6.11. Observing user actions
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## 6.11. Observing user actions

As explained in the introduction (Section 1.2.4, “Recorded Tests”) and in the section on how to record (Section 3.31.2, “Tips and tricks for using the observation mode”), we believe that recording tests has various disadvantages in any tool.

However, you can observe Test Cases in a running Java AUT. You can record actions and checks in your AUT, and the output for these actions is Test Steps.

You can create the same tests with observing as you can with specification. The real differences are:

- object mapping is carried out automatically in observing mode. Because of this, you do not provide a component name, but one is created automatically.

- you must use concrete values for parameters in the observation mode. You can (and should), however, change these to references in the specification perspective later so that your tests are more reusable.

You can reuse observed Test Cases in the same ways as you can reuse specified Test Cases.

| The observation mode supports high level actions. To find out exactly how an action works, look up the component and its action in the reference manual.