Purpose of Simple folder?

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mrt
Posts: 257
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:31 am

Purpose of Simple folder?

Post by mrt » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:24 am

Hello folks,

I wonder, what is the difference between the rooted folder and a simple folder in Ranorex repository?

As far as I can see,
  • the icon color is different
  • a base path can be set for the rooted folder, but not for the simple folder
What is the purpose of using a simple folder rather than a rooted folder with just no base path in it?

I have organized my repo in several rooted folders just to keep the paths short for the repo items.
Then I found the simple folders and thought, that would be a good idea for organizing stuff inside these rooted folders to tidy up a bit.

My repo is organized like this:
  • rooted folder (with basepath)
    • item1
    • item2
    • item3
    • simple folder 1 (for grouping)
      • item1
      • item2
    • simple folder 2 (for grouping)
      • item1
      • item2
What I was expecting (maybe also because of the grey color of the simple folders icon) is that
the simple folders do not show up in reports or output when executing a test.
But they do - just like the rooted folders.

So my test execution is reading
Searching item1 in simple folder 1
but I would have expected it to read
Searching item1 in rooted folder
But thats not the case, simple folders are displayed just like rooted folders,
so I don't get the point what's the purpose of simple folders - may you please enlighten me? :)

thank you

BR mrt
Last edited by mrt on Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Stub
Posts: 515
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 1:35 pm

Re: Difference between Rooted folder and Simple folder?

Post by Stub » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:54 am

Rooted folders are actual elements with a path, as you've noticed, whereas Simple folders are not. I use Simple folders to organise collections of elements, as you have done, and I use Rooted folders to simplify the paths of their child elements.

For example, I don't like folders with massive amount of stuff in them. I like to structure things into related groups, so I use Simple folders all of the time. If it's not an actual addressible element then I will use a Simple folder.

mrt
Posts: 257
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:31 am

Re: Difference between Rooted folder and Simple folder?

Post by mrt » Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:16 am

Right, that is exactly the way I use it too.

But what would be the difference, if we would not use simple folders at all for organizing the collections,
but use just rooted folders without any base path set?

I can't find any, this seems to not make any difference in console output, test report or any other place I look at (except the icon color).

So to me it seems the simple folder is an addtional component without an additional purpose,
the exact same behavior can be achieved by using a rooted folder without base path set.

So, what about treating the simple folder like it is not there in console output, test report and all other occurences, where the rooted folder appears?

This way the simple folder would be a tool to "silently" organize collections without any exposure to the outside world.
And if we want exposure, we just use the rooted folder without base path to achieve this?