In the previous article, we discussed about Accessibility Testing basics, importance of Accessibility Testing, main focus areas while doing Accessibility Testing, Accessibility Testing using Axe browser extension and Axe command line. Also, we discussed basic about Axe core library to perform the accessibility testing and identify the violations. In this article, we will discuss more about Axe core library and the implementations.
Axe Core Library
This is one of the advanced approach to perform the accessibility testing and identify the violations. In this approach we can use Axe core library and automate the accessibility testing in between your functional regression automation. In the approach we are using the selenium dependency of com.deque.html.axe-core, and analyze method of AxeBuilder class. Once you create Accessibility Testing suite, you can configure in CI/CD pipelines for continuous testing.
Prerequisites:
Following are the prerequisites to start Accessibility Testing,
- Install Java SDK 8 and above.
- Install Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA IDEs.
- Following maven dependencies:
- testng
- selenium-java
- selenium-server
- selenium from the group com.deque.html.axe-core
- jackson-databind
- jackson-dataformat-csv
- poi-ooxml-schemas
- poi-ooxml
- poi
Step-by-step approach:
Step 1: Create a maven project and add the above dependencies in pom.xml of the project.
Step 2: Create a Java class AccessibilityTestHelper to keep the logic to track violations. Implement following methods:
- trackViolations – this is a public method that can be used in your test classes to track the violations. In this method we used analyze method of AxeBuilder class to identify the violations, after that create an excel file if not exist with help of createExcelFile method. Once the file gets created, writing the violation details (violation id, description, impact, help, help URL, and WCAG tags) into the file using writeToExcel method. Also there are logic to track violations in JSON and text files. The actual implementations are below:
/**
* Method to track the violations using AxeBuilder support
*
* @author sanojs
* @param driver
* @param pageName
*/
public void trackViolations(WebDriver driver, String pageName) {
Results violationResults;
try {
violationResults = new AxeBuilder().analyze(driver);
if (!new File(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\Results").exists()) {
(new File(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\Results")).mkdir();
}
int j = 2;
String filePath = System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\Results\\AccessibilityTestReport.xlsx";
createExcelFile(filePath);
for (int i = 0; i < violationResults.getViolations().size(); i++) {
writeToExcel(filePath, pageName, 1, j, violationResults.getViolations().get(i).getId());
writeToExcel(filePath, pageName, 2, j, violationResults.getViolations().get(i).getDescription());
writeToExcel(filePath, pageName, 3, j, violationResults.getViolations().get(i).getImpact());
writeToExcel(filePath, pageName, 4, j, violationResults.getViolations().get(i).getHelp());
writeToExcel(filePath, pageName, 5, j, violationResults.getViolations().get(i).getHelpUrl());
writeToExcel(filePath, pageName, 6, j, violationResults.getViolations().get(i).getTags().toString());
j++;
}
AxeReporter.writeResultsToJsonFile(
System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\Results\\" + pageName + "_" + getCurrentDateAndTime(),
violationResults);
AxeReporter.writeResultsToTextFile(
System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\Results\\" + pageName + "_" + getCurrentDateAndTime(),
violationResults.getViolations());
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
- createExcelFile – this is a private method that helps to create an excel file if not exists. The file will be created at the project level. The actual implementations are below:
/**
* Method to create a new excel file
*
* @author sanojs
* @param filePath
* @return
*/
private XSSFWorkbook createExcelFile(String filePath) {
XSSFWorkbook workbook = null;
try {
File fileName;
FileOutputStream fos = null;
File file = new File(filePath);
if (!file.exists()) {
fileName = new File(filePath);
fos = new FileOutputStream(fileName);
workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
workbook.createSheet("Instructions");
XSSFSheet sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(0);
Row header = sheet.createRow(0);
header.createCell(0).setCellValue("Accessibility Testing Report");
XSSFCellStyle style = workbook.createCellStyle();
style.setBorderTop((short) 6);
style.setBorderBottom((short) 2);
style.setBorderRight((short) 2);
XSSFFont font = workbook.createFont();
font.setFontHeightInPoints((short) 15);
font.setBoldweight(XSSFFont.BOLDWEIGHT_BOLD);
style.setFont(font);
header.getCell(0).setCellStyle(style);
Row row = sheet.getRow(0);
sheet.autoSizeColumn(0);
sheet.autoSizeColumn(1);
row = sheet.getRow(1);
if (row == null)
row = sheet.createRow(1);
Cell cell = row.getCell(0);
if (cell == null)
cell = row.createCell(0);
cell.setCellValue("Please go through following tabs to know the violations");
workbook.write(fos);
fos.flush();
fos.close();
workbook.close();
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return workbook;
}
- writeToExcel – this is a private method that helps to write the violations into the created excel file. The actual implementations are below:
/**
* Method to write the violations in a excel report
*
* @author sanojs
* @param sheetName
* @param columnIndex
* @param rowNum
* @param data
* @return
*/
private boolean writeToExcel(String filePath, String sheetName, int columnIndex, int rowNum, String data) {
InputStream in = null;
XSSFWorkbook wb = null;
Sheet newSheet = null;
FileOutputStream fileOutStream = null;
try {
if (filePath == null || filePath.trim().equals(""))
throw (new Exception());
if (filePath.endsWith(".xlsx") || filePath.endsWith(".xls")) {
in = new FileInputStream(filePath);
wb = new XSSFWorkbook(in);
} else {
throw (new Exception());
}
if (rowNum <= 0)
throw (new Exception());
try {
newSheet = wb.getSheet(sheetName);
if (newSheet != null) {
throw new Exception("Sheet Already exist...");
}
newSheet = wb.createSheet(sheetName);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
int index = wb.getSheetIndex(newSheet);
if (index == -1)
throw (new Exception());
XSSFCellStyle style = wb.createCellStyle();
style.setBorderTop((short) 6);
style.setBorderBottom((short) 1);
XSSFFont font = wb.createFont();
font.setFontHeightInPoints((short) 15);
font.setBoldweight(XSSFFont.BOLDWEIGHT_BOLD);
style.setFont(font);
XSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheetAt(index);
Row header = sheet.createRow(0);
header.createCell(0).setCellValue("Violation ID");
header.createCell(1).setCellValue("Violation Description");
header.createCell(2).setCellValue("Violation Impact");
header.createCell(3).setCellValue("Violation Help");
header.createCell(4).setCellValue("Violation Help URL");
header.createCell(5).setCellValue("Violation Issue Tags");
for (int j = 0; j <= 5; j++)
header.getCell(j).setCellStyle(style);
Row row = sheet.getRow(0);
if (columnIndex < 1)
throw (new Exception());
sheet.autoSizeColumn(columnIndex - 1);
row = sheet.getRow(rowNum - 1);
if (row == null)
row = sheet.createRow(rowNum - 1);
Cell cell = row.getCell(columnIndex - 1);
if (cell == null)
cell = row.createCell(columnIndex - 1);
cell.setCellValue(data);
XSSFFormulaEvaluator.evaluateAllFormulaCells(wb);
fileOutStream = new FileOutputStream(filePath);
wb.write(fileOutStream);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return false;
} finally {
try {
wb.close();
fileOutStream.close();
in.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
}
}
return true;
}
- getCurrentDateAndTime – this is a private method that helps to generate current timestamp that used suffix to the JSON and text files. The actual implementations are below:
/**
* Method to get the current date and time
*
* @author sanojs
* @return
*/
private String getCurrentDateAndTime() {
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
DateFormat timeFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH-mm-ss");
Date date = new Date();
String currdate = dateFormat.format(date);
String currtime = timeFormat.format(date);
return currdate + "_" + currtime;
}
Step 3: Create a TestNG class SampleAccessibilityTest with logic to start the driver session and create a test case let say accessibilityTesting. In the test case, we just need to load the browser that you need to perform the Accessibility Testing and after that call the method trackViolations. The actual implementations are below:
@BeforeClass
public void setUp() throws InterruptedException {
try {
ChromeDriverService chromeservices = new ChromeDriverService.Builder()
.usingDriverExecutable(new File("path to your driver executable")).usingAnyFreePort().build();
driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeservices);
} catch (WebDriverException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
@Test
public void accessibilityTesting() {
try {
driver.get("https://journeyofquality.com/");
new AccessibilityTestHelper().trackViolations(driver, "Home Page");
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Step 4: Execute above test case and see the reports in the format of excel, JSON and text files. These reports will be generated in Results folder of the project structure. Based on the above trackViolations method a sheet Home Page will be created in the excel report track all the violations. If you are using trackViolations method for different pages of your web application, it will create new sheets to track the violations of your different pages. Below is the project structure:
Accessibility Testing is one of the important types of testing that add value to your business and deliver user friendly applications. Axe Core is a very powerful framework that can help the team to build web products that are inclusive. In this article we discussed about different ways to test the Accessibility and also the automation part. I hope everyone enjoyed with the concept of testing the Accessibility and the implementations. Please try to utilize this opportunity in your testing world.
make it perfect!
journey of quality 