[Webtest] Global page validation tests

[Nate Oster]

On my project, we have a set of global tests that should be true on every page.  For example, every page should have a standard disclaimer at the bottom, and a set of admin links.  In addition, we have negative tests to ensure compliance with our UI standards, like that every table column must have an HTML label, or that every Data Table should be in a DIV of a certain class.   What do you think is the best way to OPTIONALLY run a standard set of WebTest steps (mostly VerifyXPath steps) against every page in the application?  I tried <reportSite>, but of course that’s simply a spider that can only reach statically linked pages.  I’d prefer to simply “turn on” the validation steps and have them run as part of our regular functional test suites.   In addition, it would be ideal if we could avoid failing the test script if one of the expressions was violated, but instead simply log it as a warning (much like warnings about XHTML compatibility is done now).  That way, you won’t have to fix an issue in order to get the complete set of validation failures as part of your regular test cycles.   What do you think?   Thanks! Nate Oster