Forum Discussion

mortenb123's avatar
mortenb123
Contributor
6 months ago

TestExecute 15.73 not working: 'Parent object not found'

I upgraded to: But then my tests fails, It says 'Object not found', I downgraded backI to: And it works. This is legacy software I seldom touch. This is the only error I find. It is una...
antonns's avatar
antonns
New Contributor
10 days ago

I stay on 15.70. Which was released 11 december 2024. That means that I have no working version for nine month. And it much easier to stay on old version then get new potential defects in new releases.
I'm trying not to comunicate with Smartbear support. Because mostly I feel like I'm being taken though the typical long process wich leads to "We can not reproduce, unless you send us your app, your test project, etc.".Often I have to spend hours and even days to get some result of such comunications. 
But regulary I got emails like "let's book a time so we can discuss the product price increase, because of new features we included (wich I do not require)".


  • pkudrys's avatar
    pkudrys
    Frequent Contributor
    9 days ago

    The problem of using old TC versions is, that they does not support recent browsers. And in our corporate environment, our browsers are managed by the company policy and they are simply updated as soon as the new version is out. Which makes the old TC versions practically useless.

    It's outrageous that they are unable to fix such critical issue for such a long time. We even provided reproducible steps and sample project several months ago! They are pretty agile when it comes to increasing prices and calling us to upgrade earlier to "save" money. But they seem to be quite incompetent, when it comes to bug fixes. We are really disappointed and seriously considering lowering number of TC licenses.    

    • rraghvani's avatar
      rraghvani
      Icon for Champion Level 3 rankChampion Level 3
      9 days ago

      I totally agree and understand your frustration, as I feel the same too. However, end-users need to understand, that TestComplete typically supports Chrome and Edge versions that are 2–3 versions behind the latest release due to the following reasons:

      1. Browser internals change frequently - each browser update can introduce changes to the DOM, JavaScript engine, and debugging APIs, which may break existing functionality.
      2. Stability and compatibility testing - SmartBear needs time to test and validate each new version to ensure stable integration and prevent test failures.
      3. Enterprise alignment - many enterprise environments lock browser versions for consistency, so supporting slightly older versions aligns with real-world usage.
      4. Reliability over recency - prioritising stability helps avoid flaky tests and ensures a predictable testing environment.
      5. Changing APIs (CDP) - Chrome and Edge use the Chromium DevTools Protocol, which evolves frequently. TestComplete must adapt its internal mechanisms accordingly before offering support.


      In short, this delay is intentional to ensure reliability and consistency across different environments.

      Many organisations use locked or controlled browser versions in their environments to ensure consistency and compliance. TestComplete’s support for slightly older browser versions aligns with these enterprise practices, ensuring stable, predictable testing across teams. However, it seems like many organisations do not implement to this rule!