Ranorex Forum

Having a strange one...

Using Ranorex 3.3.2 and Chrome 21. Running my script in VS2012. Also, Spy is running.

I can reproduce this problem every time, even if I reboot my computer.

What happens is a certain point in my script will cause the DOM for Chrome to just die. It doesn't show up in Spy anymore. Even if I shut Spy and restart it, it will still not be there. BUT note that Chrome is in fact still running and working and I'm able to manually still use it.

The action I am doing is working fine at first, but after certain steps in my script, the same action now causes this problem to occur. Definitely the order in which I'm doing things in my app is causing the problem, but as I said, manually the app is still working.

If I try to use Track in Spy on Chrome, it's as if it isn't even there and instead Spy "sees" what ever is underneath the Chrome window (which in this case is VS2012).

I'll try 3.3.3 to see if it helps, but thought I'd ask if you've heard of this before.

As an FYI, this same script works fine in IE9 and FireFox 14

Just tried Ranorex 3.3.3 and essentially the problem is still the same, however, the behaviour was a bit different.

In 3.3.3 I noticed that Spy would drop the DOM as before, but if I hit refresh it sometimes would bring it back. Or I could track some UI elements, but when I was in Spy they would show in red and have "invalid" after their name in the tree on the left in Spy.

I was able to get a bit more code to run but eventually the DOM did go away and my script failed on a WaitForDocumentLoaded call since the DOM was gone at that point in time.

Just another update. It looks like if I don't intervene, it behaves the same in 3.3.3 as it did in 3.3.2. If I put breaks in my code and step through and manually force Spy to track, then I get results like mentioned above. But otherwise it still fails in the same place.

Hello,

It is hard to reproduce this issue. Is the Ranorex plugin installed an enabled in Chrome? Does the error occur with another Chrome version (e.g. Version 22)?
Does the error also occur on other web-pages too?
Could you please send us a snapshot file?

Regards,
Bernhard
Ranorex Support Team

I realize this is hard to re-create and is very specific. Is there some sort of diagnostic tool I can run under the covers that will track what is happening while my script is running, which will help you understand what is happening?

Yes, the Plug-in is installed and enabled.

Yes, I installed Chrome 22 and the problem is still there.

My app is a client/server ASP web site. I can run my script which starts the browser (Chrome in this case) and navigates to the site and logs in. Then it does a whole bunch of stuff in my program without any problems. Then at a specific spot, after specific steps, the Script suddenly stops working and the DOM is gone. BUT from user point of view everything is fine and I can manually still use the browser. The piece of the UI that I'm acting on works fine the prior times I used it with my script (That is, the code as written works fine and was called a few times before already).

What snap shot do you want me to send. Just before it dies, just after, or both? I don't know what you'll get out of it. On minute it looks fine, the next it is missing the DOM.

Hello,

You could make a video from your desktop during the test using CamStudio or HyperCam. Is it possible to get access to your application?
I would like to have a snapshot file where the DOM object is available in spy.
Thank you!

Regards,
Bernhard
Ranorex Support Team

I downloaded HyperCam and I'm playing with it now. But I'm seeing a very large video size. How will I send it to you? Do you have an FTP site?

Do you want a video from start to finish, or just a very short video of the problem happening?

You cannot access my app. But if you want, we could do a WebEx and you can see it for yourself.

I've been able to narrow the steps down and to recreate this issue entirely manually. I'm NOT running any scripts in VS2012. The only thing running is my app in chrome and Spy.

The video will show that the DOM for the main Chrome form is present. Then I'll launch another form and DOM from within the app, and when this second form is dismissed, the original DOM will disappear when I try to do a Track (all I do is click Track in Spy and then you will notice it can no longer find items in the DOM, so I hit ESC and in SPY do a refresh and the DOM is gone)

Then I'll show that the Chrome form and my app are still in fact working properly by launching the second DOM again. In Spy I'll do a refresh and the First DOM will re-appear along with the second one. When I cancel the second one again and try to track, it works until I do a refresh in Spy and it will show that many elements become invalid. And on another refresh the DOM will be gone again.

How do I send you this ~126 MB AVI file (which is zipped)? And if you want snap shot info, at what points in the above steps do you want it? I'll have to re-run to get those, so they will not be from the same pass as the video.

Hello,

You should have received an e-mail with the credentials for our ftp server. You can upload your files there.

Regards,
Bernhard
Ranorex Support Team

Looks like this issue was fixed with Ranorex 3.3.5 (which I verified) and also 4.0.0 (which I did not try).

Thanks,

Aracknid