Customizing MSAA Object Types at Design Time

Search Patterns

To search for objects identified via Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), you use search patterns of the MSAAPattern type.

.NET: The pattern belongs to the SmartBear.TestLeft.TestObjects.MSAA namespace.

Java: The pattern belongs to the com.smartbear.testleft.testobjects package.

This pattern uses the following properties:

Property	Type	Description
`Caption`	String	The object’s accessibility name. For example, button text, window title, or static text that labels the object.
`ControlIndex`	Integer	Used for windowless objects. The object’s index (0-based) among sibling objects. Invisible objects (`Visible = false`) have `ControlIndex` of -1.
`Enabled`	Boolean	Specifies whether the object is enabled or disabled. Disabled objects are usually shown grayed out.
`ObjectGroupIndex`	Integer	The object’s index (1-based) among sibling objects with the same `ObjectIdentifier`.
`ObjectIdentifier`	String	The object’s accessibility name, or, if the object does not have one, its index (0-based) among sibling objects with the same `ObjectType`.
`ObjectType`	String	The object type that indicates its accessibility role. This is usually the object’s role without the ROLE_SYSTEM_ prefix. For example, the ListItem type corresponds to ROLE_SYSTEM_LISTITEM.
`Visible`	Boolean	Specifies whether the object is visible in the application. Objects that are out of screen bounds or overlapped by other objects are still considered visible.
`WndClass`	String	The window class name of the object. For example, SysTreeView32, MDIClient, #32770 (dialog box). This is a value returned by the `GetClassName()` Windows API function.

You can use any combination of these properties in your MSAA search patterns.

Example

C#

Visual Basic .NET

Java

C#

IWindow msoRibbon = Driver.Find<IProcess>(new ProcessPattern()
{
   ProcessName = "WINWORD"
}).Find<ITopLevelWindow>(new MSAAPattern()
{
   ObjectType = "Form",
   Caption = "* - Microsoft Word"
}).Find<IWindow>(new MSAAPattern()
{
   ObjectType = "ToolBar",
   Caption = "Ribbon"
}, 2);

Visual Basic .NET

Dim msoRibbon As IWindow = Driver.Find(Of IProcess)(New ProcessPattern() With {
   .ProcessName = "WINWORD"
}).Find(Of ITopLevelWindow)(New MSAAPattern() With {
   .ObjectType = "Form",
   .Caption = "* - Microsoft Word"
}).Find(Of IWindow)(New MSAAPattern() With {
   .ObjectType = "ToolBar",
   .Caption = "Ribbon"
}, 2)

Java

Window msoRibbon = driver.find(Process.class, new ProcessPattern() {{
   ProcessName = "WINWORD";
}}).find(TopLevelWindow.class, new MSAAPattern() {{
   ObjectType = "Form";
   Caption = "* - Microsoft Word";
}}).find(Window.class, new MSAAPattern() {{
   ObjectType = "ToolBar";
   Caption = "Ribbon";
}}, 2);

Custom Properties

You can also specify custom properties by using the .add("propertyname", value) method of the pattern object. See Using Custom Properties in Search Patterns.

Object Types Identified via MSAA

MSAA allows TestLeft to identify child elements of certain objects. By default, TestLeft uses MSAA with the objects whose WndClass matches these wildcard patterns:

bosa_sdm_Microsoft Word *
_Ww*
MsoCommandBar*
OpusApp
Vfp*
XTPToolBar
XTPDockingPaneTabbedContainer
XTPTaskPanel
XTPReport
XTPPopupBar

To enable MSAA identification for other object types, use the Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow() method at the beginning of your test to specify additional object types:

C#

Visual Basic .NET

Java

C#

Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow("NetUIHWND");

Visual Basic .NET

Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow("NetUIHWND")

Java

driver.getOptions().getMSAA().addWindow("NetUIHWND");

Note:

The changes are effective throughout the test run, until you start the next test run.

You can specify object types using the following syntaxes:

WndClass
WndClass;@text=WndCaption
*;@text=WndCaption

where WndClass is the object’s window class name, and WndCaption is the object’s caption (for windows – the title bar text).

In both values, you can use wildcards (* and ?) to match multiple object types based on some common pattern. The asterisk (*) matches a string of any length, including an empty string, the question mark (?) matches any single character or no character.

Examples:

Object Type	Description
NetUIHWND	Objects with the window class NetUIHWND.
Vfp*	Objects whose window class begins with Vfp.
XTPReport;@text=My Report	Objects with the window class XTPReport and caption My Report.
*;@text=My Report	Objects with the caption My Report and any window class.
;@text=Report	Objects whose caption ends with Report.
*	All objects. (Not recommended for performance reasons. Prefer specific object types.)

Customizing MSAA Object Types at Design Time

Currently, there is no direct way to customize MSAA object types at design time, but you can use this workaround:

Create a dummy test with the code like the following one (this example is for MSTest):

C#
Visual Basic .NET
Java
C#
[TestMethod]
public void MSAATest()
{
  // Add your custom object types here
  Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow("object type 1");
  Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow("object type 2");

}
Visual Basic .NET
<TestMethod()>
Public Sub MSAATest()
  ' Add your custom object types here
  Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow("object type 1")
  Driver.Options.MSAA.AddWindow("object type 2")

End Sub
Java
@Test
public void MSAATest() throws Exception{
  // Add your custom object types here
  driver.getOptions().getMSAA().addWindow("object type 1");
  driver.getOptions().getMSAA().addWindow("object type 2");

}
Run the test.
Changes in options will be effective throughout the test run.
After the test run is over, open UI Spy and examine the object tree (refresh the object tree, if needed).
UI Spy will apply the new setting. You will be able to explore your custom objects and generate identification code for them.

Changes in options will remain effective until you start another test.

Identifying MSAA Objects

Search Patterns

Example

Custom Properties

Object Types Identified via MSAA

Customizing MSAA Object Types at Design Time

See Also