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mustafa_openTAS's avatar
mustafa_openTAS
New Contributor
2 months ago
Solved

Using ControlID for More Stable Desktop UI Tests in TestComplete

Hi SmartBear Team, We’re currently working on improving the stability and maintainability of our automated desktop tests using TestComplete for our application, OpenTAS. To reduce object recognition...
  • scot1967's avatar
    scot1967
    2 months ago

    Hi,   Yes TestComplete supports what you are doing very well.  This is my preferred method of object recognition. Have you tried increasing your search depth to 10 or 12?  It looks like your target object is several layers deep from the parent you have specified.  To further define your target multiple properties and values can be used in an array format.  

    https://support.smartbear.com/testcomplete/docs/reference/test-objects/members/common-for-all/findchild-method.html 

    TestObj.FindChild(PropNames, PropValues, Depth, RefreshTree)

    TestObjA variable, parameter or expression that specifies a reference to one of the objects listed in the Applies To section
    PropNames[in]   Required   Variant   
    PropValues[in]   Required   Variant   
    Depth[in]   Optional   IntegerDefault value: 0   
    RefreshTree[in]   Optional   BooleanDefault value: True   
    ResultObject

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rraghvani's avatar
rraghvani
Icon for Champion Level 3 rankChampion Level 3
2 months ago

It's worth you and your developers read through About Open Applications. It's best to avoid using numbers to reference an object, as 1511736, could mean anything!

This is a better way of identifying an object, as reading the code clearly indicates that you are searching for the "back button"

win.FindChild("Name", "WinFormsObject(\"btnBack\")", 20);

 

  • scot1967's avatar
    scot1967
    Icon for Champion Level 1 rankChampion Level 1
    2 months ago

    I prefer to use identifiers in tandem with a second property if dev makes them available.  This adds to the identification being unique.  Apps can have several btnBack objects along the same path.  Testing does not need to do so much work to ensure a parent object is chosen where no duplicate objects could be found and Dev does not have to be quite so creative with their names to help out testability.  

    That said a number alone is not a very good practice to use with regard to test code maintenance and troubleshooting.

    ... It also worth saying you should ensure dev isn't allowing the ControlId to auto-generate.  This would allow the value to possibly change between builds.