A Generic Approach in Automating Style Guide Tests

Abstract

Style guide testing helps to ensure software usability. Style guide rules can be formalized and transformed into test scripts. The automated style guide checks can be run simultaneously with the always necessary functional tests and therefore nearly “free-of-charge”. Different implementation techniques can be identified: prototype based, specification based, constraint based and generic style guide testing. The document proves that a simple approach in automating style guide tests can result in a high maintenance effort. But the presented, generic approach in automating generic style guide tests is a convincing solution for minimizing the maintenance effort. Style guide conformance of a software product therefore can be checked by running a set of test scripts. A style guide written in plain text will no longer be needed.