Watir Podcast

#32 Brent Strange

Željko Filipin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:35:26 +0000

Gregg Yows and Željko Filipin talk with Brent Strange on his blog post Testing in 2009, a Year in Review.

We are proud to be a part of Testing Podcast family. You can find audio podcasts on software testing there. All of them.

A big thank you to Tiffany Fodor for editing the audio, and to Alan Baird for show notes.

Show Notes:

0:28 – News:
- Watir Podcast is a member of Testing Podcast
- Jarmo Pertman’s blog IT Really Matters added to Watir Blogs page
- Watir Wiki has been updated, please give us your feedback
- Jari Bakken just released pre-release of Watir-Webdriver (install instructions at Watir on WebDriver)
- Donate to Watir!
- Brent Strange – how strange is that
3:43 – Brent introduction (works for GoDaddy)
4:21 – Strange Beer
5:14 – How Brent Uses Watir
9:02 – Training folks on Watir
11:08 – test navigate and execute
11:52 – Explain this pattern: using Test::Unit, there aren’t any assertions in test and navigate
14:53 – What tools do you use? (team foundation server, SciTE, .net windows)
16:16 – Watir v Selenium (or Why Watir?) – cost, support for multiple browsers, community support, ruby easy to learn. Worry about Selenium in a frame (not really an issue).
18:48 – Record and playback helpers – lack of record and playback on ruby, it’s not the way to go
20:21 – Selenium community support as good as watir
20:42 – SWEA – established relationship w/ developer
21:16 – what’s with you’re url? (www.1qainsight:8080) – he’s cheap
22:58 – QA Engineer vs Software Tester – is there a difference? (going through the backdoor with agile)
27:00 – The Software Testing Club Magazine – No 1 –
Do Loop Until 0 comics
29:00 – Roo/Rasta – just using it for reading spreadsheets, but they are moving away from it
31:38 – What do you do when you aren’t at a computer – website dev for charity, gym, hunt (deer and elk), sports, church (Arizona)
33:22 – Favorite Podcasts? – James Bach, church sermons
34:44 – Closing thoughts – keep up the good work
35:46 – qainsight.net
36:00 – twitter? who uses that?
36:28 – Do Loop Until 0, we can forget about that
37:18 – oh yeah…we forgot to introduce ourselves
37:28 – Hi, I’m Greg Yows
38:42 – Hi, I’m Zeljko
40:18 – licensing

#31 Jari Bakken and Simon Stewart on Watir 2.0, Selenium and WebDriver, Celerity and HtmlUnit

Tiffany Fodor — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:47:16 +0000

Željko Filipin, Jari Bakken and Simon Stewart

Željko Filipin talks with Jari Bakken and Simon Stewart about the connection between Webdriver and Watir 2.0 (currently named Watir-Webdriver on GitHub). Webdriver is a browser automation framework that is cross-platform, cross-browser and language independent; a project which Simon Stewart is the lead developer. It is becoming the core of Selenium.

The crucial piece of this, for Rubyists at least, is the selenium-webdriver gem (written by Jari Bakken) that brings the Ruby bindings to Webdriver. Add watir-webdriver (also written by Jari Bakken) on top of that and you have what people are calling watir 2.0, a watir style-api with a webdriver core.

Webdriver related projects mentioned:

Jari Bakken’s projects:

Celerity
selenium-webdriver gem, docs
watir-webdriver, see also differences between Watir 1.x and Watir-Webdriver gem (aka Watir 2.0)

Podcast Timeline:

00:00 – Jarib introduction
01:13 – Simon introduction
01:46 – Webdriver history
03:22 – What about Safari?
04:19 – Is Webdriver part of Selenium?
05:41 – How did Jari get involved with Webdriver?
07:16 – Ruby bindings for SeleniumWebdriver gem
07:45 – Remote Webdriver
09:30 – WebDriver and HTML Unit
11:04 – HTML Unit, Webdriver, Celerity – are they separate?
12:00 – Could you run Webdriver headless like Celerity?
13:39 – Does every Webdriver browser driver have a maintainer?
15:41 – Is ChromeDriver (by Sai) part of Webdriver?
16:52 – Jari comments on additions to Watir 1.6.5
18:41 – Status of Watir on Ruby 1.9
19:55 – Jari talks about Watir 2.0
22:15 – How complete is Watir 2.0?
23:33 – Watir Unit tests and WatirSpec
26:10 – How you can help with Webdriver
28:00 – How you the projects mentioned

Further reading after listening to the podcast: Alan Baird and Jari Bakken on watir-webdriver.

#30 Jim Knowlton on Using Watir for Exploratory Testing

Željko Filipin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:22:56 +0000

Gregg Yows and Željko Filipin talk with Jim Knowlton.

0:00 – Music.
1:00 – Introduction.
4:11 – Testing security applications with Ruby and Watir.
5:32 – Using IRB and Watir to assist exploratory testing of web applications.
6:40 – What is exploratory testing?
9:49 – Using IRB and Watir in exploratory testing session to check if HTML code of the page has comments and what is in them.
11:17 – Is there browser.comments method in Watir?
11:54 – The difference between ad hoc and exploratory testing.
14:42 – What percentage of exploratory vs. manual vs. automated is Jim doing?
15:41 – Are they doing Agile development?
16:52 – How are they delivering scripts to testers?
19:04 – What tool do they use for version control?
20:18 – Has the management been receptive to exploratory testing?
22:13 – The presentation on web security testing with Ruby and Watir.
25:59 – A big thank you to Adam Goucher for suggesting Jim for the podcast.
26:11 – How are they managing note taking in exploratory sessions?
28:33 – An example of security testing with Watir.
31:35 – What does Jim do when he is not near a computer and stuff like that.
33:45 – Where people can find us on the tubes?
35:20 – You can donate to Watir at watir.com.
36:27 – Music.

Music in the podcast is Diggin Out by Chad Fowler.

#29 Bret Pettichord and Charley Baker on Past, Present and Future of Watir

Željko Filipin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:15:42 +0000

Bret Pettichord (Watir Lead Developer), Charley Baker (Watir Lead Developer) and Željko Filipin (Watir Community Manager) talk about the past, the present and the future of Watir.

0:00 – music
1:00 – introduction
2:11 – Bret on what is new in Watir 1.6.5
2:54 – downloads
- gemcutter.org/gems/watir
- gemcutter.org/gems/firewatir
- gemcutter.org/gems/commonwatir
- rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=104
5:15 – in the year since the last release of Watir (1.6.2) more people contributed to 1.6.5 than ever before, thanks to GitHub
7:40 – all Watir drivers now at watir.com
9:29 – Charley on releasing Watir 1.6.5
12:47 – move more gems in Watir, or separate all gems?
17:00 – Watir 2.0
20:50 – WatirSpec, results + todo (793 examples, 59 failures)
22:29 – Celerity
24:16 – FFI extension for Ruby
30:10 – WatiN, Watij
32:31 – Bret: “Watin is in the wrong language.”
36:16 – Bret: “Selenium … does not use any special facilities from any language that it works in, and therefore it is kinda clumsy in most of them.”
36:54 – summary of Watir 1.6.5
38:53 – AWTA 2010
39:50 – Watir 1.7 (pop ups, cookies)
46:08 – API changes in Watir 2.0 (hashes, 0-based indexing)
49:18 – early days of Watir
54:15 – closing
55:19 – you can donate to Watir at watir.com
55:37 – our sites
56:48 – music

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Easy to Love by Chris McMahon.

#28 Tom Copeland on SafariWatir

Željko Filipin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:00:31 +0000

Charley Baker and Željko Filipin talk with Tom Copeland (programmer for InfoEther, lead developer of SafariWatir, system administrator of RubyForge.org) about SafariWatir, watirspec, RubyForge.org, Gemcutter, GitHub, other podcasts Tom recorded, how to raise 7 kids…

While we were recording the podcast Tom released SafariWatir 0.3.7. While he is typing, you can hear Oh So Fabulous song in the background.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is All My Little Words. Both songs are by Chad Fowler.

#27 Angrez Singh on FireWatir

Željko Filipin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:11:34 +0000

Željko Filipin and Sai Venkatakrishnan talk with Angrez Singh about FireWatir, Watir and their merge, replacing JSSH with Firedriver, XPath, Firewatir-Gen, Google Summer of Code™, Bangalore Watir user group, WatiN, Indian music…

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Shankar Shakedown by George Sanders from Portland, Oregon.

In this episode we feature Hemal Kuntawala and uSwitch.

#26 Alister Scott on Watir.com

Željko Filipin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:07:58 +0000

Gregg Yows and Željko Filipin talk with Alister Scott about Watir.com.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is 30 Years by Gregg Yows.

In this episode we feature Orde Hiller and Zazzle.

#25 Dave Hoover on SafariWatir and Software Craftsmanship

Željko Filipin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:48:59 +0000

Željko Filipin and Gregg Yows talk with Dave Hoover about Safari Watir and software craftsmanship. Dave explains what Redsquirrel means and The Boutique Tester blog post by Matthew Heusser is mentioned.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Redsquirrel Theme Song by Colin Harris.

#24 MarekJ and Charley Baker

Željko Filipin — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:00:34 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with MarekJ and Charley Baker about the first year of Watir Podcast, Watirloo and Taza.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Facade by George Sanders from Portland, Oregon.

#23 Željko Filipin

Željko Filipin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:27:31 +0000

Tiffany Fodor (member of Watir Podcast team) talks with Željko Filipin (Watir core team member, host of Watir Podcast).

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is the world premiere of 23 by Željko Filipin.

#22 Bret Pettichord on WatirCraft

Željko Filipin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:04:11 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Bret Pettichord (CTO, WatirCraft LLC; Lead Developer, Watir) about WatirCraft, a testing framework that builds on Watir.

Thanks to Chuck van der Linden for a lot of questions for this podcast.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is the world premiere of G Blues Train Intro by my brother Marko Filipin.

#21 Alister Scott on Watif

Željko Filipin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:40:56 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Alister Scott about Watif, Web Application Testing in FORTRAN.

#20 Sai Venkatakrishnan

Željko Filipin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:05:38 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Sai Venkatakrishnan.

Sai’s Sites:

Sai’s Projects:

#19 Bret Pettichord on Git

Željko Filipin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:20:20 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Bret Pettichord (CTO, WatirCraft LLC; Lead Developer, Watir) on moving Watir code to Git and Github.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Make You Mine by Gregg Yows.

#18 Rick Hower on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:46:14 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Sunday

Željko Filipin talks with Rick Hower about AWTA 2009.

#17 Deniz Türkoglu on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:54:42 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Sunday

Željko Filipin talks with Deniz Türkoglu of Opera Software about AWTA 2009 and OperaWatir.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Cosmic Cowboy by Gregg Yows.

#16 MarekJ on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:25:49 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Sunday

Željko Filipin talks with MarekJ about AWTA 2009.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Free Ride Home by Gregg Yows.

#15 Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory on AWTA 2009 and Agile Testing

Željko Filipin — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:52:36 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Sunday

Željko Filipin talks with Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory about AWTA 2009 and Agile Testing.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Tehran by Gregg Yows.

#14 Steve Kim on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:27:13 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Saturday

Željko Filipin talks with Steve Kim about AWTA 2009.

#13 Alister Scott on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:24:51 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Saturday

Željko Filipin talks with Alister Scott about AWTA 2009.

#12 Bernie Miles and Stanislaw Wozniak on AWTA 2009 and Sponte

Željko Filipin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:00:41 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Saturday

Željko Filipin talks with Bernie Miles and Stanislaw Wozniak about AWTA 2009 and Sponte Framework.

#11 Alan Baird on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:21:24 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Friday

Željko Filipin talks with Alan Baird about AWTA 2009.

#10 Charley Baker on AWTA 2009

Željko Filipin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:41:00 +0000

From AWTA 2009 Friday

Željko Filipin talks with Charley Baker about AWTA 2009.

#9 Paul Rogers

Alan Baird — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:52:44 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Paul Rogers, one of the co-creators of Watir, about Watir. Paul currently writes some interesting tests for tynt, a company that makes web editing software.

#8 Alister Scott

Alan Baird — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:02:48 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Alister Scott about his experiences in test automation and using Watir to automate tons of tests. Alister also talks about his new position as Watir Wiki Master and how the Watir community can continue to improve this resource.

Music at the beginning and the end of the podcast is Bach – Goldberg Variation No. 10 performed by Pistos, a regular at the Watir IRC channel #watir on Freenode.

#7 Bret Pettichord on FireWatir

Željko Filipin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:31:18 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Bret Pettichord (CTO, WatirCraft LLC; Lead Developer, Watir) about merging Watir and FireWatir.

Music at the beginning and the end is Hear that guitar ring from James Rogers Blues Band, selected by Željko.

#6 Tiffany Fodor

Željko Filipin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:42:41 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Tiffany Fodor.

Music at the beginning and the end is Get Outta Town from The Outta Controllers, selected by Tiffany Fodor.

#5 Walter Kruse

Željko Filipin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:47:42 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Walter Kruse.

Music at the beginning and the end is the first part (8 bars) of the 4/4 march called The Old Boy, composed by Niel Dickie and performed by Walter Kruse.

#4 Jeroen van Menen on WatiN

Željko Filipin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:39:15 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Jeroen van Menen, WatiN (Web Application Testing In .Net) Lead Developer.

Take a look at WatiN Test Recorder created by Daaron Dwyer.

Music at the beginning and the end is Bodhgaya from The Nightfall Project, selected by Jeroen van Menen.

#3 MarekJ

Željko Filipin — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:01:45 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with MarekJ.

Music at the beginning and the end is Asleep at the Wheel from Waking Rothko, selected by Pete Dignan.

Rimshot sound is from instantrimshot.com

#2 Charley Baker

Željko Filipin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:44:43 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Charley Baker, QA Architect at Gap Inc Direct and Watir Project Manager.

#1 Bret Pettichord on Watir

Željko Filipin — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:04:04 +0000

Željko Filipin talks with Bret Pettichord (CTO, WatirCraft LLC; Lead Developer, Watir) about Watir and what it does and doesn’t do well. Bret describes how people are building frameworks with Watir and the reasons why Watir was created in the first place. Also included are his thoughts on recorders and open-source and his new company, WatirCraft.

Note: When Bret talks about ssh, he is thinking about ssl.