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Windows Test Objects in Katalon Studio

Manage Windows Test Objects​

Create a Windows test object​

  1. Select File > New > Windows Object from the main menu. The New Windows Object dialog is displayed.



  2. Provide a name for the new test object, then click OK button to create a new object under the Object Repository of Katalon Studio.

Locator strategy for detecting an object​

Built upon Windows Application Driver, Katalon Studio supports 6 locator strategies to identify UI elements of a Desktop application. You can choose different ways to locate a Windows test object.

  • Accessibility ID: The AutomationId of an object

    • E.x.: AppNameTitle

  • Class Name: The ClassName property of an object

    • E.x.: TextBlock

  • ID: The unique runtime ID of an object

    • E.x.: 42.333896.3.1

  • Name: The name of an object

    • E.x.: Calculator

  • Tag Name: The tag name (aka the element type) of an object

    • E.x.: Text

  • XPath

    • E.x.: //Button[0]

Test Objects in Script View​

The Script View of a test script allows you to define Windows objects programmatically. Below are the code snippets of an object with different locator strategies.

ACCESSIBILITY_ID 

WindowsTestObject wo = new WindowsTestObject('')
wo.setLocatorStrategy(LocatorStrategy.ACCESSIBILITY_ID)
wo.setLocator("accessibility id value here")

CLASS_NAME 

WindowsTestObject wo = new WindowsTestObject('')
wo.setLocatorStrategy(LocatorStrategy.CLASS_NAME)
wo.setLocator("classname value here")

ID 

WindowsTestObject wo = new WindowsTestObject('')
wo.setLocatorStrategy(LocatorStrategy.ID)
wo.setLocator("id here")

NAME 

WindowsTestObject wo = new WindowsTestObject('')
wo.setLocatorStrategy(LocatorStrategy.NAME)
wo.setLocator("name here")

TAG_NAME 

WindowsTestObject wo = new WindowsTestObject('')
wo.setLocatorStrategy(LocatorStrategy.TAG_NAME)
wo.setLocator("tag name here")

XPATH 

WindowsTestObject wo = new WindowsTestObject('')
wo.setLocatorStrategy(LocatorStrategy.XPATH)
wo.setLocator("XPATH here")

Verify and Highlight​

Katalon Studio Windows Object Spy and Recorder have a built-in Highlight feature that allows double-checking if the Windows objects are able to be located.

Katalon Studio displays a message on how many elements are found or NOT found with the selected locator strategy and locator. If the object is found, it will be highlighted with the green border.



Parameterize Windows Test Objects​

Note:

Parameterizing Windows test objects is available in version 7.3.0+.

The benefit of parameterizing test objects in general is to handle object with dynamic properties (Read more). With this feature, you can update test objects' locators dynamically by using either local or global variables.

Here are the steps demonstrating how to use this feature:

  1. Select a Windows object you want to parameterize

  2. Capture its locator with Katalon Studio Windows Object Spy or Recorder and create a variable with this syntax ${variable_name} as a place holder for its dynamic locator. For example, we create the ${xpath} variable for the XPATH locator strategy. You can parameterize test objects with other locator strategies as well.



  3. Use the parameterized test object.

In Manual View​

Open your Test Case in the Manual View and double-click on the object that you want to parameterize its locator.



In the displayed Test Object Input dialog, declare the expected dynamic locator as a variable in the Variables panel.

  • Param Type: the variable type (The default type is String).
  • Param: the variable name.
  • Value Type: the type of the variable's value.
  • Value: a specific value of that variable.





For instance, Katalon Studio uses the xpath variable created in step 2, with its specific value as //Button[0] to find the btn_Login object.

In Script View​

Once the locator is declared, you can switch to the Script View and modify the perceived value of the locator. Typically, users want to pass the locator value as a variable or refer to data files.

The general syntax to find a Windows test object using a dynamic locator is as follows:

findWindowsObject('{your test object}', [('{variable}') : '{value of variable}'])

For example:

findWindowsObject('Object Repository/btn_Login', [('xpath') : '//Button[0]'])