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I have to write a program to open a UWP Desktop application on Windows 10 PC and perform some operation and close, this should be run at constant intervals.

I have checked WinAppDriver and Microsoft UI Automation testing frameworks. WinAppDriver requires developer mode enabled, so I decided to focus on the Microsoft UI Automation framework.

Is it good to use the Microsoft UI Automation framework for my Use case?

Does Microsoft still support UI Automation frameworks other than WinAppDriver?

Please advice.

MobDev
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  • Aren't you mistaking Microsoft CodedUI for microsoft-ui-automation? Also, rpa isn't the same as UI test scripts, though both handle automatisation. – PixelPlex Sep 19 '19 at 10:37
  • @PixelPlex I am trying to repeat a user interaction using managed code specifically written for the user interaction process with the help of Microsoft UI Automation framework. The purpose is not testing. Please share your insights – MobDev Sep 20 '19 at 12:49
  • I know of Microsoft CodedUI and Winappdriver, if you're looking to automate user interactions on win32, wpf and uwp programs. Winappdriver is the successor to CodedUI, since CodedUI will be deprecated in the next visual studio version. Microsoft visual studio supports other automation frameworks like selenium, appium and xamarin.uitest. But those aren targetted at interacting with websites and mobile apps. I think WinAppDriver is what you need, but this is rather opinion based. – PixelPlex Sep 21 '19 at 12:06
  • @PixelPlex Thank you for the details. I am not planned to run the automation using visual studio, instead I would like to create an executable (myapp.exe file) file which should automate the process. I would like to know Microsoft UI Automation also deprecated? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/ui-automation/ui-automation-overview. – MobDev Sep 23 '19 at 05:56
  • I don't think that would make sense for microsoft to make that deprecated, taking compatibility for legacy programs into account. Take a look at the calculator app controls using inspect.exe. They still support thinks like 'LegacyIAccessible'. Of course, I don't have a glass orb, so you're probably best off asking on a official microsoft forum. – PixelPlex Sep 23 '19 at 08:35
  • You don't need Visual Studio per sé to run your automation scirpts. You should be able to use VS to compile your code and a [agent](https://github.com/Microsoft/WinAppDriver/wiki/WinAppDriver-in-CI-with-Azure-Pipelines) to execute your scripts on whatever machine you want. I haven't tried that myself though. You could probably use the VS dev console too, but again, I have no experience with this using winappdriver. – PixelPlex Sep 23 '19 at 08:41
  • @PixelPlex Thank you very much, I appreciate your help – MobDev Sep 23 '19 at 09:46
  • Hi, I found a nice recourse that could help you decide what automation framework to use. Take a look [here](https://www.wave-access.com/public_en/blog/2018/december/21/test-automation-tools-for-desktop-applications-pt2-open-source-tools.aspx). – PixelPlex Sep 23 '19 at 13:51

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