Ranorex Recorder settings

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce and explain various options for setting and configuring Ranorex Recorder.

1. Use ‘ensure visible’ by default: Specifies whether a UI element used as a Ranorex role should be forced to become visible before automation or not. By default, this value is automatically used for each repository item

2. Enable search by unique ID (if available): Specifies whether web elements should be identified using their unique ID or not

3. On mouse/pointer move check if location is within visible desktop bounds: Specifies whether an exception should be thrown if the mouse/pointer tries to move outside the visible desktop bounds or not

4. Maximum length of text values in RanoreXPaths: Specifies the maximum length of attribute values used within RanoreXPath

5. The factor that all timeouts of find operations are multiplied with: Multiplies all repository timeouts with the specified value to prevent test cases from failing in case of different timing behavior. This is especially useful when executing tests on different system configurations

   Note: The value can also be set at the time of executing a test suite using the test suite’s command line arguments or by directly using the Ranorex.Core.Configuration.Current.Adapter.TimeoutFactor property in code.

6. Restore limitation warnings: Resets the Do not show again checkboxes used to suppress the assistance dialog for technology limitations. Click to show the dialog again for non-instrumented technologies or applications

7. Restore ignored dialogs: Resets all other Do not show again checkboxes

8. GDI capture settings…: Opens the dialog to change the current GDI capture list

   Further reading: The GDI capture feature of Ranorex is introduced and explained in detail in GDI capture feature.

9. Copy runtime to output: If checked, copy the Ranorex Studio runtime to the output folder when compiling/running a test

10. Include license information: Click to include the local machine’s floating license information with the test. For this to work, you must have a solution opened and a floating license configured on the local machine.

11. Show invisible characters in report: Display otherwise invisible characters in report values.

12. Restore defaults: Reset all values to their default values

13. Import…/Export…: Save and load user-specific configurations

14. Apply: Click to validate the changes

Recorder settings can be accessed through the settings dialog. Depending on where the dialog is opened, different options are available. If you open the settings from within the Studio Recorder view (SETTINGS button in the action table), the configuration options for the current recording are available in addition to the recorder default settings.

1. Current recording: This tab primarily contains configuration parameters for code generation specific to the current recording. All settings on this tab page are stored within the recording.

2. Recorder defaults: In this tab, global default values for every newly created recording are specified.

Hint: The settings tab page for Current recording can only be accessed from the SETTINGS button within a recording.

• Recording
• Timing for new action
• Code generation

Note: Please note that the following settings only affect newly created actions, not existing actions.

1. Capture a screenshot for each step: Specifies whether a screenshot of the current action should be made during the recording.

2. Highlight elements: Specifies whether element highlighting during recording should be enabled.

3. Coordinate recording mode: Specifies the way coordinates will be recorded. The following options are available:

   None	Actions will always be invoked at the ‘center’ of the recognized elements
   Pixel	Relative coordinates within a recognized element are recorded in pixels
   Proportional	Relative coordinates within a recognized element are recorded in percent

4. Use timings also for recorded actions: When enabled, the specified timings below will be taken instead of the recorded durations.

5. Use keystroke optimization: Enabled by default. This setting makes recorded key sequences easier to read. This only applies to characters of the English alphabet, i.e. A–Z. Can also be enabled/disabled in the keystroke editor of an action.

   Disabled	Enabled
   {LShiftKey down} h {LShiftKey up}	H
   {CAPITAL} hello	HELLO
   helll {Back} o	hello
   hello {Space} there	hello there

6. Key sequence split time (ms): Use this setting to specify the maximum time between key presses in a key sequence during recording. If this time is exceeded, the sequence is split into multiple key sequences.

7. Mouse move time per action (ms): Specifies the time in milliseconds used to move the mouse to the UI object related to the action.

8. Mouse/Pointer-related action time (ms): Specifies the overall time in milliseconds used for a manually created mouse action. The value set for this setting is only taken into account for manually created actions when the time of an action cannot be determined during recording or when ‘Use timings also for recorded actions’ is activated.

9. Keyboard-related action time (ms): Specifies the default overall time in milliseconds used for a manually created keyboard action. The value set for this setting is only taken into account for manually created actions when the time of an action cannot be determined during recording or when ‘Use timings also for recorded actions’ is activated.

10. Recording namespace: Specifies the namespace used for the generated code.

11. Recording class name: Specifies the class name used for the generated code.

12. Use item logging by default: Activate this setting to turn on a default logging message for each action item.

13. Generate replay reports: This setting is used to turn the generation of reports during replay on or off.

14. Show warnings for possible invalid property values: Option to turn invalid property warnings on/off.