Map Objects from Screen at once
Is TC not able to map a set of Objects at once? I know a few other tools, where i can make a single click on a web page and i get a list of all found elements... I kind of miss this feature here ...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
TestComplete provides a ability to map all objects under a parent at one click.
Right-click your parent object in the Name Mapping editor and click the 'Map Child Objects' context menu item. You'll get the dialog which allows you to select which children to map and map them automatically.
I would also respond that a web application or a desktop application, in TestComplete, has a LOT of objects exposed that you will never interact with in the course of your test automation. So, to map ALL your objects in your application is not exactly a good model.
As an example, just run the Windows notepad and take a look in TestComplete's object browser. You'll see a few objects in the hierarchy of notepad that you will never legitimately work with if you were testing that application. Web applications are the same... there are all sorts of hidden objects, forms, divs, panels, etc., that, in the course of test automation, you won't work with.
For that matter... TestComplete's object identification technology is different than most other tools. It uses a combination of the object hierarchy in the application and a set of properties to identify every object... automatic mapping, even what TestComplete already has when you record a set of steps or do the "right-click" and map I rarely keep. There are, in modern applications, too many dynamic factors to warrant keeping the default mapping. Best practice is, once TestComplete automatically maps something, to go back and edit what was mapped to make it more robust.
So, if you had TestComplete automatically map 100's of objects... you would STILL need to go back and 1) filter out all the unnecessary objects so as to not clutter up your object repository and 2) edit the ones you do want to use so that they have a more robust identification criteria. It wouldn't be a time saver anyways.
I see you opened a feature request so, perhaps, SmartBear will look into it... but suffice it to say, there are some cons to that particular methodology with regards to TestComplete's NameMapping engine that might make it not as helpful as it seems.
But... YMMV.
