iMacros for Firefox: Automate time consuming repetitive processes
When testing a web form, it can be tedious to constantly enter in the data over and over, especially for multi page forms. Auto form fillers are good but they don’t automatically submit the page and fill out subsequent pages.
I have tried a few macro recorders and one has become my go-to for testing forms. iMacros for Firefox is a free Firefox plugin that allows you to record and play back macros.
What I like about it:
- Macros are simple text files that can be edited in a text editor.
- The macro language is very extensible and can perform most any web task.
- You can share macros through a link.
Another free macro utility (Windows only) I recently found is AutoIt. AutoIt has more coverage of things it can do since it is not dependent on a browser. The macro language is also very capable of many tasks.
A more advanced plugin that can achieve the same automation results is Selenium IDE. It is more versatile than the previously mentioned macro recorders, since it can be fine tuned to run during an automated test process directly on a server. Selenium IDE is also free and works wherever Firefox does.
Whichever you choose, the time saved by running macros can greatly improve your programming efficiency, allowing for more time for other tasks–like foosball.