Forum Discussion

gdave's avatar
gdave
Regular Contributor
8 years ago

Object Alias Issue

Hi all   I am facing the below issue everytime I try and execute my test.   The problem here is when I initially use ObjectSpy to map the object, I get a mapped name eg: ListBox21 but after execu...
  • tristaanogre's avatar
    tristaanogre
    8 years ago

    Pretty much what I suspected: That the property(ies) of the object that you're using for identification are changing dynamically each time the application or test is run.  The solution is to find a property or set of properties that will uniquely identify the object so that, no matter what, it will always find the right one.

     

    Looking at the properties you've supplied, my suggestion would be to not use the Name property for mapping.  Instead, I'd use a combination of two or three properties:

     

    ObjectType = List

    ObjectIdentifier = ListBox

    wItemList = <the full list>

     

    Now, you COULD get away, I think, with just the first two assuming that the same screen doesn't have more than one list box on it.  If it only has the one, ObjectType and ObjectIdentifier should be sufficient.  If it has more than one list box, the other unique identifying factor is the list of items contained.

     

    Change your mapping to this and you'll have a more stable mapping for your list box

gdave's avatar
gdave
Regular Contributor

After some investigation I just realised that its not Alias but the actual object itself which is changing its Name. For example:

 

An Alias 'ListBox' was mapped to UIAObject(ListBox32) and this UIAObject has 19 child items. I execute my test with this mapping and it passed. However next day when I try to re-run the same test it says 'Unable to find the object that matches the 'ListBox' item. If you looked at the attached screenshot from Name Mapping Editor (screenshot 1), the ObjectIdentifier (Alias 'ListBox') is mapped to UIAObject(ListBox32) which has got 19 child items, however, when I again spy on actual on screen object (screenshot2) the MappedName property is blank (screenshot3) and the actual Object name has been changed to ListBox from UIAObject(ListBox32) . This change in behaviour is causing my tests to fail.

 

Now the surprising bit here is that if I remap the new object name (ListBox) the test passes however if I again try to re-run the same test, it fails AND the object name has again changed to UIAObject(ListBox32) from ListBox (screenshot 4) causing the same error as above. So my question here is that why is the original object name in question changing its name sporadically and how can I make it stable so that it doesn't change ?

tristaanogre's avatar
tristaanogre
Esteemed Contributor
8 years ago

Pretty much what I suspected: That the property(ies) of the object that you're using for identification are changing dynamically each time the application or test is run.  The solution is to find a property or set of properties that will uniquely identify the object so that, no matter what, it will always find the right one.

 

Looking at the properties you've supplied, my suggestion would be to not use the Name property for mapping.  Instead, I'd use a combination of two or three properties:

 

ObjectType = List

ObjectIdentifier = ListBox

wItemList = <the full list>

 

Now, you COULD get away, I think, with just the first two assuming that the same screen doesn't have more than one list box on it.  If it only has the one, ObjectType and ObjectIdentifier should be sufficient.  If it has more than one list box, the other unique identifying factor is the list of items contained.

 

Change your mapping to this and you'll have a more stable mapping for your list box

  • gdave's avatar
    gdave
    Regular Contributor
    8 years ago

    My mapping already includes the below three properties

     

    ObjectType = List

    ObjectIdentifier = ListBox

    wItemList = <the full list with 19 items>

     

    I will try excluding the name property and update you with the outcome. Thanks

    • tristaanogre's avatar
      tristaanogre
      Esteemed Contributor
      8 years ago

      Note that once you correct the mapping for one instance, you should delete the others from your namemapping repository so you don't continue to get multiple identifications for the same item.

  • gdave's avatar
    gdave
    Regular Contributor
    8 years ago

    Hi

     

    So, I used the below three object properties but not much joy I must say.

    ObjectType = List

    ObjectIdentifier = ListBox

    wItemList = <the full list>

     

    The ObjectGroupIndex32 has now changed to ObjectGroupIndex1(screenshot1) and when I spy the object in question it is actually not mapped to 1(screenshot2). Any more suggestion as to what can I do to stop it from  changing the property.........Thanks

    • gdave's avatar
      gdave
      Regular Contributor
      8 years ago

      A quick update:

       

      I further played around with the properties in the name mapping and unselected 'ObjectGroupIndex' from the list which made it work again.

      So I am going to do few more runs and test its robustness. Cheers

       

      Regards

      G

       

      • tristaanogre's avatar
        tristaanogre
        Esteemed Contributor
        8 years ago

        Actually, your BEST bet is to ONLY use those three properties mentioned... remove ALL other properties from the mapping for that box... the ONLY properties you should have should be ObjectIdentifier with a value of ListBox, ObjectType with a value of List, and the wItemList with the full list.  That is all you need, really, to identify the object.  Everything else is extra.