Windows CE

Windows CE is the embedded real-time operating system from Microsoft for small footprint and mobile 32-bit intelligent and connected device.

Windows CE is a modular/componentized operating system that serves as the foundation of several classes of devices. The operating system is used in portable navigation or connected media devices, communication or thin client devices.

Automated testing of Windows CE applications

Jamo Solutions provides tools that automate the testing effort for applications running on the Windows CE platform. Each application including embedded applications needs to be tested and verified before going live. Today tests that include the user interface of the embedded application are most of the time executed manual. With the technology of Jamo Solutions, these test cases can be automated. The tool “M-eux Test’ is a test automation environment that ensures:

• The re-use of test cases on different hardware platforms. The embedded application might be available on different devices with different characteristics. The tool M-eux Test supports the creation of scripts that are hardware independent. Screen resolution changes, different key board layouts will not lead to an additional scripting effort for automating the test.
• The re-use of test cases across different version of the application under test. The scripts made by M-eux Test can easily be re-used to ensure that existing functionality is still working in a new version of the application under test. This is called regression testing.
• Easy creation and maintenance of the test scripts. The technology applied by Jamo Solutions is easy to use, the scripts are readable and easy to maintain and the expertise gained by the usage of M-eux Test can be re-applied for testing applications on other platforms.

The technology platform of M-eux Test ensures the above requirements by supporting:

• Testing through the user interface of the applications. Just like a manual tester will describe his test cases by using the user interface elements, the automated test script is verifying and driving the user interface elements of the embedded application under test. By recognizing the user interface elements, the script becomes hardware independent. If a new version of the application under test is released, then preserved functionality can be tested with the old scripts. The tool will take care of cosmetic changes like a menu item that is now in a new position. By using the user interface elements, the script becomes also readable for the non-technical tester and the script is easy to maintain. More information can be found in our solution description.
• Extension of existing scripting environments. M-eux Test did not implement its own scripting environment. In order to ensure a fast learning curve and to ensure re-use of build expertise, M-eux is an extension of existing scripting environments. For users with a test engineering background, M-eux Test extends the leading test automation tool QuickTest Professional from Hewlett Packard. For users with a developer’s background, M-eux Test extends Visual Studio from Microsoft and Eclipse.

Windows CE UI objects

M-eux Test is an all-round player and recognizes most of the user interface objects of applications running on Windows CE and developed following the Microsoft guide lines:

• M-eux Test recognizes all user interface objects that are created following the Windows CE standards. All Microsoft Foundation Class objects are supported.
• M-eux Test can be configured to deal with user defined objects that are derived from the Microsoft standard objects.
• Special support is foreseen for .Net Compact Framework customized objects.

This makes that out-of-the-box M-eux Test supports most of the Windows CE applications.

Supported editions

M-eux Test supports the most used versions of Windows CE:

Supported versions

Windows CE version 5

Windows CE version 6