Description

Use this method to obtain a scripting interface to the specified window or control of a .NET application created with Microsoft Windows Forms library. The resulting object contains methods and properties defined in the application code as well as methods, properties and actions provided by TestComplete.

Declaration

TestObj.WinFormsObject(Name)

TestObj	A variable, parameter or expression that specifies a reference to one of the objects listed in the Applies To section
Name	[in]	Required	String
Result	Object

TestObj.WinFormsObject(ClassName, WndCaption)

TestObj	A variable, parameter or expression that specifies a reference to one of the objects listed in the Applies To section
ClassName	[in]	Required	String
WndCaption	[in]	Required	String
Result	Object

TestObj.WinFormsObject(ClassName, WndCaption, Index)

TestObj	A variable, parameter or expression that specifies a reference to one of the objects listed in the Applies To section
ClassName	[in]	Required	String
WndCaption	[in]	Required	String
Index	[in]	Required	Integer
Result	Object

Applies To

The method is applied to the following objects:

Process, Window

View Mode

To view this method in the Object Browser panel and in other panels and dialogs, activate the Advanced view mode.

Parameters

The method has the following parameters:

Name

The object name as it is specified by the developers in the application’s source code. This is the value of the object’s WinFormsControlName property.

Note that .NET compilers do not include object names in the executable if developers do not assign a value to the object’s Name property in the code. In this case, use the second implementation of the method to address the desired object.

ClassName

The object’s class name as it is specified in the application code. This is the same value as the object’s ClrClassName property. Note, that you should specify a short name rather than the full class name, for instance, Button rather than System.Windows.Forms.Button. You can use wildcards (* and ?) in this parameter.

Note that class names of .NET application objects may be unavailable. For instance, this happens if the application was processed with an obfuscator. In this case, TestComplete replaces the class name with an underscore and an index. To determine the class name used, explore the tested application in the Object Browser.

WndCaption

The caption of the desired window or control. The caption can include wildcards (* and ?).

Index

The object’s index, starting from 1, among other objects that belong to the TestObj object and that have the same window class name (the WndClass property value) and caption.

The Index parameter is used only if an object contains two or more child objects that have the same class name and caption. It is used to distinguish these objects from each other. The first found object has an index of 1, the second - 2 and so on.
If there is only one child object with the specified class name and caption, index should not be specified. To decide whether the index should be used, explore your application in the Object Browser panel and use the naming format that is used by the panel.

Result Value

The WinFormsObject method returns an object that provides a scripting interface to an object located in a WinForms .NET application (.NET applications are always “open” to TestComplete). If TestComplete cannot access the specified object (for example, this object does not exist), WinFormsObject will return an empty stub object and post an error message to the test log. To determine whether WinFormsObject returns a valid object, use the Exists property of the resultant object. If Exists returns False, then the returned object is a stub object and the call to WinFormsObject was not successful.

Remarks

If you use only one parameter, TestComplete considers the use of the first implementation of the WinFormsObject method and the parameter as the object’s name. If you use two or three parameters, TestComplete considers it as using the second or third implementation correspondingly.

The object returned by the WinFormsObject method contains methods and properties defined in the application code as well as methods, properties and actions provided by TestComplete. The returned object may hold two or more methods and properties having the same name. If you call such a method or property, a naming conflict will occur. To avoid it and to specify which method or property is to be called, use the NativeClrObject namespace.

The WinFormsObject method is available only if the .NET Application Support plugin is installed and enabled in File | Install Extensions. Otherwise, the method is absent in the method list of the TestObj object.
If the plugin is installed, you cannot use the Window method to address windows of your .NET application, you should use WinFormsObject instead.

Example

For examples of using the WinFormsObject method, see Addressing Objects in .NET Applications.

WinFormsObject Method