FAQ

Is dogtail related in any way to LDTP (Linux Desktop Testing Project)?

Both are test tools that use the same underlying technology (AT-SPI). Beyond that fact, there is no current relationship between dogtail and LDTP.

If they're not related, why did you create dogtail?

Well, there are a number of reasons. The main ones are:

• When we started working on dogtail, LDTP was not announced.
• The majority of the LDTP code is written in C. We decided that an OO architecture was important as a basis of the dogtail framework for customizability so dogtail is written in Python.
• Dogtail uses dynamic discovery of accessibles at run time to identify desktop applications and widgets, while LDTP uses "Application Maps" generated beforehand for this task.

How can I identify the accessibles of an application to manipulate in a dogtail script?

You can use at-poke to browse the accessibles of an application. Alternatively, you may try sniff from the dogtail package (though it is still very much under development at the moment). A script template recorder is planned as a future feature of dogtail.

I can't get pyspi to build using Python 2.4!

If you see an error like:

TypeError: swig_sources() takes exactly 2 arguments (3 given)

then you probably have Pyrex 0.9.3 or earlier installed. Get Pyrex 0.9.3.1 - it fixes the incompatibility with Python 2.4.

I can't get dogtail to build on Rawhide!

The issue has been fixed in CVS.

Does dogtail only work with GNOME?

The dogtail framework should work on any system that can satisfy the required packages. We would love to hear from you if you are attempting to get it running on any platform it should run on!

Is it true that the dogtail will cure cancer, make me irresistible to members of the opposite sex, bring peace on earth, be a source of perpetual energy, wash my cat ... (insert claim here)?

Well, we have enough trouble keeping it off the furniture! We don't know about all of that but we think it might be a pretty good way to test desktop applications and find some bugs to fix.

Does your dog have a name?

No not yet! We are open to suggestions though ...