SmartBear is expanding its test automation support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012, Windows 8, and Internet Explorer 10 in its TestComplete 9.1 release. The intention here is to create an environment for "development and continuous testing" of both web and desktop applications using WPF, ASP.NET, and HTML5 technologies.

What's the best thing about development with continuous testing? For SmartBear, advanced object recognition technology is high on the list and this is featured in TestComplete to allow .NET developers to record, edit, and run tests. The firm says that, using its tool, this is possible without having to learn new programming paradigms.

So TestComplete provides support for VBScript, JScript, C++Script, and C#Script, and features an advanced script editor that will be familiar to the Visual Studio users.

The proposition for .NET programmers is to use TestComplete 9.1 to integrate TestComplete projects into Team Foundation Server 2012 and launch tests from within Visual Studio 2012 test projects. In addition, web and desktop testers can create work items and post bug reports to the Team Foundation Server 2012 database directly from the TestComplete IDE.

"We are excited to welcome SmartBear to the Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program and have SmartBear's tools support the latest Microsoft platforms and developer products," said Tom Lindeman, Director of the VSIP program at Microsoft.

"Modern web applications must function on multiple browsers and operating systems as well as devices such as tablets and smartphones. Teams developing these applications need modern testing tools to support them. SmartBear delivers robust and affordable testing tools with advanced capabilities such as HTML5 support, cross-browser test automation, as well as distributed testing in virtual labs and virtual test environments."