Advanced settings & configurations

Most settings in the Advanced tab are used to configure Ranorex object recognition and RanoreXPath generation. Please be careful when changing these settings.

1. Enable 32/64 Bit Bridge: Use the checkbox ‘Enable 32/64 Bit Bridge’ to automatically turn off the bit bridge required to handle 32/64 bit-based applications on 64-bit operating systems.

2. Use hidden screenshot capturing (if possible): Ranorex tries to capture screenshots used by recordings, repositories, or Ranorex snapshot files, even from application windows that are not in the foreground. If disabled, it tries to make the application window visible before capturing a screenshot.

3. Disable expensive attributes in tools: This setting instructs plug-ins not to evaluate computationally intensive attributes for Ranorex Spy, Recorder, and Ranorex Studio. If checked, attributes like Row.Index do not have a value for certain technologies when shown in Ranorex Spy. This improves performance in some cases.

4. Let snapshot contain complete ancestor subtree: When checked, the subtree containing the whole application will be stored when saving a snapshot file. If not checked, only the direct subtree to the selected item will be stored.

5. Use asynchronous dispatching of mouse and keyboard events: This setting is used to turn on or off asynchronous dispatching of mouse and keyboard events during recording. With enabled asynchronous dispatching mouse and keyboard events will not be forwarded to an application before Ranorex has finished processing the event.

6. Use UiaLauncher to elevate privileges for processes started by tools: Specifies whether test execution is started with elevated privileges or not.

7. Synchronize element selection of Studio’s repository with element selection in Spy: Specifies whether a UI element will be automatically selected in Ranorex Spy when the representing repository item is selected or not.

8. Enable IME Hook: This option enables input support for complex characters, e.g. for Chinese and Japanese.
   Note: Does not work for Windows Store apps, WPF applications, and in Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, or Mozilla Firefox.

9. Delay before pressing a key sequence (ms): Specifies the time to wait in milliseconds before performing a key sequence simulation.

Speed/robustness slider

This slider controls how Ranorex Studio balances speed (flexibility; faster execution times) and robustness (more resistance to UI changes, slower execution times) when generating RanoreXPaths.

Note: Setting the slider to between 30 % and 50 % achieves the best results for generating RanoreXPaths that are well-balanced between speed and robustness.

Let’s take a look at how setting the slider to different positions influences RanoreXPath generation.

50 % setting – balanced

At the default setting of 50 %, Ranorex Studio generates a RanoreXPath for the button in the Ranorex Studio Demo Application that is equally balanced in terms of execution speed and resistance to UI changes.

1. Button in the Ranorex Studio Demo Application

2. The button in the element tree in Ranorex Spy. It is located on the fourth level of the tree.

3. The generated RanoreXPath for the button. It contains two ? wildcards between the root node and the parent of the UI element, which gives the path a reasonable amount of flexibility.

0 % setting – speed

At 0%, Ranorex Studio generates a path that is focused on achieving the highest execution speed. This results in a very fast, definitive path that has the least resistance against UI changes.

1. Button in the Ranorex Studio Demo Application

2. The button in the element tree in Ranorex Spy. It is located on the fourth level of the tree.

3. The generated RanoreXPath for the button. It does not contain any wildcards. This makes the path fast but means that changes in the UI or its structure will likely prevent it from successfully identifying the targeted UI element.

100 % setting – robustness

At 100%, Ranorex Studio generates a path that is focused on achieving the highest robustness. This results in a slower, flexible path that has the most resistance against UI changes.

1. Button in the Ranorex Studio Demo Application

2. The button in the element tree in Ranorex Spy. It is located on the fourth level of the tree.

3. The generated RanoreXPath for the button. It consists only of the root node, a // wildcard, and the final node. This means that any number of other nodes can be between the root and the final node. This makes the path slower, but very resistant to UI changes.

Attribute weights and Expert settings

1. Edit attribute weights… lets you edit how automatic RanoreXPath generation weighs UI element attributes, i.e. which of them it prefers using over others.

2. Expert settings contain critical settings that change core aspects of how Ranorex Studio’s algorithm generates RanoreXPaths.

Reference: Attribute weights and other weight rules are explained in Mapping dynamic UI elements

Under these settings, you can enable the Robust RanoreXPath generation mode. To do so, follow the instructions on the Self-healing page.

1. Checkbox for agreeing to send us anonymous usage statistics to improve Ranorex Studio. The default is checked. Click the button for more information about what data we use and how we use it.

2. Resets all advanced settings to their defaults.

3. Allows you to import settings from other solutions or export them for use in other solutions.