ComboBox: How to know when you can click on the items of a ComboBox after you opened the DropDown

Question

Hi,&nbsp;I am using TestComplete 12 (Desktop Testing).I want to click on ComboBoxItems inside a DropDown of a ComboBox.I need to know when I can click on those items.&nbsp;First step is to click on the ComboBox and open the DropDown. Now I want to click on the items inside the DropDown (items of the ComboBox). The easiest solution is to wait for the property&nbsp;"HasItems" of the ComboBox to be true.But at this time of my program, "HasItems" is already true because I used this ComboBox previously (Items are already loaded). So I can't use this property to know when I can click on the items.&nbsp;&nbsp;I tried to wait for the property "IsDropDownOpen" to be true before clicking.&nbsp;However&nbsp;it seems this property is true before the DropDown is completely opened.The result is: TC12 is too fast and doesn't find the item I am looking for because the DropDown is not completely opened.&nbsp;Do you have any solution for this issue ?I am just trying to wait for a property of the ComboBox to be sure when I can click on the items inside the DropDown (I can't use&nbsp;directly the ComboBoxItem that I am looking for).&nbsp;Thanks for your help.&nbsp;

colin_mccrae · Answer

tristaanogre&nbsp;- "Why aren't you using the "ClickItem" method on your combobox control?"&nbsp;Might not support it. Not all do. I have some Delphi ones that I have to use other methods. (Data driven, with visible selections populated "as you scroll" from the underlying DB. They're a pain.)&nbsp;cam_farineau&nbsp;- "But at this time of my program, "HasItems" is already true because I used this ComboBox previously (Items are already loaded). So I can't use this property to know when I can click on the items."&nbsp;Is the ComboBox a mapped object? You may just need to refresh it before using it again. (Refresh it before you load the page, which should effectively "empty" the cached version.)&nbsp;https://support.smartbear.com/testcomplete/docs/reference/test-objects/members/common-for-all/refreshmappinginfo-method.html

cam_farineau · Answer

Thanks for your answer.&nbsp;I don't like hardcoded delays neither. In some case we are waiting for nothing and sometimes, like you said, the delay is not long enough.Yes the ComboBox doesn't support the ClickItem.I wanted to wait for the property IsDropDownOpen to be true but this is not working correctly, this property is true before the ComboBoxItem are loaded.And I can't find another property, instead of HasItems, that proves the ComboBox is ready to receive a click.&nbsp;I have some ComboBoxes that have a Loading item. So right now, I am waiting for this item to be gone before clicking on a particular item of the ComboBox.&nbsp;Right now I don't have a perfect solution but those workaround are working.

tristaanogre · Answer

Why aren't you using the "ClickItem" method on your combobox control? (https://support.smartbear.com/testcomplete/docs/reference/test-objects/members/combobox/clickitem-action-combobox-control.html)
&nbsp;
Seems that this is a much cleaner way of selecting an item from a combobox than first clicking the drop down then clicking the item. &nbsp;However, different components and different implementations of components may mean you need to use another method, but I'd suggest at least investigating this option as it should take care of both clicking the drop down AND clicking the individual item itself.

cam_farineau · Answer

Thanks for your answer.&nbsp;I did try the refresh but it was not working.&nbsp;I finally find a workaround for this problem (hard delay).

tristaanogre · Answer

I personally don't like hardcoded delays if I can avoid them... from one test run to another, or on a different environment, it's entirely possible that the delay might not be long enough so you end up with intermittent problems.As&nbsp;Colin_McCrae&nbsp;mentioned, this is apparently one of those ComboBoxes that does not easily support the "ClickItem" method so obviously my previous suggestion doesn't work. &nbsp;What I would suggest, though, instead of a hardcoded delay, see if you can find a particular property of the drop down that, when it is fully ready to receive a click, you can detect. &nbsp;You can then use the "WaitProperty" method on the drop down to wait specifically for that property to have the desired value. &nbsp;This will remove the need for the hardcoded delay and make your test script able to handle a more variable set of situations.

Forum Discussion

ComboBox: How to know when you can click on the items of a ComboBox after you opened the DropDown

6 Replies

Related Content

PB12 - How to work with combobox/dropdown/panel(combobox)

Combobox selection

ClickItem( ) Very Slow For DropDown/ComboBox

WPF Combobox have no ClickItem

WPF Combobox

Recent Discussions

Dynamic Object

Pulling in Dynamic Links from a web page

Your thoughts about a REST API in TestComplete

Keyword Test - Click - use -1, -1 by default?

How to import external node modules in TestComplete