Will TestComplete Support Internal wait technique after click on link

Hi,



TestComplete tries to wait until the page is loaded if you use ToUrl() method.

If you click some element, TestComplete executes the click method and it is yours responsibility to wait for the click results and page refresh.



I saw your message in another thread where you consider this to be an issue. But on my opinion this is a highly argueable statement.

The case is that you can require the test tool to wait until the page is loaded after the link is clicked only if: a) you are clicking the link that navigates to some other page and b) the target page is a static one.

If the above conditions are not met, a great many of other scenarios are possible. For example, the link can just trigger some script, but not navigate to another  address, or the page may contain AJAX code that causes page to change its content without been actually reloaded, etc.

In all these cases there is no other criteria (unless your developers implement it explicitly) to determine if the click operation have completed or not but to wait until the expected page or its element appear within some predefined timeout.

It is only you who knows what should happen after some element on the page is clicked. That is why it is your responsibility to implement the test code so it waits for the expected element and proceed accordingly.

Hi  Alexei Karas,



Thank you very much for reply, my main doubt is not only the clicking on link.



as per u, we can use ToURL method for my scenario,

but we can use ToURL method, only when i know the next navigation page URL only

suppose the url is dynamic then how can i use ToURL method if i don’t know the URL ?



Please see the below scenario, it’s a common scenario where I’m facing problem





Example: Scenario 



I'm having login page

i have entered username and password and click submit button

Now my application will navigate/ redirect to Home Page

In Home page, application contains Forget password button/ link

Now i want to click on Forget password button/ link and fill the details



Here my problem is,



After entering username password,

I clicked on submit button and the page is navigating to home page



here my problem comes into picture



after clicking on submit button, its navigating/ redirecting to Home page

before navigated/ redirected(loading page fully) to Home page the next script is executing, which is clicking on Forget password button



now I’m getting error, because still the page is in navigating/ redirecting/ busy mode, i.e still page is in progress,

but my next script which i want to click the Forget password script is activated, script is trying to click on Forget password but the page is not yet navigated/ redirected(loaded page fully)

so page doesn't contain Forget password button/ link, so its throwing error



but these problem i didn't face in other tools which i have already implemented, because internally they are checking whether page gets loaded fully or not, then only the are executing next script, obviously script will continue smoothly

 

the same problem i have faced in QTP also, but when i have written external code, its working fine

The code which i have written is to check still the page is in busy mode or page loaded fully

if page is busy then tool will wait until the page navigates/ redirected(loads page fully)



Example code which i have used in QTP to check whether page fully loaded or not

Function pageWait()

 

set objReadyState = Browser("micclass:=Browser").page("micclass:=Page").Object

While objReadyState.readyState = "Completed"

Wend

Set objReadyState=nothing

 

End Function

After each action where I want to check whether page gets fully loaded or not, i will call this method, so it will take care of tool to wait until page get redirected/ fully loaded



the same kind of code i have written in TestComplete also but it’s not working and not able to wait until page redirects/ loaded fully, even after written external code

 

Code which I have written in TestComplet is shown below

 

Function waitUntilPageNavigate()

 

Set Object=Sys.Browser("*").Page("*")

While Object.readyState = "complete"

Wend

Set Object=nothing

 

End Function

One more thing is, in some other tools which i have used,

even i have not written this code also, but its working fine, internally the tool itself checking whether page gets fully loaded of not, then only its performing the next script action, so we wont get any error in this situation 



internally they have provided the functionality of checking this scenario, without writing any external script



plsss let me know is there any internal functionality or code like above to make wait, page until redirects without using wait kind of functions





thanks in advance

 

Hi,



> [...] in other tools which i have already implemented, because internally they are checking whether page gets loaded fully or not [...]



As I mentioned in my original reply, this will work only for the static pages. Criterion for the static page to be considered to be fully downloaded is that the number of bytes received from the server equals to the number specified in the server's response header.

But if the page is dynamic (e.g. AJAX-based), this criterion will not work, because the script received from the server will be executed in the browser and partially update web page's content without reloading the whole page.

Another note: if you, as a tester and developer, is saying that you don't know the url web browser will navigate to after you click the link, how can TestComplete determine this? What logic should it use to decide whether to wait or not? (Remember, that the link can be not a static address, but a call to some script that will do a navigation based on its internal logic.)

Considering the above two notes, can you formulate the reliable criteria (don't forget about the performance as well) that TestComplete can follow to determine if the page was loaded and whether it contains the element you are going to work with?

(One more simple and obvious example: consider the file download page with the countdown that is replaced with the link to the file after it reaches zero. When the page can/should be considered to be fully downloaded? After the countdown appeared on the page? Or when it was replaced with the link?)



Summarizing and repeating what was said above: in modern dynamic web applications it is only you who knows what is expected to happen after some element of the page was clicked (or hovered, or selected) and it is only you who knows when to consider the page to be enough loaded so that your script can continue. And thus it is your responsibility to check these conditions and continue only when page is ready.

Hi,



is it not possible to implement the functionality to check internally whether page gets loaded fully or not and ajax based checking in TestComplete also like other tools ?



Because these are basic functionalities required for every Automation Test Engineer, isn't ?



if other tools are supporting these functionlities internally means this is possible right ?



if you folks can implement these functionalities in TestComplete also then it will rock more



just its my suggession



thanks for your replies upto now :)

Hi,



> is it not possible to implement the functionality to check internally whether page gets loaded fully or not and ajax based checking in TestComplete also like other tools ?



I think that SmartBear's Support will provide you with the result of their consideration of your request, but I am far not sure that this is possible in unified and consistent way. And the reason for my doubt is the same question I asked you previously:

"consider the file download page with the countdown that is replaced with the link to the file after it reaches zero. When the page can/should be considered to be fully downloaded? After the countdown appeared on the page? Or when it was replaced with the link?"

So, assuming that TestComplete was navigated to the page like described above, when do you think it should finish wait for the page to be downloaded? And why do you think so? What are your criteria?

Hi,



awesome, good question



the question what you have asked,  we can do it with javascript, i.e client side

so there is no request sending and response receiving from server,

since we cannot identify whether page is loaded fully or not



but if u do the same thing using ajax based, like sending request using ajax and get response from server,

then it is possible to make wait page until response we get



i.e nothing but like page load only, obviously we can check whether that specific ajax action is loaded fully or not

Hi,



So, if I got you correctly, the idea is to have TestComplete (in addition to the page wait actions done now) to monitor all requests sent from the page it (TestComplete) communicated the last and if one or more requests were sent by this page (either explicitly (by clicking on some element, or by pressing the Enter key), or implicitly by some script), then TestComplete must invalidate the page and stop performing any action over it until responses are received for all requests or requests timed-out. For the performance reasons this should not be done for the pages other than the one, TestComplete executed action the last. If any of such pages is a subject of next test action, then it is testers responsibility to check if the page contains valid data or was updated (much like it is now).

Is my understanding of your idea correct?



As I said, I think that there will be some response from Support and they will let you know what they think.

My personal opinion is that it is not that easy to implement such functionality (and I am really doubting that the tools like Selenium has it implemented), but SmartBear developers may have their own opinion;) , knowledge and code base and well might consider to implement such improvement.

Hi  Alexei Karas,



thanks for reply.



yes, Sahi Automation Tool is supporting ajax internally.



we doesn't required to write any additional script to check the ajax request, internally Sahi is checking



i have impletemented shai script for my application and checked, its working fine



im looking for the script in TestComplete is 



page.wait()



After using this after the some actions, its working some what better now. TestComplete is waiting until page loads fully



but 1 problem im facing, like one time its working fine, but if i executed the script again its not working



when it is working and when it is not working im not able say correctly



randomly its working, few times its working and some timeesits not working.





its my suggession nothing else



once again thanks you