Image-based approach

As on the previous page, you want to test the following:

In the calendar view of the Ranorex Studio Demo Application, you want to perform mouse clicks on three different dates (24, 25, and 26) of a month. After changing the month, the mouse clicks should still be performed on the same dates.

1. Start the demo application and click the Image-based automation tab.

2. In Ranorex Studio, create a new desktop solution with the solution wizard and open Recording1 in this solution.

3. In the recording module view of Recording1, click RECORD.
   

4. Ensure image-based recording is enabled.

5. Click the three dates 24, 25, and 26 in the calendar and stop the recording.

6. The action table displays the three corresponding actions.

   Image-based recording

   Now record mouse clicks on three consecutive dates in the calendar view of the demo application using the image-based approach.
   
   

Note: When image-based recording is enabled, Ranorex Recorder frames UI elements in green instead of purple (object-oriented recording), as shown in the image below.

1. Object-oriented recording with purple frame

2. Image-based recording with green frame

Run the test

When you run the test, you can see that

• The recorded calendar dates are identified correctly.
• Each click action in the report corresponds to the correct date in the calendar.

In other words, at this point, the test results are the same as with object-oriented testing.

Change of test conditions

Now assume that you run the test a couple of months from its creation. This means that the calendar view has changed to a different month. Let’s see how our image-based test performs in this case.

1. In the calendar in the demo application, switch to any month where the recorded dates 24, 25, and 26 are at a different position in the calendar.

Run the test again and see what happens.

• The test runs without failure and reports a success.
• Ranorex Studio has identified the correct dates despite their changed positions.
• Image-based testing has solved the issue created by object-oriented testing.

Advanced image-based automation

As you read on the previous page, image-based testing is sometimes the solution to an issue. However, as with any other testing approach, you need to apply it correctly or it will fail.

Proper image-based testing can get challenging when the recorded and the actual image during test execution don’t match. This can be caused by simple things like a UI element being highlighted or icons changing during test execution. False positives, can also be an issue when instead of the intended UI element, a similar-looking one is identified.

In the Ranorex Solutions and Best Practices section of this guide, find solutions for common issues in advanced image-based automation settings.