Automating Windows Apps using WinApp Driver with Java

Have your mind ever crossed the Question, “Can we automate a Windows Desktop Application?” Answer is YES we can..

When it comes to the context of automating windows desktop applications, there are few famous tools you can go for…

• WinAppDriver
• Winium
• AutoIt
• SikuliX
• White framework
• Micro Focus UFT (QTP)

And there are few other tools as well. You can read a descriptive comparison between these tools here.

I’m going to introduce you to the tool: WinApp Driver. Let’s get to know about the WinAppDriver…

WinAppDriver

Windows Application Driver developed by Yousef Durr of Microsoft is the Windows implementation of Appium to automate Windows applications.

WinAppDriver is a service to support Selenium-like UI Test Automation on Windows Applications. This service supports testing Universal Windows Platform (UWP), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms (WinForms), and Classic Windows (Win32) apps on Windows 10 PCs. The Windows Application Driver complies with the JSON Wire Protocol standard and some application management functionalities defined by Appium. Most significantly this is developed by Microsoft.

WinAppDriver is a standalone tool and there is no need to install Appium on your machine to run automation scripts. You just need to install WinAppDriver through the installer and use it with your favorite programming language and IDE.

Setting up WinAppDriver

Let’s prepare our pitch to start the match..

1. You can download the setup file(the .exe file) from this page under releases. Then you can install WinAppDriver using the exe file as usual.
2. Download and install Windows 10 SDK from this page. Make sure you pick “Windows SDK signing tools for desktop apps” & “Windows SDK for UWP Managed apps” options in the installation process.
3. Since we are going to code with Java, download and install Java SDK if you don’t have already installed.