GUI Testing in Practice: An Interview-Based Study of Approaches and Challenges in the Brazilian Software Industry

Software testing is an important activity in the software development cycle, which seeks to ensure the quality of software created. When software does not meet its users' implicit and explicit needs, one can say that it lacks quality. The lack of quality in software can generate several problems for the software development project, such as friction between supplier and clients/users, financial losses, legal problems due to breach of contracts, and even risk to the life of its users in critical contexts. Along these lines, different levels of testing have been developed to ensure quality in different aspects of the software. A popular approach is functional interface testing, which evaluates software by executing events on the software screen, such as filling in a text field or clicking in a button. GUI (Graphical User Interface) functional testing can be executed either manually, with the tester interacting directly with the software, or automatically, by running the software through a programmed script. In recent years, one can find several solutions and techniques proposed to deal with GUI testing in the literature. However, they usually do not analyze how industry professionals perform this type of testing, leaving a gap in the area. Therefore, this study investigates how testers perform interface testing on their projects. Then, we conducted a semi-structured interview with 20 testing professionals. The results indicated that testers who only perform manual GUI tests do not create automated GUI tests due to the context of the project in which they work, their professional preferences and also for educational reasons, such as difficulty in programming. In addition, distinct limitations were observed for manual and automated GUI tests that negatively impact the activities performed by professionals, such as difficulties related to the company's culture and technical problems related to the software under test. The combined results provide a general overview of GUI testing available in the Brazilian software industry.软件测试是软件开发周期中的关键活动，其核心目标在于保障所产出软件的质量。当软件未能满足用户的显性与隐性需求时，即可认定其存在质量缺陷。软件质量缺陷会为软件开发项目带来诸多问题：例如供方与客户、用户间产生协作摩擦、经济损失、因合同违约引发的法律纠纷，在关键应用场景中甚至会威胁用户的生命安全。 基于此，业界已开发出不同层级的测试方法，以覆盖软件多维度的质量保障需求。其中一类主流方法为功能接口测试，其通过在软件界面触发交互事件来评估软件性能，例如填写文本框、点击按钮等操作。图形用户界面（Graphical User Interface，GUI）功能测试可通过两种方式执行：人工测试，即测试人员直接与软件交互；或自动化测试，即通过预设脚本运行软件完成测试。 近年来，学界已提出诸多面向GUI测试的解决方案与技术手段。但此类研究大多未关注工业界专业人员的实际测试流程，该领域由此存在一定研究空白。为此，本研究聚焦于测试人员在实际项目中的界面测试实践。研究团队对20名测试专业人员开展了半结构化访谈。研究结果显示：仅开展人工GUI测试的人员，之所以未进行自动化GUI测试，主要受其所在项目场景、职业偏好，以及教育背景因素（例如编程能力不足）影响。此外，研究还发现人工与自动化GUI测试均存在各自的局限性，这些局限性会对测试人员的工作产生负面影响，例如与企业文化相关的协作障碍，以及待测软件本身带来的技术问题。综合上述研究结果，本研究清晰勾勒出巴西软件行业GUI测试的整体现状。