New Google Maps Example Illustrates Map Motion Validation

The Google Maps application is one of the oldest and most widely used AJAX applications. Building tests for it is a great way to exercise a web application test engine, so it is natural enough that eValid would use it to illustrate eValid capabilities.

One of the areas that eValid users ask about is the actual map area. How do you drag the display around and confirm (validate) that what you got to today is where you wanted to get to? This is the essence of a functional validation test for the application.

Moving the map display necessarily involves using desktop actions, so from the outset we know that the tests that involve this kind of work won't be "desktop safe". In spite of the desktop-required limitations, can these tests be made reliable and repeatable?

The answer turns out to be YES, as illustrated in this Google Maps Motion Consistency Demonstration Script. The main point about this example is that it performs two kinds of synchronization (one on the URL and one based on DOM values), and then reliably does the image drag operations, followed by a checksum verification of the resulting map image.