Snapshot files

A Ranorex Snapshot is a file representation of the user interface (UI) structure of an application under test (AUT) at a particular point in time. A Ranorex Snapshot captures all interface elements, their hierarchy, values, etc.

It can be saved as a single file. A Ranorex Snapshot file can be created and viewed with Ranorex Spy. The file extension is .rxsnp.

Typically, Ranorex Snapshots are used to share detailed information about the UI of an application with the Ranorex support and technical sales team.

In this chapter

Creating a simple snapshot

This section introduces how to create & save a simple snapshot from a UI which contains no hidden UI-elements like menus, menu items, context menus, tool-tips, etc. The herein given explanation will introduce you to the concept of Ranorex snapshots.

Start the application under test (AUT) (i.e. demo application)
Start Ranorex Spy

Click the Save as snapshot… button in Ranorex Spy
Select a location and give the snapshot file a meaningful name
Click Save to start saving the snapshot file

Result(s):

A progress indicator shows the status of packing and saving the snapshot. Finally, a success message appears and can be confirmed with Close.

Important to know:

Snapshot of hidden UI-elements

Particular UI-elements of the application under test, such as drop-down menus, pop-up windows, combo boxes, etc., only become visible after a mouse click and usually disappear if the application under test loses focus. These elements are usually not automatically included in a Ranorex snapshot, as they appear as separate items in Ranorex Spy at the top level of the element tree. Therefore, these UI-elements are to be snapshotted differently. Here is how to.

Tracking hidden UI-elements

The tracking of hidden UI-elements such as menu items, drop-down list items, combo-box elements, is introduced and explained in a separate chapter. If you are not familiar with tracking such UI-elements, we recommend reading:

Snapshotting hidden UI-elements

Start the application under test (AUT) (i.e. the demo application) with the Test database register pane
Start Ranorex Spy

Select a hidden UI-element (i.e. the ‘Project Management’ list item in the demo application)
Instantly track this list element by pressing Ctrl+WIN
See the tracked UI-element in the Spy tree browser

Before you do anything else – press Scroll to create a snapshot of the previously tracked hidden UI-element and all of its repository tree children and cache it to the working memory

Important to know:

Information of successful snapshot creation in working memory. 10 repository items have been packed into a snapshot which is now opened in Ranorex Spy
Warning that the snapshot created may be incomplete. This usually happens if you try to create a snapshot of hidden UI-elements without using Scroll

Result(s):

The result is a snapshot which is opened in Ranorex Spy. This is noticeable at the Spy status message.

Saving the snapshot

Finally, the Scroll-created snapshot needs to be saved to a physical storage memory (i.e. disc, network drive, …)

Click the Save as snapshot… button in the Spy toolbar, assign it a meaningful name, and
click Save to confirm

Result(s):

The snapshot file is saved and a final success message appears.

Loading a snapshot

This section shows how to load a saved snapshot into Ranorex Spy.

Start Ranorex Spy and click Load from snapshot… in the toolbar
Choose folder and saved snapshot file
Click Open

Result(s):

The snapshot is loaded into Spy which is easily noticeable.