FitNesse and asp.net mvc: Front end tests

I was told about http://fitnesse.org, as a testing Framework quite good to develop tests for my HTML and DOM. So, I made a proof of concept but it seems like it isn't the appropriate tool for that. It appears to be oriented to documentation than deep testing.

Te question is: is it a good tool to test the different screens the user will navigate through my asp.net mvc application ? Is there a way to test this, through FitNesse tables? In case of non being, what could be a good choice?

Thank you!

Solution

FitNesse is best at testing a level below the GUI. It is a good fit for testing your ASP.NET services directly (which is what we do) but it is not intended for testing at a GUI level - e.g. by automating a browser.

To test your services using FitNesse, you write a 'fixture' (in your case probably a .NET class library) and this fixture acts as a thin UI to your services.

The Fixture has a public interface which you can write FitNesse tests against.

Automated testing at this level is effective because your public ASP.NET services will be stable. This means you can trust your tests - when they are red it is probably because your code is broken.

Testing at the GUI level - typically by automating a browser and comparing screen shots - can prove to be counter-effective, because your client is likely to be volatile:

Change the layout slightly and your tests are broken; change one of your css styles and your tests are broken; a browser or operating system update can break the tests.
Checking tests that are marked red to see if they are really broken can cost a lot of time and is error-prone. We test a Windows desktop application this way using a home made solution based on Ranorex, and the cost-effectiveness of these tests is questionable.

Ideally, you will have a combination of both GUI and service-level tests - but we are also searching for the correct solution for our HTML client.