UI technologies introduction

Ranorex Studio supports test automation for many different UI technologies. For the best automation results, some of these technologies must be instrumented. Instrumenting means that Ranorex Studio installs an add-on or inserts code to identify the UI elements of a particular technology.

The Ranorex Instrumentation Wizard simplifies this process for the following technologies:

Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Chromium
Android/iOS apps

Note
For browsers, we recommend you use the Open browser action to automatically instrument Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome when you start a test.

Start the Instrumentation Wizard

There are different ways to start the Instrumentation Wizard.

From technology limitation warnings

A technology limitation warning will appear whenever you try to automate one of the above technologies without having instrumented them. It will include a button to directly run the Instrumentation Wizard.

Warning for Google Chrome
Warning for Mozilla Firefox
Warning for Flash/Flex

When you create a mobile test

When you click Add app… in the mobile test creation dialog, the Instrumentation Wizard starts automatically. This is because apps need to be instrumented before you can deploy them to your mobile device.
Add app… Automatically starts the Instrumentation Wizard.

From the settings of an iOS/Android endpoint

You can also start the Instrumentation Wizard from the settings of an Android/iOS endpoint. This works the same way as Add app… above.
Instrument/deploy App in the settings of an Android endpoint.

From the menu

You can also start the Instrumentation Wizard from Tools > Ranorex Instrumentation Wizard.

From the Windows Start menu

The Instrumentation Wizard is a standalone program and can therefore be started from the Windows Start menu.

Command line instrumentation

You can also instrument technologies from the command line. The available arguments are listed below. The image shows the Instrumentation Wizard executable in the /bin/ folder of the Ranorex Studio installation.

Instrumentation Wizard executable.

?|help

Displays the general help. Add a page parameter to show the help for the respective technology.

Possible page names: android, chrome, firefox, flex, ios.

Android arguments (basics)

d|device

Name of the mobile device to which you want to deploy an APK.
Not required if deploymode is set to NoDeploy.

a|apkfile

Path to the APK that you want to deploy

s|skip

True = no instrumentation: only deploys the APK to the device.
False (default) = instruments and then deploys the APK to the device.

dm|deploymode

Configures how the APK is deployed.
Parameters: WiFi | Usb | NoDeploy | Auto (default)
NoDeploy = Does not deploy the APK.
Auto = Deploys the APK using the same mode as used for device configuration.

o|outfile

Optional path or folder to save the instrumented APK.
You must have read and write permissions for the path/folder.
Adds a suffix to the saved APK to indicate that it’s been instrumented. Overwrites existing instrumented APKs.
If skip is set to true, does nothing.

Android arguments (signing APKs)

JdkBinPath

Complete the installation path of the JDK environment.

KeyAlias

Alias of the keystore entity of jarsigner.

KeyPass

Password for jarsigner.
Attention: The password is stored as plain text.

KeyStore

Complete the path to the associated jarsigner keystore.

KeyStorePass

Password to the jarsigner keystore.
Attention: The password is stored as plain text.

Note
For custom signing, KeyStore, KeyAlias, KeyStorePass, KeyPass and JDKBinPath must be set.

Android arguments (instrumentation settings)

RIdClass

Optional class name for locating resource IDs (e.g. com.ranorex.demo.R)
By default, Ranorex will search in .R

EnableWebTesting

True (default) = shows DOM content of web views in the UI hierarchy.
False = does not show DOM content.
Important: Very high-performance impact on your app when set to true.

FullImageComparison

Uses more robust image comparison to determine resource IDs for images.
Important: Decreases startup performance.

TreeSimplification

True (default) = Postprocesses the generated UI tree internally to make it simpler.
False = No postprocessing. False generates a larger UI tree. This can be useful for automating 3rd-party Android controls.

Chrome arguments

e|enable

True = Activates the Ranorex Chrome add-on.
False = Deactivates the Ranorex Chrome add-on.

Firefox arguments

enew|enablenew

True = Activates the Ranorex Firefox add-on.
False = Deactivates the Ranorex Firefox add-on.

Flex arguments

pl|preloader

True = Activates the Ranorex preloader.
False = Deactivates the Ranorex preloader.

True = Activates the Flex debug player for Internet Explorer.
False = Deactivates the Flex debug player for Internet Explorer.

ff|firefox

True = Activates the NPAPI Flex debug player for Firefox/Safari.
False = Deactivates the NPAPI Flex debug player for Firefox/Safari.

cr|chrome

True = Activates the Flex PPAPI debug player for Chrome.
False = Deactivates the Flex PPAPI debug player for Chrome.

o|other

True = Activates cr and ff
False = Deactivates cr and ff

ft|flextrace

True = Activates Flash tracelog.
False (default) = Deactivates Flash tracelog.

iOS arguments

u|udid

Unique ID of the device to which you want to deploy an app.
Alternative argument: dn|devicename

Note
You can find the UDID in the details of the respective endpoint.

dn|devicename

Name of the mobile device to which you want to deploy an app.

ip|inputpath

Complete the path of the IPA file you want to instrument/deploy.

o|outfile

Optional path or folder to save the instrumented IPA.
You must have read and write permissions for the path/folder.
Adds a suffix to the saved IPA to indicate that it’s been instrumented. Overwrites existing instrumented IPAs.
If skipinstrumentation is set to true, does nothing.

si|skipinstrumentation

True = no instrumentation, only deploys the IPA to the device.
False (default) = instruments and then deploys the IPA to the device.

sd|skipdeployment

True = Does not deploy the IPA.
False (default)= Deploys the IPA.

k|keypath

Path to the p12 certification file (*.p12).

pw|password

Password to the p12 certification file (*.p12).

pp|provisionpath

Path to the embedded mobile provision profile (*.mobileprovision).

ai|appid

The application ID (bundle identifier of the app).
Required so that an application can be uninstalled before installing the new archive.
By default, requires you to enter the ID.
Can also be set to auto to resolve the ID automatically during instrumentation.

db|deploybrowser

True = deploys the preinstrumented Ranorex Web Browser App to the device.
False (default) = Does not deploy it.

ds|deployservice

True = deploys the preinstrumented Ranorex Service App to the device.
False (default) = Does not deploy it.

ub|uninstallbrowser

True = uninstalls the preinstrumented Ranorex Web Browser App before deployment.
False (default) = No prior uninstalling.

ub|uninstallservice

True = uninstalls the preinstrumented Ranorex Service App before deployment.
False (default) = No prior uninstalling.

uf|uninstallfail

True = Displays an error message if uninstalling an app fails.
False (default) = Does not display an error message.