Why people love Watir
SilkTest is still not good for automation of web application test. I downloaded the trial version of SilkTest 8.0 today just to try it out for fun. I played with it for fifteen minutes, and already found a few things that are simply not acceptable for automation of web application testing.... SilkTest may be good for casual automation. However, I'm talking about automating hundreds and hundreds of highly complex test scenarios on a large web application. The automated test cases will be maitained by different people, be run for multiple releases over many years. I just can not imagine using SilkTest without incurring huge cost.... Using Watir + IE Developer Toolbar + SpySmith, writing automation is very enjoyable and efficient. We are able to write very robust and concise test cases, such as automating drag-and-drop without knowing how such behavior is implemented. We can strictly follow DRY principle, and share our assets. We can even embed powerful debugging tools such as Ruby's breakpoint without asking testers to write one extra line. I just can't express my gratefulness enough to those tools.
- dannyy
, 30 June 2006
And just for the record, watir rules. it easily outperformed every other automation tool we evaluated (many of which cost tens of thousands of dollars) and, not coincidentally, harnesses the power of an awesome language like ruby. a lot of the other packages we looked at use strange proprietary languages that aren't really documented (because then they can talk you into taking a weeklong $8k training course) and can't pull off half the stuff we've already done using watir. - Joey, 21 June 2006.
I have now moved all my current project's tests from Rational to Waitir/Ruby. I estimate my implementation to be anything between 5 - 10 times faster. Also, other stakeholders can use Watir to input data etc without an expensive license. -- Aidy Rutter, 14 June 2006, wtr-general.
What is so nice about WATIR is it seems to use the same philosophy as Ruby. David Heinemeier Hansson puts it really well in the 6/2006 issue of Linux Journal: "Ruby is more than anything else, a language for writing beautiful code that makes programmers happy." After writing and running your first WATIR test you will be happy. - Russell Kelley, 13 June 2006
I've never been so impressed with a piece of software so quickly in my life. This is perhaps the most useful piece of software I've ever evaluated (for my current needs). Perfect fit to what I need. -- Kev Jackson, 24 Nov 2005, comp.lang.ruby
After looking at a few tools out there, I came to the conclusion that there were two I wanted to focus on. Selenium and Watir. Cutting to the chase, I think that Watir is the better of the tools. As a programmer, I'm probably predisposed to select the route that's most (is) like programming. -- Brandon, 23 Nov 2005
Ever since I read about Ruby and Watir on my friend Jeff's blog, I have been fascinated by them. Ruby is an awesome language and Watir is just too cool. It does things that other companies (ie. IBM/Rational, Mercury, Segue, et al) charge thousands and thousands of dollars a seat for. Anyway, now that I'm gettin' the hang of Ruby and Watir, I'm starting to automate everything I do on the web. Even the simple things like logging in to web sites, searches, you name it. -- Big K, 18 Nov 2005
Today I needed a smarter way of walking through a series of screens to "buy a certain product" at my shop. Solution: Using Watir, an automated functional test package, written in Ruby, you just type up the sequence in Ruby, and then run that test script.... This was all in all a pleasant experience. Very Ruby-like: I got what I expected, and not so much else. Without pain or discomfort. -- Olle Jonsson, 14 Nov 2005
[M]y company uses TestPartner and has made a big investment in this tool. Recently, we've begun developing a web-based app, and have found that it is easier to test using Ruby/Watir. -- Chris Wheeler, 11 Nov 2005, agile-testing mailing list
We've been using watir on the project for a couple of weeks now. It is far superior to JWebUnit which we used previously. Great for testing your GUI through a browser. Ruby makes a good scripting language and using the IE Ole Control as the browser engine for the testing harness is a stroke of brilliant simplicity. Stuff like JWebUnit tries to simulate browsers. Makes all those nasty "doesn't run the javascript right" problems go away. -- Ted O'Grady, 2 Nov 2005
I installed Ruby and Watir on to my development PC. Once installed, I ran the Watir test test script. After about 3 minutes time and a whole bunch of automated browser interaction, 1500 tests had completed. I was speechless... So I ran it again. Same result. Verrrrry cool!... So I created a very simple script that logged in to our testing site, and then confirmed that it was logged in. All in all, 10 minutes time equaled one new UI unit test. Bare in mind that I have never touched Ruby, downloaded/installed the syntax file for TextPad, setup a short cut to run Ruby scripts from TextPad, and wrote the script all in 10 minutes time. I expect future tests to go much, much faster. -- Levi Rosol, 3 Oct 2005
I've been working in automated testing for a number of years. I'm so happy to discover Ruby and Watir. I wanted to run around my office dancing and celebrating. At my last job I made a homebrew application which worked will but which required that we make all the functions which come standard with Watir. -- Beth Ferguson, 28 Sept 2005
We've been using WATIR for about 7 months now for acceptance testing. It has been very useful for us. It is pretty well designed and easy to extend; the result is that those in our customer team can write the acceptance tests themselves as the syntax (with our extensions) looks more like a domain specific language than just Ruby. Overall, it has been a much better experience than that I've had with any commercial tool. -- Chris Sepulveda, TFUI mailing list, 17 Aug 2005
We're moving from Selenium to Watir for our UI testing. Primarily because Selenium's requirement to be install on the web server of the app under test is... cumbersome in our environment. -- Tony Semana, 3 Aug 2005
I started using Python's PAMIE framework to automate. However, the support was sporadic (the guy working on it was very busy and couldn't devote enough time to support the framework). Eventually I ran into a roadblock with popups (ironic given the volume of messages on this subject) - the framework had not evolved enough to support this activity yet. I also looked at SAMIE (way too cryptic), IEUnit (same roadblock as PAMIE) as well as a bout 15 other frameworks all boasting to have what I needed at a price. Enter Ruby. WATIR is by far the most complete web testing framework out here - that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. And this forum is the most active and well supported that I have seen. You can post a question and is just a short period of time get someone (most of the time the architects of the framework!) who will steer you in the right direct, give you a work around to get over any roadblocks, or add it to the framework if it doesn't currently exist. That is the reason I switched and tell everyone interest (and those not) that Ruby is the way to go! Save your money, get WATIR! -- Mark Cain, 1 August 2005
Ruby and WATIR. There seems to be some serious potential with this combination. My wife is not even a software developer and she has started experimenting with it for her work (testing firmware for router firmware releases, etc). Keep your eyes open because you will be seeing a lot more of Ruby and WATIR. -- Jack Ghostine, 31 July 2005
I've started working with WATIR for testing web applications, and absolutely love it. It's really a beautiful, simple piece of technology that Just Works. We've started using it at work, and it is sooo much better than the manual test plans we had before. -- John Hann, 24 July 2005
If you are like me, and spend your QTP days in 'Expert' view (Source code), you will pick Watir up quickly. I even find it better than QTP. -- Captain Load Test, 15 July 2005
Web Application Testing in Ruby, is a functional testing for automating browser-based tests of web application. It is so easy to use and learn that after going through its short user guide and tutorial I am able to start writing script to test our web application. I have never seen a tool that is so simple, but is so powerful as WATIR. I'm so into it the very first moment I start to experience it with the tutorial. -- Software Quality Engineering Corner, 2 July 2005
OK, I'm hooked. Ruby is the bomb and I'm loving it.... I've been trying to find the Holy Grail, or even the 40% Grail of Automated Web UI Testing for at least the last 5 years. We use NUnit for everything, so it'd be cool if whatever we chose could fail NUnit tests. Lately folks have been trying again all over the net and lots of good stuff has been happening in this space. NUnitASP... SAMIE... httpUnit... IEUnit... Selenium... And the one I'm currently enamored with is Watir. -- Scott Hanselman, 29 June 2005
I was asked to talk about Fit, but think that Watir is the most compelling alternative for filling the automated acceptance testing need. -- Ward Cunningham (agile-testing list), 10 June 2005
At Mercer, a world-wide financial brokerage, web-applications are an increasingly important tool. Using Watir, we are able to test with ease and ship with confidence with higher quality and lower cost than ever before. This tool is proving itself in business. -- Jon Egil Strand, 20 May 2005
I maintain a rather complicated web-based application, and I've been looking for an easy to use automated test tool for quite some time now. Something went wrong with everything that I tried (usually the complication came from javascript or iframes). When I first came across WATIR, I expected the same dissapointment. However, watir BLEW MY FREAKIN MIND. Everything worked, no fuss, no muss, no bother. I had never used Ruby or Watir, and within a half a day (and with only the 'watir user guide' for reference) I was gliding through my application with the greatest of ease. I can't overstate how much this application is going to change my life... , 11 May 2005
I can convert manual regression scripts faster to WATIR than I can with jWebUnit. -- Tavis Bones, 22 Apr 2005
There's also a slightly less well known app (than Rails) that's pushing Ruby into industry - and that's WATIR - a really nice Ruby testing framework for driving IE on windows boxes. WATIR has been the tipping point for many peopleI've come across, especially testers, to start playing with the language. And once it's in the acceptance test it quickly migrates into the rest of the organisation. There's going to be a Pragmatic Bookshelf book on testing with Ruby too which will help I'm sure. -- Adrian H, 18 Apr 2005
I've heard and read a bit about Ruby over the last couple of years but never found the need or occasion to learn it. That's changed since I discovered Watir, which stands for Web Application Testing in Ruby. -- Phil Zoio, 7 Apr 2005
If you want to drive IE via the ActiveX interface in the simplest possible scripting language I've seen, use Watir.... the tests are more maintainable because they are code not some binary, proprietary format. -- Mark Windholtz, 6 Apr 2005
After four weeks creating Watir scripts part-time at home, I already used the test suites as the core validation of web portals pushed to production last weekend... Stable, repeatable, increased test coverage and a timesaver!! Keep up the great work! -- Walter Mamed, 2 Apr 2005
Let me start out by saying Watir Rocks! I have been looking at functional testing frameworks for some time now and this is the only one that seems to do what I need quickly and easily. -- Mark Cain, 30 Mar 2005.
Thanks for a wonderful tool! I have been using SAMIE a lot, and am actually now learning Ruby, so that I can have a closer look at Watir and Systir. The use of open-source test tools is still in its infancy here in South Africa, and while we have a vibrant testing industry, I consider myself somewhat of a pioneer in the use of homebrewed test automation. -- Walter Kruse, 24 Mar 2005
I was incredibly impressed with WATIR and driving IE through Ruby. Using IRB to interactively drive it was cool, even if I did periodically segfault it (or whatever it was that caused it to crash out of the interactive window). From a super-high level, its fantastic, because it's using a browser instead of just emulating it. Making sure all the image componentry gets loaded it one of my key concerns, and this resolves it. Plus, I can get some baseline information on performance (not load testing, just basic tidbits) that will be useful as we go forward. It's quickly heading toward my "how I'll automate the deployment smoke tests" setup. I wish there was the same controls for Firefox, but I'll take what I can get - and the fact that it drives the browser is 100% benefit for me. -- Joseph Heck, 21 Mar 2005
I was able to write a few unit tests using Watir in about 15 minutesand I've looked at Ruby code for all around 48 hours. Granted, I have been object-oriented programming for the last four years so it's not like Ruby looks Russian to me, but I wasn't able to figure out JUnit that quickly by a long shot. -- PJ Hyett, 16 Mar 2005
I installed Ruby, installed Watir (A web app testing tool written in Ruby) and wrote my first Ruby script which launches a DOS attack on one of my practice apps using the power of Watir. All this didn't take more than an hour. -- Bhavin, 15 Mar 2005
It has been an excellent resource and it has helped us immensely in our work. Thanks to all of you. -- Anand Vaitheeswaran, 6 Mar 2005
Already WATIR outperforms QuickTest in many areas. -- Freealf, 26 Feb 2005
Watir Rocks! I have played with it for only about on hour and accomplished what I had wanted to do (but did not have the wherewithall) for ages. Truly awesome !! -- Shashank Date, 16 Jan 2005
In my opinion, WATIR has no peer as a framework to drive functional test automation in Internet Explorer. -- Chris McMahon, 11 Jan 2005
I would first like to complement the authors of watir.rb for the outstanding job you have done implementing an extremely useful set of Web Testing tools for Ruby. I have been using watir for a few weeks and have been very productive in automating the testing of our Web based application. Thank you, and Well done !!! -- John Pappenheim, 11 Jan 2005
I downloaded Watir a few days ago, without having have any high hopes for it, but I have been very impressed by this tool. *I have limited scripting experience and none with Ruby, but I was able to follow your examples and be productive in short order.*My hat is off to all involved in this project, you're doing a great service for the testing community - mad props! -- Kevin Sheehy, 10 Jan 2005
Up until now, I'd managed to avoid learning the Ruby scripting language.... But after seeing what Watir could do and how neat Ruby is, I became a convert. -- Elisabeth Hendrickson, 8 Jan 2005
By the way, Great tool! -- Lorenzo Jorquera, 5 Jan 2005
Overall, I preferred Watir over Samie. -- Danny Faught, 31 Dec 2004
I am now using WaTiR with Rwdtinker using RubyWebDialogs.... I was impressed that every button dialog box and clickable link in the application was testable with WaTiR. I do not use XP at home developing with Ruby. I decided to try to get WaTir working under Wine on Linux.... Finally to make the story of a long day, short, I installed the free demo version of a new crossover office.... Watir is working like a charm under Linux! I am building test suites for all my rwdtinker applications. -- Steven Gibson, 24 December 2004
I have used WATIR and just 2 words for it "WATIR ROCKS". It contains an awesome framework to support TDD approach which is a BUZZ in the X(treme) P(rogramming) world. I've used NUnit to test the components, NUnitASP to test the UI...a disaster, JavaScript to test UI...another catastrophic disaster and finally fell in love with WATIR. Sincerely --- H-n-J...
Our project had planned to use a GUI testing tool (name withheld). While testing were busy using their tool to "learn" pages, the developers needed something to validate builds (basic sanity and regressions tests). With no resources available, we collared a summer student; no Ruby exposure, but eager to learn. After a while, I received a call from the tester saying that his tool was having trouble learning some of our pages. Some of the pages a quite complex (XHTML, CSS layout, dynamic DOM scripting, Ajax page updates). We could find no obvious reason why some page elements were not learnable. In the mean time our student is cranking out test scripts as fast as he can type (and 'loving it'). Full work-flow test cases (Add, search, update) that out GUI test tool couldn't do. Our current status is that we are getting good test results (i.e. defect reports) using Watir, while our official test tool is still flummoxed on the starting block. -- John Lloyd-Jones
Most unreferenced quotes are from the wtr-general mailing list. Some were added by users directly to this page.
