Ranorex Studio Hands-on Review: All-in-One Test Automation Solution

Getting started with Ranorex Studio: An In-Depth Review and Walkthrough

Ranorex recently announced the release of version 9.0 of Ranorex Studio which is an all-in-one test automation tool for desktop, web, and mobile applications. Our review is based on this latest version.

This release includes many new, industry-leading features including video reporting of test execution, a machine-trained algorithm for handling web elements with dynamic IDs, and support for testing web elements in a shadow DOM and the JxBrowser.

It also has all-new, switchable dark and light themes.

Ranorex Studio – A Review

You may also check our earlier Ranorex tutorial here. 

Hands-on Review of Ranorex Studio

In this review, we’ll take a look at the core features of Ranorex Studio.

To follow along with the steps of the Ranorex Studio walkthrough, simply download a free 30-day trial.

Ranorex Studio can be installed on any computer running a recent version of Windows or Windows Server.

Key Features

1) Automate a wide range of Technologies

Ranorex Studio is described as an “all-in-one” test automation solution as a single license that allows you to create and run automated tests on all platforms that Ranorex Studio supports. It indeed supports a lot of them!

Ranorex Studio has a well-deserved reputation for its ability to handle the most challenging user interfaces, from legacy desktop applications to the latest web and mobile technologies, including native iOS and Android apps as well as mobile web apps.

Visit the Ranorex website to see the current list of all supported technologies.

2) Best-in-class Object Identification:

Object identification is important for stable and reliable tests that are easy to maintain. Ranorex Studio accomplishes this with its Ranorex Spy tool that identifies UI elements and generates a unique RanoreXPath for each one.

The definition of each UI element is stored in the shareable object repository. When you create a test action for a UI element, you reference the repository object. Later, if the user interface changes, simply update the repository object, and all of the related test actions will automatically get updated.

Recent improvements in the way in which the RanoreXPath is generated help to reduce the need to update the repository object even when the user interface changes.

Plus, release 9.0 introduces a machine-trained algorithm to automatically handle web elements with dynamic IDs, which are some of the most difficult UI elements to automate.

3) Tools for everyone on the team

Testers who code in C# or VB.NET can use Ranorex Studio’s full IDE, which has tools for refactoring & debugging, reusable code snippets called “automation helpers,” and an open API.

However, you can also automate tests without coding, using Ranorex Studio’s powerful capture-and-replay tool, called the Ranorex Recorder. You can perform validation, control execution with conditions, and configure data-driven testing without writing any code.

Ranorex Studio is built for collaborative teams, with support for source control providers Git, SVN, and TFS, plus a “Magic Merger” tool that reduces merge conflicts.

Finally, Ranorex Studio integrates with leading tools such as Atlassian Jira, Bugzilla, Jenkins, TeamCity, Travis CI, TestRail test case management, and much more.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

To follow along with this walkthrough, download and install the free trial of Ranorex Studio.

For this example, we’re using the 32-bit version, but a 64-bit version is also available.

1) Start Ranorex Studio. The Start page appears. On the left, you have menu options to start a new test solution, open an existing one, or open a sample solution. You can find links to various Ranorex resources in the middle and right side of the screen.

If you want to switch between the light and dark themes, choose Tools => Options from the menu. In the General tab shown below, choose Appearance, then choose the theme that you prefer.

Notice that you can also change the project’s “ambiance.” The default one is C# but you can change this to .NET or VB.NET if desired.

2) Now let’s open a sample project. For this walkthrough, we’ll try the web example, which uses a test website provided by Ranorex. (The desktop example uses a free demo app that you can download from the Ranorex website. For iOS or Android examples, you will need to provide a real or virtual device).

Double-click the Web example solution to open it.

3) Given below is a screenshot of the Ranorex Studio user interface with the dark theme along with a description of the purpose for each area.

• Project view: View the folders that make up the test solution.
• Ranorex module browser: View individual test modules that can be organized into groups. (Note that this sample web solution doesn’t include any module groups.) The little camera icon next to each module shows you that it is a “recording module,” created by capturing interaction with the user interface of the AUT. You can also create “code modules” in Ranorex Studio using C# or VB.NET code.
• File view: Build your test, which includes creating a test module with actions, organizing several modules into a test case, and organizing test cases into a test suite. This set suite logs into a WordPress website, publishes a new blog post, validates that the post exists, and then deletes it. There is also a SETUP section that ensures that the application under test (AUT) is ready to run, and a TEARDOWN section cleans up the AUT after the test is completed. The actions in the teardown section are also performed if the test fails.
• Layout dropdown: Choose a different layout or create a custom one.
• Ranorex Remote panel: Add agents for remote execution. Notice the options to display the “whitelist” and “properties” panels. Use the “whitelist” to control which applications the Ranorex Studio can interact with while creating or running tests. The “properties” panel changes depending on what item is selected.
• Output panel: View the progress of various actions.

4) In the Ranorex module browser (A), double-click on the “Login” recording module to open it. Note that there are two variables associated with the login module: varPassword for the Password, and var username for the Username.

You can bind these variables to a source such as a spreadsheet or a SQL database table for data-driven testing.

5) When you click on the Login recording module in step 4, this recording module also opens in the Action editor. You can see the action steps.

The first step clicks on the user name field, and the next step enters the user name with a “set value” action.

The third step clicks on the password field, the fourth step enters the password with a “set value” action, the fifth step clicks the login button, and the last step clicks the Dashboard button in the AUT.

6) Click on the first action in the action editor, and you’ll see a screenshot of the UI element in the AUT as well as the repository object that corresponds to that UI element.

This screenshot is generated automatically while using the Ranorex Recorder to create a recording module.

7) Double-click on the “Edit in Spy” button to see the RanoreXPath to the user login field shown below. The red “x” icons simply tell you that the AUT is not open. This will change to green checkmarks when the AUT is available.

8) Click the “X” in the upper right corner to close the Ranorex Spy.

9) Click the “WordPressSample” tab to display the full test suite. Then, click the Run button to run the test suite. While the test is running, avoid using a keyboard or mouse, as these could interfere with the test execution.

10) When the test is completed, the test run report appears. Click the arrow next to any item in the test run report to expand it. Notice the “jump to item” button that appears next to the test actions. Clicking this button will take you directly to the test step. This will be very helpful for debugging a failed test step.

Video Reporting

One of the great new features of Ranorex Studio 9.0 is video reporting of test execution.

This allows you to replay a test without re-running the test. This can be very helpful for debugging or to demonstrate what happened to a developer.

To enable video reporting, simply right-click on the Test Suite, and then choose Properties => Report from the menu.

You can now set the video reporting mode as shown below.

In the example below, the video reporting mode is set to All test cases for demonstration purposes. Generally, to limit the size of the video files, you’d want to set the reporting mode to Failed test cases only.

Note that you can also adjust the video quality by changing the bitrate and framerate settings, and choosing what screen to record if you have a multi-screen system.

Click Apply, then click OK.Now re-run the test suite.

Once the test is complete, the test run report appears. Any test steps that have been recorded now have a “Play video” button next to them.

Simply click the button to view a recording of the test execution.

Conclusion

One of the best ways to learn more about Ranorex Studio is simply to download the free trial, and then work through the “Getting Started” series of the videos.

They are on the Ranorex YouTube channel, but you can also access the full video series directly from the Ranorex Studio Start Page, as shown below

The Support section of the Ranorex website has been added with the required user guides.

Finally, Ranorex studio is an all-in-one GUI automation framework that can be used for testing your desktop, web-based, or mobile application that you should try.

Let us know if you have any queries or feedback in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.