TestComplete NameMapping has "Configurations" where the mappings can be "versioned" in a way. Look into whether or not that will solve some of your problems.
Unfortunately, major UI changes aren't always simply a matter of changing properties but changing hierarchies as well. Where you used to have Parent.Child1.Child2, now you may have Parent.Child1.Form1.Table1.Child2. In these situations, it's a lot trickier to keep your Mapping working well across versions. What I would suggest is for simple hierarchy changes, look into judiciously turning on Extended Find for some objects. In my example above, I would turn on Extended Find on the Child2 object. That way it would be found regardless of how many objects are between it and Child1. I wouldn't turn on Extended Find globally, there is a performance hit there. But turn it on as needed. I would suggest that, once the smoke clears and you have time, go back and backfill the ancestors that extended find "jumped" over to resolve those performance issues.
Investigate using other means of mapping objects. NameMapping has "required children" and "conditional mapping" as features within NameMapping that allows for more variation in object identification. Conditional mapping may be a good tool to use with your upcoming UI change.
Also, don't be afraid of using wildcards. Using the * symbol in a property value to partially wild-card an object makes things more robost if there are minor changes.
One last thing -> Get cosy with your developers. If there's this massive change coming up, odds are that they are already dealing with it. They may have versions of the application already with those changes applied that they might be able to get you a copy. Grab all the help you can to get ahead of the game with your mapping. Use source control to version those mapping changes so that when the trigger is pulled, all you have to do is drop in the new NameMapping version.
Be prepared for a lot of work. It takes time. Even if you weren't using NameMapping and were using some coded way of identifying objects, you would still need to go through and update ancestral hierarchies, property values, etc. Make sure you communicate this to your superiors that they know that the automation you have may not run fully until this adaptation work is done. It's part of the life cycle of the application.
Good luck! And if you need help, we're here.
Robert Martin
[Hall of Fame]Please consider giving a Kudo if I write good stuff
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Why automate? I do automated testing because there's only so much a human being can do and remain healthy. Sleep is a requirement. So, while people sleep, automation that I create does what I've described above in order to make sure that nothing gets past the final defense of the testing group.
I love good food, good books, good friends, and good fun.
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