Ever since Microsoft announced the end of life for Coded UI Tests and pointed to open source tools for test automation(i.e. Selenium), our team was struggling to find a tool that met all the requirements we had in terms of collaboration, speed and ease of use. I'm not even suggesting the Coded UI was a perfect product but it worked for many teams until it didn't. 

We decided to give our best shot and tried to build something that would work for us as a team. We are happy to introduce today the result of that effort, is a Visual Studio Extension called SafetyNet UIMaps for Visual Studio.

These are the main requirements we had when we started:
  1. We wanted a tool we could use inside Visual Studio to keep our test and app code together. Testing code is production code
  2. We wanted to be really easy to get started. The initial goal was to have a test running within one hour.
  3. Minimize the learning curve, or just flatten it. Devs with no Selenium experience should be able to use it with minimal learning. Testers with no coding experience should be able to create their tests independently. 
  4. Increase collaboration within the team. Developers should be able to share code snippets with testers when needed. 
  5. Testing at the speed of development. The tool should give the ability to quickly change the test framework while the code is being developed.

You can download the extension here or using the Extension menu inside from Visual Studio. You can try it for free as long as it's in Preview

We are looking for early adopters, don't hesitate to reach out.