US Patent 9465726 Abstract layer for automatic user interface testing

A method to provide automatic testing of a graphical user interface (GUI) having a plurality of GUI components includes maintaining an abstract layer configured to provide a uniform interface for accessing a plurality of user interface (UI) testing tools, each of which is configured to interact with one or more of the plurality of GUI components to perform automatic testing of the GUI. The method also includes receiving a test command, selecting one of the plurality of UI testing tools based on the test command, identifying the GUI component from the plurality of GUI components based on a first uniform identifier in the test command, and utilizing the uniform interface to communicate with the selected UI testing tool for interacting with the GUI component based on the test command.