Azure DevOps Build Pipelines: Run Windows UI Automation & CI

Are you tired of manually deploying your code changes and spending hours on testing and debugging? Then, look no further than Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines! In this tutorial, we'll walk you through the basics of CI/CD and how to use Azure DevOps to automate your Windows application testing with the process using WinAppDriver and streamline your development workflow. So let's dive in and discover the power of CI/CD with Azure DevOps!

Azure DevOps makes our lives easier in so many ways. For example, you can run WinAppDriver quickly from Azure DevOps pipelines for test automation. Automated UI Testing is a common strategy for smoke testing and regression testing of legacy Windows applications. Especially with Azure DevOps-powered CI/CD(Continuous Integration/Deployment). Such applications are still widely used by many enterprises and businesses across the globe. Unfortunately, the mobile revolution hasn't been able to dethrone the PC, and Microsoft is still strong in the "Office" department. Learn Azure automation quickly.

The problem is that sometimes you have the source code of Windows applications critical to your business's survival, and other times you don't. In such cases, the only option is to perform the application's functional testing through the UI. But, it is an ordinary task, and you might need a tonne of the workforce. In such cases, UI test automation comes in handy.

This course became more vital combined with my other Udemy course about WinAppDriver test automation. You will also learn in this course about Azure Git for free.

Note: The course also covers YAML Pipelines on Azure DevOps too.

There are several options available for UI test automation, Microsoft itself offered Coded UI in the past, but it is now deprecated. Right now, Microsoft is supporting Windows Application Driver or WinAppDriver, a.k.a WAD, for UI automation of Windows applications. You must be wondering where Azure is. Well, Azure DevOps will fit into this picture later; relax. WinAppDriver is based on Appium, an open-source API conforming to the WebDriver standard. Microsoft WinAppDriver is not open source, but it still has a GitHub repository for documentation.

Azure DevOps is the cloud-based offspring of TFS(Team Foundation Server). It continues the legacy of Microsoft's once-on-premise Application Lifecycle Management(ALM) solution. The automation tests are written by software test engineers who often need Visual Studio licenses during test development. Unfortunately, these people are also highly paid, and after developing tests, it's not wise to keep them running test automation scripts on their machines through Visual Studio. In such cases, a low-cost solution is needed where non-code-savvy people can run UI automation tests through a standard tool like Azure DevOps.

Learn Azure DevOps because it lets you create a complete infrastructure to support such scenarios. How? That's what this course is all about. First, I'll show you how to set up Virtual Machines to run unattended WinAppDriver and C# based UI test automation through Azure DevOps. I'll also show you how to set up things on Azure DevOps by creating organizations and projects. Finally, the course also shows you how to generate an Azure PAT(Personal Access Token) for security purposes and configure it to minimize its side effects.

Azure lets us store code in more than one type of source code repository. The classic one is TFVC which is covered in this course first. Secondly, we have Azure Repos Git. Finally, a Pipeline is a set of tasks that will run the test automation. The UI for TFVC and Git-based pipelines are different; both are explained in this course. Git repositories generate a YAML-based build pipeline. Build channels communicate with an Azure DevOps build agent installed on a machine and configured to work with a specific Azure DevOps organization through a PAT. 

There is a shortage of WinAppDriver Azure DevOps Pipelines tutorials. In addition, the WinAppDriver and Azure DevOps tutorials are unclear and don't cover how to use WinAppDriver with examples. So I'm going step by step in this course from start to finish. Everything from installing tools on a test VM and creating an Azure account up to installing devices on developer machines, creating Azure DevOps repositories, and Azure DevOps Pipelines is covered. Special attention is paid to the topics of interest for software testers, such as viewing test run reports.

Understand how to build Azure DevOps CI CD Pipeline.

Various options for Azure DevOps Test Run reports are explained to you. In addition, supplementary topics like running a PowerShell task to start/stop Windows Application Driver in the build pipeline are also shown.

Please note that Azure DevOps is a highly in-demand skill right now. Microsoft is heavily investing in Azure and achieving significant success in this department. To prepare for the future, learn about Azure, including Azure DevOps and CI /CD.

Azure DevOps is a powerful tool that allows developers to collaborate and streamline the software development process. With Azure DevOps, teams can easily manage their code, build and deploy applications, and track their progress through the entire development lifecycle. This comprehensive platform includes features such as version control, continuous integration and delivery, agile project management, and more. With a user-friendly interface and robust functionality, Azure DevOps is a go-to solution for teams looking to improve their development processes and deliver high-quality software faster.

Of course, this course does not cover other critical Azure features like Azure Boards. I can cover more details in the future based on student demand. It is possible for a user to create bugs and link work items like stories/tasks to the Azure DevOps builds and failures.

It is high time that you start in this direction and starts learning more with practical courses like this one. Learn more about CI and CD, Microsoft Azure DevOps, and source control repositories like Azure Git Repos.