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That's exactly why this method exists on Android. They have a similar testing tool called Monkey: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.ht

by pretz 16y ago

That's exactly why this method exists on Android. They have a similar testing tool called Monkey: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.html http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.h...

Deestan 16y ago
Doesn't it defeat the testing purpose if you perform a check to take a different code path when the testing tool runs?
- lallysingh 16y ago
  I'll assume that it's best to put in the check after you've found a bug. Perhaps something that the monkey triggers that isn't very high on your human-customer buglist.
- ceejayoz 16y ago
  I'd imagine there are occasional uses for it. You could use it to start the app with a particular state you wish to test with Monkey, while leaving it usable for human users.
- flogic 16y ago
  Maybe. Sometimes no matter how hard you try test and production are significantly different. I wind up in a number of situations where any meaningful testing has to be done in production.
- johnrob 16y ago
  You might avoid doing certain write-esque operations if you know you are in test mode. For example, you wouldn't want to charge a credit card or update someone's facebook status.
  - Deestan 16y ago
    That makes sense. It didn't occur to me that someone might want to run a monkey test in a live environment, but I guess it is necessary sometimes.
  - praptak 16y ago
    On the downside this might prevent some great dramatic literature from being created.
- robinhouston 16y ago
  The intended use for the Mac equivalent (described in the folklore.org story linked from another comment here) was to disable the quit command, so the test could be run for longer than it took the "monkey" to quit the application. I imagine there are similar uses on Android.
- joezydeco 16y ago
  It's meant to test some of the more extreme bounds of the system. Filling the event queue faster than the code can handle it, for example. Clicking in odd places at strange times and seeing unexpected behavior. Monkey testing is going to expose things that you never anticipated in your test spec. It's a stress test.

by pretz 16y ago

Deestan 16y ago

Doesn't it defeat the testing purpose if you perform a check to take a different code path when the testing tool runs?

lallysingh 16y ago
I'll assume that it's best to put in the check after you've found a bug. Perhaps something that the monkey triggers that isn't very high on your human-customer buglist.
ceejayoz 16y ago
I'd imagine there are occasional uses for it. You could use it to start the app with a particular state you wish to test with Monkey, while leaving it usable for human users.
flogic 16y ago
Maybe. Sometimes no matter how hard you try test and production are significantly different. I wind up in a number of situations where any meaningful testing has to be done in production.
johnrob 16y ago
You might avoid doing certain write-esque operations if you know you are in test mode. For example, you wouldn't want to charge a credit card or update someone's facebook status.
- Deestan 16y ago
  That makes sense. It didn't occur to me that someone might want to run a monkey test in a live environment, but I guess it is necessary sometimes.
- praptak 16y ago
  On the downside this might prevent some great dramatic literature from being created.
robinhouston 16y ago
The intended use for the Mac equivalent (described in the folklore.org story linked from another comment here) was to disable the quit command, so the test could be run for longer than it took the "monkey" to quit the application. I imagine there are similar uses on Android.
joezydeco 16y ago
It's meant to test some of the more extreme bounds of the system. Filling the event queue faster than the code can handle it, for example. Clicking in odd places at strange times and seeing unexpected behavior. Monkey testing is going to expose things that you never anticipated in your test spec. It's a stress test.