MobileCloud for TFS, recently released by Perfecto Mobile in collaboration with Microsoft enables manual and automated testing of mobile applications and the management of these testing procedures directly from Microsoft TFS. It provides an ability for the users to extend quality related projects managed in TFS into the mobile space including testing, execution, reporting, tracking and collaboration.
MobileCloud for TFS enables agile mobile product deployments directly from team foundation server with an efficient continuous integration process in addition to a comprehensive reporting system. It bridge tools and resources from the mobile space to Microsoft's ALM tools such as Visual Studio 2012 and TFS.
MobileCloud for TFS includes an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with full scripting capabilities such as loops, conditions, debugging capabilities, image and text checkpoints, data driven test development in addition to the patented ScriptOnce technology which enables advanced device-agnostic scripting such as dynamic test and image searching on the device screen.
In an interview to InfoQ, Charles Sterling, Microsoft Senior Program Manager in Visual Studio Test & Lab Management and Eran Kinsbruner, Director of Product Marketing at Perfecto Mobile shared more information about MobileCloud for TFS.
InfoQ: Is it not possible to test mobile apps directly using TFS without using MobileCloud? Does the default testing tool lack any features?
Microsoft Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2012 Update 2 have the capability to do unit testing of Windows Phone applications today, as described in this blog post. Domain experts such as Perfecto Mobile integrate into the overall Microsoft ALM platform and development process to cover the plethora of devices in the marketplace and offer developers specialized services such as scalable provisioning to physical devices. Integration of the tools offered by Microsoft and Perfecto Mobile enables a developer to launch mobile tests, examine test reports and capture results within Team Foundation Server.
InfoQ: Can you explain the main purpose behind the development of MobileCloud for TFS?
Perfecto Mobile created MobileCloud for TFS to provide Visual Studio and TFS users an easy path to testing their mobile applications from within the Microsoft ALM suite. Implementation of MobileCloud, which generally takes just a few minutes, is a simple and straightforward process of providing a username, password and path to a test. With the integration completed, developers using the Microsoft ALM suite can execute mobile tests (using Perfecto Mobile ScriptOnce™) on real devices.
InfoQ: What kind of apps can be tested using MobileCloud for TFS? Can I test WinRT and iOS app?
All platforms which are supported by Perfecto Mobile - including Windows Phone, Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Web and Hybrid apps, all Objects and more - can be tested from within Microsoft TFS.
InfoQ: What purpose does ScriptOnce technology serve?
ScriptOnce technology is Perfecto Mobile's patented, keyword-based scripting language, which enables a developer to create a script and execute it on multiple devices and platforms seamlessly. A video tutorial providing more information and a demo is available.
InfoQ: Does real-time online sharing of devices and rich media test reports pose any security threats?
Not at all. The shared session is exclusively read-only for the receiving party, fully managed and controlled by the host. The session does not expose or give access to any of the test environment resources whatsoever.