---
title: "[CoolTool] SWExplorerAutomation: Automate web GUI unit testing for IE"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2005/4/16/cooltool-swexplorerautomation-automate-web-gui-unit-testing.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2005/4/16/cooltool-swexplorerautomation-automate-web-gui-unit-testing.html"
published: "2005-04-16T20:47:00"
updated: "2005-04-16T20:47:00"
tags: ["Agile Related", "Cool Tools"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "Got this in the email a week or two ago: Hello Roy, Have you seen SWExplorerAutomation ( http://home.comcast.net/~furmana/SWIEAutomation.htm ). It allows to create an object model for any Web application developed with…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# \[CoolTool\] SWExplorerAutomation: Automate web GUI unit testing for IE

By Roy Osherove April 16, 2005 In [Agile Related](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile-related), [Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools)

**Historical article** · Originally published April 16, 2005; technical details may be outdated.

Got this in the email a week or two ago:

_Hello Roy,

Have you seen SWExplorerAutomation (_[_http://home.comcast.net/~furmana/SWIEAutomation.htm_](http://home.comcast.net/~furmana/SWIEAutomation.htm "http")_). It allows to create an object model for any Web application developed with HTML and DHTML. It can be easily used for the Unit Testing.

Sincerely,
Alex Furman._

Well, I took a look over here at the flash demo and it looks pretty spiffy. The part I cared the most about: near the end of the demo you can see that the application allows you to generate .NET code using the application's automation API to run the "scripts" of actions performed in the browser. (Think "MS Act" only much more detailed actions, usability and programmability since it uses .NET and not VBScript).

Looks to me like one could easily use the generated .NET code to run various unit tests, or at least to start generate a powerful unit testing framework for HTML web pages, or some sort of load testing framework.

Alex has already used it to create [SWJobSearch](http://home.comcast.net/~furmana/SWJobSearch.htm), which simultaneously searches for jobs on multiple Web Sites including sending emails where needed. It's all built on the same API. Very powerful stuff!

Looks like it only works with IE though, so it's very "vertical market" driven :)

## More in Agile Related

[All posts in Agile Related](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile-related)

- May 29, 2005

    ### [May at Agile Israel: Legacy Code Testing and MSF Agile](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/5/29/may-at-agile-israel-legacy-code-testing-and-msf-agile.html)

- Apr 25, 2005

    ### [2 exciting announcements from yours truly](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/4/25/2-exciting-announcements-from-yours-truly.html)

- Apr 15, 2005

    ### [\[Book of the month\] Working effectively with legacy code](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/4/15/book-of-the-month-working-effectively-with-legacy-code.html)

- Apr 15, 2005

    ### [What does an Agile work environment look like? Here's one variation](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/4/15/what-does-an-agile-work-environment-look-like-heres-one-vari.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/