational Test Workbench Eclipse
Client
version 8.7.1.x or Rational Test Workbench Web
UI Tester version
9.0.x or later.
IBM MobileFirst
Platform Foundation
IBM MobileFirst
Platform Foundation is a component within the IBM MobileFirst offering that provides a full,
cross-platform development environment for building, testing, and
deploying native, HTML5, and hybrid mobile applications. IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation is the new
name for IBM Worklight® Foundation.
As a
Rational Test Workbench Mobile
Test Edition user, you can test applications that were developed with MobileFirst Platform
Foundation v6 or later. To test applications that were developed in earlier versions of MobileFirst
Platform Foundation, you must upgrade the application to v6 or later by loading the project in IBM MobileFirst Platform Studio. and rebuilding.
To learn
more about the capabilities of IBM MobileFirst
Platform Foundation, see the following resources: