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p6s's avatar
p6s
New Contributor
8 years ago
Solved

TC 12.3, WinFormsObject(name).Exists raises run-time error instead of false

Anyone else come across this?   I don't know if this happens all the time, but in our automation tool that leverages TC for screen interactions, WinFormsObject(name).Exists now raises a run-time er...
  • tristaanogre's avatar
    tristaanogre
    8 years ago

    When I first started using TestComplete back in 2001-2002, the behavior was as it is now... a "Wait" method needed to be used for object detection because, otherwise, it would return the runtime error you described.  Understandably, that may have changed, but logically, it makes sense as mentioned above:

     

    1) Can't check the "Exists" property of something that is NULL

    2) The method is being executed to look for an object that doesn't exist so returns the runtime error.

     

    Now, potentially, SmartBear could correct #2 above.  I think I remember a discussion something to that end in the past but I don't recall the result.  In any case, as mentioned, it's always a best practice to "Wait" if you're going to check existence... cleaner code all around.

p6s's avatar
p6s
New Contributor
8 years ago

Thanks for the best practice suggestion.

What is strange is that this old code has worked for the better part of the last 10 years I think ... and only started to not work when we tested with 12.3.

This also goes against what I understand from the documentation: https://support.smartbear.com/testcomplete/docs/reference/test-objects/members/window-and-process/winformsobject-method.html#result-value

 

I narrowed down the number of cases that where .Exist was used without the WaitWinForms to a more manageable list of about 27. 

I do like that not only does this work in 12.3 but also (when I run in 11.2) it is more performant when the object doesn't exist. The .exist would return false after 2-3 seconds. The WaitWinForms returns false after the specified timeout (I generally use 100).

tristaanogre's avatar
tristaanogre
Esteemed Contributor
8 years ago

When I first started using TestComplete back in 2001-2002, the behavior was as it is now... a "Wait" method needed to be used for object detection because, otherwise, it would return the runtime error you described.  Understandably, that may have changed, but logically, it makes sense as mentioned above:

 

1) Can't check the "Exists" property of something that is NULL

2) The method is being executed to look for an object that doesn't exist so returns the runtime error.

 

Now, potentially, SmartBear could correct #2 above.  I think I remember a discussion something to that end in the past but I don't recall the result.  In any case, as mentioned, it's always a best practice to "Wait" if you're going to check existence... cleaner code all around.