Can one CUIT test support testing two applications that are on different computers?

Question

Can one Coded UI test support the testing of two applications that are on different computers and where the steps rely on each app's test results?

Two applications are resident on two computers. Eg App1 on Comp1 , and App2 on Comp2 . The two computers are connected via Ethernet. App1 and App2 talk to each other via TCP/IP. Is it possible within one Coded UI test case to control both App1 and App2 simultaneously, where the actions on App1 need to rely on the results of executing App2 . Eg click on button A on App1 if label B on App2 == " Sent ".

Notice, App1 and App2 are on different computers.

Answer 1

You can't run one test on two different computers at the same time and you can't access another computer's UI from one computer via CUIT. The best solution would be to write two tests: one for App1 and another for App2, and implement a simple socket communication between the two applications/computers and run them locally with mstest or in VS with test agents on the test computers. App1 does some things (click on button A) then waits for a message on the socket from App2. App2 does some things (triggered by App1) then sends message to App1 (label B == "Sent"). App1 gets the message, continues test accordingly.

Answer 2

Coded UI test need access to mouse and keyboard. If you can do the test manual form one computer normally the CUIT can do it the same way.

From my point of view this is really difficult for your mentioned test case. When you run the test on Comp1 how will you get access to mouse and keyboard form Comp2 ? Maybe a remote-console can help you.