Accessibility Automation Testing - Axe Core

In this article lets see how we can automate our Accessibility test cases using axe-core library. Lets me first define what is axe-core, how does it work and how can we automate our test cases by integrating it with selenium and java.

To know more about Accessibility testing and how can we test accessibility of applications manually, please go through this article which I have written earlier https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/accessibility-testing-mohith-nayak

Axe-core is an open-source accessibility testing library that can be used to scan websites and web applications for accessibility issues. It is compatible with a variety of programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, and Java(In this one we are only considering java for automation). Axe-core is a lightweight and fast library that can be easily integrated into existing testing frameworks.

Axe-core is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. It includes a number of rules that check for common accessibility issues, such as:

• Missing alt text for images
• Labels that do not match their controls
• Links that are not navigable with a keyboard
• Forms that are not accessible to screen readers

Axe-core is a powerful tool that can help you to improve the accessibility of your websites and web applications. It is a good choice for organizations that want to automate their accessibility testing.

Lets work on a sample code using axe-core, selenium and java

public class AxeCoreSelenium {

??public static void main(String args[]) {

??? public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a new WebDriver instance

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Navigate to the website to be tested

driver.get("https://www.example.com");

// Create an AxeBuilder object

AxeBuilder axeBuilder = new AxeBuilder(driver);

// Run the axe-core scan

AxeResults axeResults = axeBuilder.analyze();

// Get the results of the scan

List<AxeResult> results = axeResults.getViolations();

// Log the results of the scan

for (AxeResult result : results) {

System.out.println(result);

}

// Close the WebDriver instance

driver.close();

??}

}

Dependencies which we need to add for accessing axe-core along with latest selenium dependency:

<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.deque.html.axe-core/selenium -->

????<dependency>

??????<groupId>com.deque.html.axe-core</groupId>

??????<artifactId>selenium</artifactId>

??????<version>4.7.0</version>

????</dependency>

??<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.deque.html.axe-core/dequeutilites -->

????<dependency>

??????<groupId>com.deque.html.axe-core</groupId>

??????<artifactId>dequeutilites</artifactId>

??????<version>4.7.0</version>

????</dependency>

We can easily Integrate the above code with our existing selenium framework and implement it with multiple applications and environments.