{"id":7921,"date":"2020-01-28T03:11:34","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T11:11:34","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-06-11T08:00:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:00:32","slug":"introducing-test-studio-to-build-end-to-end-tests-and-maintain-your-app-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/introducing-test-studio-to-build-end-to-end-tests-and-maintain-your-app-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Test Studio to build end-to-end tests and maintain your app quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m excited to announce a new tool, which is currently rolling out, to allow makers create and run tests for their applications. As more and more apps are used in critical business processes, we need a way to ensure that changes to those apps do not make the app stop working, and we can do that with tests. Test Studio<\/strong> provides a way to add and manage test cases<\/em>, organize them into test suites<\/em>, and run them to validate that changes in the apps did not break the expected functionality described in the tests. Tests can also be run outside of the test studio in a web browser which allows you to build the automated tests into your app deployment processes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But what is a test case<\/strong>? It’s simply a list of steps<\/em>, which are expressions that can simulate interaction with the app and validate that the app is in an expected state after those interactions. Those expressions use the same functions that can be used in apps, with the addition of new functions that were added for testing purposes. For example, in your test you can fetch a record from a data source to validate whether the interaction with the app had the expected result. When a test finishes you also have the option to persist the test results, such as whether the test passed or failed, how long the test took and any additional information generated by the test, to a data table, SharePoint or via a flow for example.<\/p>\n

To help with creating the test steps or expressions that are needed to interact with the app, you can open an existing app in “recording mode”. As you interact with the app the test studio will generate the expressions that are used to perform that action. This gives you a great way to start creating tests and get acquainted with the syntax for the new test functions.<\/p>\n

This first version is focused on Canvas app tests and it currently supports the most popular controls used in apps. But this is just an initial step. We’ll be adding support for more controls soon, as well as new features to help you schedule your automated tests into your processes. This feature is still experimental, so we recommend you use it to write tests for non-production apps and provide us any feedback.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Testing your app<\/h2>\n

So, let’s dive into testing in Power Apps. But before we can test something, we need an app. For this post, I’ll work with one created from the “Start from your data” wizard, based on a SharePoint list.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opening Test Studio<\/h2>\n

At this point, we can only add tests to apps that have been saved to Power Apps, so since this iteration of the app is ready, let’s save it.\u00a0You will also need to enable the Formula-level-Error\u00a0management feature<\/a> for\u00a0the\u00a0app as some test errors require this feature to work properly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And now it’s time for some testing. Just like the Monitor tool<\/a>, you can find the entry point to the Test Studio in the new Advanced tools tray:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you select the Open tests <\/em>option, it will open a new browser tab with the Test Studio, connected to the existing authoring session:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating a new test case<\/h2>\n

Let’s start creating a test right away. The easiest way to do this is to click the ‘Record’ button on the menu and to start interacting with the app.\u00a0You will see your actions being recorded in the left pane. Select ‘Done’ when you have finished recording.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Editing your test case<\/h2>\n

Once you click ‘Done’, you’ll see that the expressions used to recreate the actions you took in your the app are added as steps for the selected test case. We can now edit the existing steps, including updating the expressions, adding \/ deleting steps, and reordering them. Let’s update the third step (where we set the title of the new entry) to<\/p>\n

SetProperty('DataCardValue4'.Text, \"Test entry\")<\/code><\/p>\n

Let’s also add a new step at the end of the test to validate that a new entry was created in the SharePoint list. We can use a new test expression called an Assert to test this.\u00a0Add the new test step with the following description:<\/p>\n

Validate that there is one test entry<\/code><\/p>\n

and with the expression below. This will assert that we can find the entry with the given title in the data source:<\/p>\n

Assert(!IsBlank(LookUp(TodoList, Title = \"Test entry\")), \"The entry should have been inserted\")<\/code><\/p>\n

The test steps should now resemble the image below:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running the test case<\/h2>\n

Now click ‘Publish’ on the ribbon of the Test Studio. For now, we can only run tests once the app has been published. The tests are part of the app and we need to publish the app for the steps to be available for the “test runner”. Once the app is published, you can now click the ‘Play’ button, and you’ll see the test being executed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Detecting problems in the app<\/h2>\n

Now that we have a test case, let’s see how it can detect problems in the app. Going back to the original tab where the app is being edited, preview the app then delete the entry that we added (with the title ‘Test entry’). Update the OnSelect<\/em> property of the IconNewItem1 in the first screen to comment out the navigation to the edit screen:<\/p>\n

NewForm(EditForm1); \/\/ Navigate(EditScreen1, ScreenTransition.None)<\/code><\/p>\n

Save and publish the app. You may need to wait about a minute or so before the publishing is done in the back end. Go back to the tab with the Test Studio, select the test case again, and click Play one more time:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As we can see, the test failed when it tried to interact with the text input control that holds the title of the new item. If someone had inadvertently introduced that “bug” in the app, running the test would have caught it right away. We can then fix the app to avoid giving the users a bad experience.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running the tests outside the Test Studio<\/h2>\n

If you select the ellipsis for a test case or test suite in the tree view, or select the ‘Copy play link’ in the top-right corner of the screen, you can copy a URL that can be pasted in a browser window. This will open the app in the browser and run that selected test or test suite. This allows for several scenarios, such as having different people executing the test (and, as the test runs with their own credentials, catch issues that the app maker may not be able to),\u00a0 or even provide a “walk-through” of the app by simulating the interaction of the app controls. It can also be used to schedule or automate the running of your tests from a release pipeline or using Power Automate UI flows.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Storing test results<\/h2>\n

When the test is run outside the Test Studio, you don’t get to see the green\/red marks indicating whether the test passed or failed. To access the test outcome, you can use one of the behaviors that you can see from the test settings:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The formula that you enter for the OnTestCaseComplete<\/em> action will be executed whenever a test is finished (successfully or not) in the app. In the formula you can, for example, store the result of the test into a data source, or start a flow that you have in your app with it.<\/p>\n

Within the OnTestCaseComplete<\/em> expression you have access to a new variable, scoped to that rule only, called ‘TestCaseResult’, which is an object with the following properties:<\/p>\n