Ranorex identifying as 'controlnet11' what was once a 'form' : Automation API

[afrosteve]

After upgrading Ranorex to 2.3.5 from 2.3.4, most of my XPaths are no longer functioning correctly because Ranorex is now seeing some of the windows as "controlnet11" objects instead of "forms".

This is more than a little frustrating.

Is there some setting or trick I'm missing that would avoid this happening?

Does Ranorex object identification change to that degree between minor releases?

Or is my AUT that bizarre (and it could be) that what was once a 'form' is now seen as a 'controlnet11' because Ranorex's object detection is improving?

Has anyone else seen this? May just be me.

[Support Team]

After upgrading Ranorex to 2.3.5 from 2.3.4, most of my XPaths are no longer functioning correctly because Ranorex is now seeing some of the windows as "controlnet11" objects instead of "forms".

This is not at all the expected behavior. Ranorex tries to be 100% backwards compatible within all releases of a major version, i.e. all 2.X.Y versions should be backwards compatible.

It looks like Ranorex suddenly cannot correctly recognize Windows Forms controls in your application after the upgrade. Please, could you answer the following questions to give us some more information about the issue:

• Have you restarted the application under test (AUT) after upgrading?
• Have you tried reinstalling Ranorex 2.3.5?
• Did you try to reboot the machine after the upgrade?
• Did anything change within your AUT or the Ranorex executables, e.g. installation path, working directory, ...?
• If you tried all of the above and the issue still remains, could you provide us the application or a sample application that you can reproduce the problem with?
• Which .NET Framework version (exact version including service pack) do you have installed?

Thank you for your cooperation! I hope we can quickly find a solution to that issue...

Regards,
Alex
Ranorex Team

[afrosteve]

I did restart the AUT. I tried 2.3.5 with the AUT on two computers with the same result of "controlnet11" objects.

I haven't tried reinstalling 2.3.5 yet. I was having some memory issues with 2.3.4 and with the problems I was having with 2.3.5, I downgraded back to 2.3.3 where I had no problems.

What is the recommended upgrade method for Ranorex? Up until now, I have been installing the new versions over the old.

I did not reboot the machine after installing 2.3.5.

I'm not sure about the AUT changing. As far as I know, it hasn't but a developer could have changed something and neglected to mention it.

The testing application was recompiled after the Ranorex upgrade. I also regenerated the repository code because I thought I had read something in the release notes about this being improved. Aside from that the install path and working directory and most other settings were at their defaults, or set as they were when everything was working.

I will attempt to reproduce after reinstalling.

I believe I have the following .NET frameworks installed.
.NET CLR 2.0.50727
.NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152
.NET CLR 3.5.30729 -- this is 3.5 with sp1.
.NET4.0C
.NET4.0E

[Support Team]

What is the recommended upgrade method for Ranorex? Up until now, I have been installing the new versions over the old.

This is actually the recommended upgrade method. Just make sure that no application using Ranorex is running while upgrading. The installer should warn you when Ranorex DLLs are still in use, but the Microsoft installer is not very reliable at that. If you have problems after upgrading, try to uninstall Ranorex, reboot the machine, and install Ranorex again, please.

I will attempt to reproduce after reinstalling.

Please, report back the status after your attempt to reinstall Ranorex (after rebooting). Thanks!

Regards,
Alex
Ranorex Team

[afrosteve]

I completely uninstalled Ranorex, rebooted, then installed Ranorex 2.3.5.

Ranorex is still identifying the windows as controlnet11 objects.

After this, I rebooted and tried running Ranorex again. This yielded the same result.

I've tried different revisions of the AUT and I get the same result.

After retrying the upgrade, Ranorex is still identifying some windows as controlnet11 objects instead of forms.

Are there any other steps to try? Should I just adjust my RxPaths accordingly?

[Support Team]

Are there any other steps to try? Should I just adjust my RxPaths accordingly?

You could downgrade to 2.3.4 again and see if this version is able to recognize your forms. If so, we seem to have a problem in 2.3.5.

Are you by chance running on a 64 bit operating environment? If yes, is the Ranorex bit bridge enabled? Please, make sure the setting "Enable 32/64 bit bridge" is checked in the Ranorex Configuration!

Is Ranorex able to recognize any other Windows Forms application? For instance, does the Ranorex "Win Forms Test" sample included in the setup work? You can try that by opening Ranorex Studio, selecting "Win Forms Test" from the start page and running the project (press the F5 key on your keyboard).

Could you give us access to your application or to a sample application that you can reproduce the issue with?

Regards,
Alex
Ranorex Team

[afrosteve]

I downgraded to 2.3.4 and using the Spy, the windows were recognized as Forms again.

I am running in a 32-bit environment, and the "Enable 32/64 bit bridge" is checked. Should it be checked?

Using Ranorex 2.3.5, I ran the "Win Forms Test" sample application from the Studio. It appeared to run correctly. The report at the end indicated no problems.

I would be happy to give you remote access to my machine in order to run any kind of diagnostics you need. Unfortunately, I can't provide you with a sample application.

Should I contact you over the Support form to schedule a remote access session?

[Support Team]

Hi,

Please could you post us a Ranorex Snapshot of the entire application, it would be nice of both Ranorex versions (2.3.4 and 2.3.5)? About the remote meeting. Could you please send us an mail to support@ranorex.com
Then we will schedule a meeting if we could not find the issue with the Ranorex Snapshots.

How to create a Snapshot

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Peter
Ranorex Team

[afrosteve]

Should I email you the snapshots to support@ranorex.com?

[Support Team]

Hi,

just as you like. You can either send us an email with your snapshot attached to support@ranorex.com, or attach your snapshot to your forum post.

Kind regards,
Tobias
Support Team

[Support Team]

As a follow-up to this problem:

We found a breaking change in Ranorex V2.3.5, where WinForms controls that were formerly (V2.3.4) not identified as WinForms controls and are now identified as "controlnet11" elements. We will correct this backwards compatibility problem with Ranorex V2.3.6 that will be released shortly.

This problem only occurs if there already was a problem identifying Windows Forms controls in an application, i.e. if Ranorex is not able to correctly identify Windows Forms controls in an application. There are a few scenarios where this can happen:

• The automating process (Ranorex executable) and the automated application (AUT) are not started with the same security rights, i.e. not as the same Windows user. Try starting both applications as the same user.
• Either the automating executable or the AUT are started from a network drive or encrypted folder and consequently do not have the required security rights. Try copying both applications to a folder on your hard disk.
• The controls that cannot be identified are implemented in a mixed-mode EXE file (not DLL). This can be the case with some obfuscating applications or assembly merging utilities that create mixed-mode EXE files. The .NET Framework does not support loading such mixed-mode executables in other processes, that's why Ranorex cannot recognize controls implemented within them. As a workaround, you can try to automate the non-obfuscated version of your application.

Regards,
Alex
Ranorex Team

[yng0505]

is it mean that controlnet11 element will change back to winforms control from ranorex 2.3.6 above ??I had been using ranorex 2.3.4 and all my winforms control are identified as controlnet11 .So is it mean i can't upgrade my ranorex to continue using the same repository file ??How can i solve the problem?I had change all my winforms control to controlnet11 during upgrade from 2.3.3 to 2.3.4 and now i had to re-edit back all my repository to upgrade my ranorex.

[Support Team]

is it mean that controlnet11 element will change back to winforms control from ranorex 2.3.6 above ??

No, if you upgrade from 2.3.4 to 2.3.6 or above there is no change at all. This bug is specific to Ranorex version 2.3.5 only! So just do not update to 2.3.5.

I had been using ranorex 2.3.4 and all my winforms control are identified as controlnet11

I do not really understand. What changed that your controls were suddenly identified as ControlNet11? Did your application change (e.g. you updated to .NET 4.0) or did you upgrade to a new Ranorex release (if so from which version)?

Regards,
Alex
Ranorex Team