Get Value Action in Recorded Module is misbehaving

[Vaughan.Douglas]

Ranorex 8.1.1 (Visual Basic)
Unfortunately I'm dealing with HR Data so no SnapShot will be forthcoming, but I've been seeing this behavior in multiple types of elements and it appears to be repeatable regardless of the repo item. I don't know when this behavior started, but I don't think it's always done this. I've been more wrong about more important things before.

I'm using the "Get value" action in a recorded module to capture the innertext and bind it to a parameter. I started seeing this when the specific attribute I'm going for wasn't listed in the "get value" context menu.

Steps to recreate:

• Drag object from repo onto recorded module
• Select "Get value" I want "innertext" but it isn't listed
• Selecting an attribute is required so pick one
• Notice the red warning icon over the step number
• Change the attribute name to "innertext"
• Move directly over to the variable column
• Select a variable from the list or add a new variable
• The variable is now bound, the red icon overlay is gone but the attribute has reverted to the previously selected value

As far as being anything specific to my AUT, you can achieve the same result by selecting an attribute in the context menu and changing it as outlined to another value that is in the context menu. Example: as seen above select "Abbr". Changing it to "Title" will yield the same behavior.

GetVal_No_Innertext.png (45 KiB) Viewed 606 times

[odklizec]

Hi,

What kind of element is the one you are trying to get the value from (technology, adapter type)? I mean, it's most probably not a standard HTML input or button, with available InnerText? It seems as if Ranorex is not able to get the InnerText from that element?

Have you inspected the element with Spy?
Could you please try to change the adapter type of given element (from "default" to one of the listed adapters)?
Any chance you can reproduce it with something non-sensitive, so you could post a Ranorex snapshot of the problematic element?

[Vaughan.Douglas]

Hi,

What kind of element is the one you are trying to get the value from (technology, adapter type)? I mean, it's most probably not a standard HTML input or button, with available InnerText? It seems as if Ranorex is not able to get the InnerText from that element?

Have you inspected the element with Spy?
Could you please try to change the adapter type of given element (from "default" to one of the listed adapters)?
Any chance you can reproduce it with something non-sensitive, so you could post a Ranorex snapshot of the problematic element?

As I mentioned, this doesn't appear to be element or attribute specific.

• Add a Get Value action to a recorded module
• Select an attribute
• Bind to a variable
• Change the attribute

I tested this out against the .//input[#'search_keywords'] object on this page.

[odklizec]

Hi,

I can confirm the issue. It appears that there is missing some kind of confirmation of manually entered attribute name? Anyway, I still think that missing InnerText must be somehow related to the OS or element itself? For example, I can see InnerText for search input you mentioned?

[Vaughan.Douglas]

Hi,

I can confirm the issue. It appears that there is missing some kind of confirmation of manually entered attribute name? Anyway, I still think that missing InnerText must be somehow related to the OS or element itself? For example, I can see InnerText for search input you mentioned?

I think it goes further than that. The same issue appears to occur anytime I change the attribute (manually entered or selected from the list). It seems like the validation of the attribute is clearing the bound variable.

Anotherway.png (54.29 KiB) Viewed 550 times

[Vaughan.Douglas]

A few more details:

Using the Validate step: changing the specific validate method (eg "AttributeEqual" to "Exists") DOES wipe out the "Match name" and "Match value" column. However changing the attribute/"match name" itself (eg "Innertext" to "ID") does NOT impact the bound variable/"match value" column.

I would consider this a bug as well. I'd guess it has to do with the interaction of the UI recorded module and the underlying generated code, and a developer is going to say that's not a bug, you need to submit a feature request. So goes the life of a QA.

Also, why in the world does the Get Value step default message tell you everything EXCEPT what the actual value.

Getting attribute 'innertext' from item 'InternalApps.HomePage.DirectReports_DetailedView.JobCode' and assigning its value to variable 'EE_JobCode'.

Why not just say what the value was:

Getting attribute 'innertext' from item 'InternalApps.HomePage.DirectReports_DetailedView.JobCode' and assigning its value, '0123456', to variable 'EE_JobCode'.

[ahoisl]

Hi guys,

First, thank you for your input, I will try to address all of the issues mentioned. Please, comment back if I missed one

Add a Get Value action to a recorded module
Select an attribute
Bind to a variable
Change the attribute manually by typing in text

This is indeed a problem, I guess not just for the Get Value action. If you enter a text manually and do not confirm it by pressing "Enter", clicking in another control or in the empty space of the record table, then the value is not confirmed. I remember that this is a known issue, but I will bring it up to the development team again.
Meanwhile, when manually changing a value by typing in text, make sure to confirm it by hitting "Enter", please. Thanks!

Using the Validate step: changing the specific validate method (eg "AttributeEqual" to "Exists") DOES wipe out the "Match name" and "Match value" column. However changing the attribute/"match name" itself (eg "Innertext" to "ID") does NOT impact the bound variable/"match value" column.

Changing the validation method to "Exists" will hide the "Match name/value" fields, but if you change back to "AttributeEqual", the former selected values will be shown again - at least what I've tested (with 8.1.1). Do you experience something different?

Also, why in the world does the Get Value step default message tell you everything EXCEPT what the actual value.

For every action, the log message is issued before an action is executed, so for the GetValue action the value is not fetched yet at that moment. We could just add an additional log message after the action was executed, but that is definitely a feature request

Regards,
Alex
Ranorex Team