Analyze a recording

In this chapter, you’ll learn more about the Recorder working environment and analyze the recording of the example test.

In this chapter

    Recorder working environment

    The Recorder working environment has four regions.

    Projects view
    Located in the upper left, the projects view displays all files that are created and managed as part of a test project in a folder hierarchy.
    Project file view

    Further reading

    The projects view is discussed in Ranorex Studio fundamentals > Ranorex Studio > ⇢ Ranorex Studio Start page.
    Module browser
    Located in the lower left, the module browser shows all modules and module groups that can be used to build tests.
    Module browser view

    Further reading

    The module browser and its applications are described in Ranorex Studio fundamentals > ⇢ Test suite.

    Action table

    • The steps you recorded appear as actions in the action table.
    • They are listed in the order they were executed.
    • In our example, the list contains five actions.
    Recorder action table

    Further reading

    The concept of actions is explained in > Ranorex Studio fundamentals > ⇢ Actions.

    Repository

    • Repository items are representations of UI elements.
    • Each UI element affected by an action during recording is referenced by a corresponding repository item.
    • In our example, there are four UI elements organized in two folders.
    Repository with referenced UI-elements

    Further reading

    Repositories and their applications are described in Ranorex Studio fundamentals > ⇢ Repository.

    Action table analysis

    Let’s have a closer look at the five actions in the action table.

    Example action table

    Example action table

    Mouse click action

    • This action represents the click into the name text field.
    • The last column of this action contains a reference to the repository item that represents the UI element ‘EnterYourName’ (i.e. the name text field).
    Key sequence action

    • This action represents the text input into the name text field.
    • In our example, Harry is the input, and the UI element ‘EnterYourName’ is the target.
    Mouse click action

    • Action #4 represents the click on the Submit button in the Demo App.
    • The Submit button UI element is referenced in the last column by a corresponding repository item.
    Validation action

    • The test validation is also represented as an action.
    • Ranorex matches the text in the changed welcome message against a reference text.
    Mouse click action

    • This action represents clicking on Reset to reset the welcome message.

    Further reading

    The concept of actions is explored in Ranorex Studio fundamentals > ⇢ Actions.

    Repository analysis

    Our example contains four repository items organized in two folders. Each repository item corresponds to a UI element in the application under test. Let’s have a closer look at them.

    Example repository

    Our repository

    Item #1 – EnterYourName
    This repository item represents the name text field of the Demo App.

    Item #2 – BtnSubmitUserName
    This repository item represents the Submit button of the Demo App.

    Item #3 – Reset
    This repository item represents the Reset link of the Demo App.

    Item #4 – LblWelcomeMessage
    This repository item represents the text label that contains the welcome message of the Demo App.

    Further reading

    The concept of repositories is explained in Ranorex Studio fundamentals > ⇢ Repository.

    The link between actions and repository items

    Recorded actions and repository items are managed and stored separately, but they are linked to each other.

    Link between action and repository item

    The link between an action and a repository item

    Actions referencing UI element(s)

    Both the mouse click into the name text field (action #1) and the Harry text input into the name text field (action #2) affect the same UI element. Therefore, they are both linked to the ‘EnterYourName’ (item #1) repository item that represents this UI element.

    Repository item representing a UI element

    • UI elements are represented by repository items.
    • Repository items have a name (e.g. EnterYourName) and a location in the GUI (=path).

    Further reading

    The link between actions and repository items is described in both Ranorex Studio fundamentals > Actions > ⇢ Actions & repository items and in Ranorex Studio fundamentals > Repository > ⇢ Repository items & actions.

    Screencast

    To learn how to add UI elements to the repository manually, and add actions to a recording that aren’t connected to repository items, watch our video ⇢ Ranorex Studio Recorder basics 5: Add elements and actions manually

    Download the sample solution

    You can download the sample solution used for this chapter below.

    Sample solution

    Theme: Analyzing recordings

    Time: Less than 10min

    Download sample file

    Installation:

    Unzip to any folder on your computer.
    Start Ranorex Studio and open the solution file Introduction.rxsln.

    tipp icon

    Hint

    The sample solution is available for Ranorex versions 8.0 or higher. You must accept the automatic solution upgrade for versions 8.2 and higher.