Forum Discussion

Contributor

9 years ago

how to use wildcards in object paths?

I am trying to click on a button using an object reference. Problem is, there are up to 20 variations of the path to the button. This is the path for button 1: Aliases.ACMConfig.frmMain.panelCont...

tristaanogre
9 years ago
Actually... I would take a different approach...

I'm assuming that the list of HourlyMeternnArchive components is dynamic... that from test run to test run there could be more or less of those items. In that case, I wouldn't use mapping at all for the specific items but, instead, use a FindChild or FindAllChildren to dynamically find the specific item(s) I want to click on based upon a set of criteria. Mapping it with the wildcard in the criteria and having all the items basically point to the same map is going to result in a lot of ambiguous recognition. In fact, I'd go with FindAllChildren to bring back an array of all the objects and then, using a for loop, click through each one... OR, otherwise use the array to interact with the individual components. Probably better in the long run than wildcarding things.

[EDIT] even if the list of objects isn't dynamic and is a fixed length, you could still use "FindAllChildren" to create an object in memory containing the list of all the objects. Then, all you would have to do is reference by index... something like:

//BTW... this is a HORRENDOUS mapping... consider in the Aliases section of NameMapping that you reduce this down to something more manageable
var ChildList = Aliases.ACMConfig.frmMain.panelControl1.superTabControl1.suptabConfiguration.userControlConfiguration1.toolStripContainer2.ToolStripContentPanel.tabObjects.acmObjectView.acmObjectView.DocumentsHost.DocumentContainer.panelMain.panelMain_Container.tabControlOptions.tabConfiguration.userControlAsiCustomDialog.tabControl1.tabPage8.gbMeters.FindAllChildren("WndClass", "ReferenceButton"); //This is just a guess... you would need to fill in proper properties etc
ChildList(0).Click() //Would click on btnReferenceSelect_HourlyMeter1Archive or whatever is first in the list.. etc.

Marsha_R

Moderator

9 years ago

The wildcard needs to be in the name mapping. Then it will match which ever one you find on the screen.

This should help:

https://support.smartbear.com/testcomplete/docs/reference/misc/using-wildcards.html

John_Laird
Contributor
9 years ago
Not quite. I mapped the button control and added the wildcard (*) so that it would accept 1-20 in that section of text as valid but when I click "Highlight" in the "Edit Name Mapping Item" dialog it still throws an error:

Still not sure why this is not working.
- Marsha_R
  Moderator
  9 years ago
  I wouldn't expect that to work because asking for the highlight is looking for a particular object with * in it on screen and that doesn't exist.
  
  What it should allow you to do now is put HourlyMeter1 or HourlyMeter2 etc. in a test and not have it tell you that the object doesn't exist. They will both match the name mapping with HourlyMeter*.
  - John_Laird
    Contributor
    9 years ago
    No joy. Thinking I'm not understanding the intent here. Maybe if I explain this better it will help. These are the buttons I want to be able to map without adding an object path or alias for each one:
    
    One of these buttons is only visible at a given time. I have a drop down box. If the drop down box is set to index 0 ("meter 1") then btnReferenceSelect_HourlyMeter1Archive is visible. If I switch to index 1 ("meter 2") then btnReferenceSelect_HourlyMeter2Archive is visible and so forth all the way to meter 20. All I'm trying to do here is add a line to my keyword test where I can use a wildcard and not have to alias map or type an object path for all 20 buttons.