WaitWPFObject Method

Applies to TestComplete 15.47, last modified on January 20, 2023

Description

Use this method to pause the script execution until the specified window or control of a WPF application becomes available to TestComplete. The method returns a program object that provides a scripting interface to the specified window or control. The resulting object contains methods and properties defined in the application code as well as methods, properties and actions provided by TestComplete.

Declaration

TestObj.WaitWPFObject(Name, Timeout)

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    
Timeout [in]    Required    Integer    
Result Object

TestObj.WaitWPFObject(ClassName, WndCaption, Timeout)

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    
Timeout [in]    Required    Integer    
Result Object

TestObj.WaitWPFObject(ClassName, WndCaption, Index, Timeout)

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    
Timeout [in]    Required    Integer    
Result Object

Applies To

The method is applied to the following objects:

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

If the name is unavailable for some reason (for example, the application developers did not specify it), use the second implementation of the method to address the desired object.

ClassName

The window’s class name is specified by the application source code (not by the operating system’s class name). You should specify a short class name, for instance, Button, rather than System.Windows.Forms.Button. You can use wildcards (* and ?) in this parameter.

Note that WPF applications rely on helper substrate windows. These windows are .NET objects of the HWNDSource class created automatically during the application run. To address WPF application forms, use the following notation of the class name: substrate_window_class:form_name. For example, "HwndSource: MainForm".

WndCaption

Text of the desired onscreen object. If the object is a window, this text normally coincides with the window title. You can use wildcards (* and ?) in this parameter.

Index

Index of the window in the collection of child windows of the TestObj object.

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.

Timeout

The number of milliseconds to wait until the specified object becomes available. If Timeout is 0, the method returns immediately. If Timeout is -1, the wait time is infinite.

Note that Timeout value is not strict and if the tested application is busy, TestComplete could wait for the object for a longer period of time than it is specified by the parameter. The following can cause this:

A call to any WaitXXXObject method causes the object tree to refresh. To update object data, TestComplete may call some of object’s native methods that are accessible only from the application’s thread. When the thread is busy, TestComplete tries to call those methods during some pre-defined time (one second) thus delaying the refresh. There could be several attempts to get the object’s data which could result in a noticeable difference from the Timeout value.

Result Value

The WaitWPFObject method returns an object that provides a scripting interface to an object located in a WPF application. If TestComplete cannot access the specified object (for example, this object does not exist), WaitWPFObject will return an empty stub object. To determine whether WaitWPFObject returns a valid object, use the Exists property of the resultant object. If this property returns False, then the returned object is a stub object and the call to WaitWPFObject was not successful.

Remarks

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

The Object Browser’s tree only displays those WPF objects that are descendants of the FrameworkElement or FrameworkContentElement class. So, you can only use the WaitWPFObject method to obtain these objects.

The object returned by the WaitWPFObject 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 this and to specify which method or property is to be called, use namespaces.

The WaitWPFObject method is available only if the WPF Control Support plugin is installed and enabled in File | Install Extensions. Otherwise, the method is absent in the method list of the TestObj object.

See Also

WPFObject Method
Addressing Objects in WPF Applications
Object Browser Naming Notation

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