Flash/Flex Testing

Methods for loading the Automation Lib

Test Automation of Flash/Flex controls with Ranorex

How to read/set attributes and styles

Using the Ranorex PreLoader

Adobe Flex: Load the Ranorex Lib into your Flex application

Adobe Flash: Load the Ranorex Lib into your Flash application

How to load the Ranorex Module into your Flash application

How to load the Ranorex Module into your Flex/AIR application

PreLoader (recommended)

Automation Lib

Module

The Flash/Flex Test Automation Plugin provides a smooth integration with the Ranorex Automation Framework and its tools. You can easily filter, access and validate Flex controls easily using RanoreXPath. You have full access to all the properties and attributes of Flash and Flex elements.

Depending on your flash/flex application, you can choose to use one of the following flexible instrumentation methods:

The Ranorex PreLoader enables automation of your flash/flex application without modifying the application itself.

Automatic installation using the Instrumentation Wizard
No modifications to your application needed
Adobe Flash Debug Player has to be installed on the runtime machine

The AutomationLib swc file has to be included into your flash/flex application (by adding a compiler argument).

AutomationLib will be loaded in background (will not affect the functionality of your flash/flex application)
No modifications to your website needed

The Module swf file has to be loaded by adding a code snippet to your ACTIONS (for flash) or to your "applicationCompleteHandler" function (for flex).

Module will be loaded in background (will not affect the functionality of your flash/flex application)
No modifications to your website needed
Module swf has to be copied to the web server

The following table shows you the different instrumentation options available for the supported versions of flash/flex ( = supported, = recommended):

* Support for Adobe AIR 2 Release in combination with Flex 3.5 and Flex 4 Release

The architecture of a Flash/Flex object is easy to see within Ranorex Spy. All embedded Flash or Flex elements are shown as a Flex element in the tree view.

Use Ranorex Recorder to automate Flash/Flex applications in Internet Explorer and Firefox. You can add user code actions to your recordings to access custom Flex properties.

You can read/set common attributes (e.g. the checkstate of a checkbox) directly by using the adaptor as follows:

// Set the checked state with the property "Checked"
repo.FlexTestPageDom.CheckBox_Control_Example.CheckBoxEggs.Checked = true;

To access custom attributes and styles, you first have to load your Flex item as a FlexElement in order to read your attributes. Here's an example:

// Load the slider as a Flex element to access flex attributes
FlexElement sliderFlex = repo.FlexTestPageDom.ContainerHSlider_Control.SliderHSlider.As<FlexElement>();
sliderFlex["value"] = "100";

FlexElement containerFlex = repo.FlexTestPageDom.Self.FindSingle(".//container[@caption='Tree Control']");
containerFlex.SetStyle("borderColor","#ee0000");

Please use the Instrumentation Wizard to enable the PreLoader method on your machine.

The wizard will execute following steps for you:

Install the Adobe Debug Flash Player on the machine on which you would like to record and execute Ranorex test scripts and for all browsers you would like to test with. The installers are available on Adobe’s download page; the following are the links to the Debug Player 10 for Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Open your user profile directory %UserProfile%, e.g. by opening Windows Explorer and copying the string %UserProfile% into the address bar.
Create a new file called „mm.cfg” in your user profile directory and insert the following line of code, where “C:\FlashFlex\RanorexAutomation.swf” needs to be replaced by the preloader location of your Ranorex installation:
```
PreloadSwf= C:\Program Files\Ranorex 3.X\Bin\RanorexAutomation.swf
```
Additional to this configuration entry you can enable the logging mechanisms of the Adobe Debug Flash Player, which might be helpful if you have any problems with this kind of instrumentation. In such a case you can then simply provide this logging information to our support team. To enable logging you have to add the following line of code to your “mm.cfg” file:
```
TraceOutputFileEnable=1
```
This additional configuration entry forces the Debug Player to create a log file at following location:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs
If you run your application from the local drive, add your output directory to the trusted locations of Flash Player as follows:
1. Open following link
  http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04a.html#119065
2. Add your project output directory

Start Adobe Flex Builder and open your workspace
Right-click on your project and choose Properties
Under Flex Compiler add the RanorexAutomation.swc file (located in the Bin directory of your Ranorex installation) to the the compiler argument as follows:
```
-include-libraries "C:\Program Files\Ranorex 3.X\Bin\RanorexAutomation.swc"
```
For AIR2: Append following code to your "applicationCompleteHandler" function:
```
import Ranorex.RxAutomation;   
RxAutomation.Init();  
```
Save and compile your application
Run your application in Internet Explorer or Firefox
If you run your Flex application from the local drive, add your output directory to the trusted locations of Flash Player as follows:
1. Open following link
  http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04a.html#119065
2. Add your project output directory

Start Adobe Flash CS4/CS5 and open your application
Open the "Publish Settings" dialog (File->Publish Settings)
Include the Ranorex Flash Library in your Flash application under Flash->Script->Settings...->Library Path and choose "Browse to SWC file"
Select "RanorexAutomation.swc" file in the browse dialog (RanorexAutomation.swc is located in the Bin directory of your Ranorex installation)

Insert following code to your ACTIONS (by pressing F9):

import Ranorex.RxAutomation; 
RxAutomation.InitFromApp(stage);

OR add the code to your ActionScript source file as follows:

import mx.controls.*;
import flash.events.*;
import flash.display.*;
import flash.ui.Keyboard;
import flash.geom.Rectangle;
import fl.events.SliderEvent;
// Add Ranorex library
import Ranorex.RxAutomation;

public class Simple extends MovieClip
{
	public function Simple()
	{
		// Add to your constructor
		RxAutomation.InitFromApp(stage);
	}
}

Run your application in Internet Explorer or Firefox
If you run your Flash application from the local drive, add your output directory to the trusted locations of Flash Player as follows:
1. Open following link http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04a.html#119065
2. Add your project output directory

Start Adobe Flash CS3/CS4/CS5 and open your application
Insert following code to your ACTIONS (by pressing F9):

import flash.net.URLRequest;
var rxloader : Loader = new Loader();
stage.addChild(rxloader);
rxloader.name = "__rxloader";
rxloader.width = 0; rxloader.height = 0;
rxloader.load(new URLRequest("RanorexAutomation.swf"));

Copy the RanorexAutomation.swf file, located in the Bin directory of your Ranorex installation, to your web server (where your .swf file is located)
Run your application in Internet Explorer or Firefox
If you run your Flash application from the local drive, add your output directory to the trusted locations of Flash Player as follows:
1. Open following link www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04a.html
2. Add your project output directory

PreLoader

Automation Lib

Module

Start Adobe Flex Builder or Flash Builder and open your workspace
Append following code to your "applicationCompleteHandler" function or initialization code:
For Flex 3:

var rxloader : Loader = new Loader();
Application.application.rawChildren.addChild(rxloader);
rxloader.name = "__rxloader";
rxloader.width = 0; rxloader.height = 0;
rxloader.load(new URLRequest("RanorexAutomation.swf"));

For Flex 4:

var rxloader : Loader = new Loader();
FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication.parent.addChild(rxloader);
rxloader.name = "__rxloader";
rxloader.width = 0; rxloader.height = 0;
rxloader.load(new URLRequest("RanorexAutomation.swf"));

Copy the RanorexAutomation.swf file, located in the Bin directory of your Ranorex installation, to your web server (where your .swf file is located) or where your AIR application is located.
Run your application in Internet Explorer or Firefox
If you run your Flash application from the local drive, add your output directory to the trusted locations of Flash Player as follows:
1. Open following link www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04a.html
2. Add your project output directory

Online User Guide
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Ranorex Tutorial
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Online API Documentation