Component node
When Component nodes are used in place of SmartIDs QF-Test stores the recognition criteria of the recorded components in Window and Component nodes, whose hierarchical order matches the structure in the GUI of the SUT. These nodes are located below the Windows and components node. The following image shows a section of the Component nodes that are part of the QF-Test main window:
In the detail area of a Component node, the Recognition criteria are stored. In addition, it contains the QF-Test ID attribute. This is the reference ID for all nodes in the tests that refer to that component.
Each node in a test suite has a QF-Test ID attribute, which does not have any special meaning and is managed automatically for most nodes. For Component nodes on the other hand, the QF-Test ID has an important functionality. Other nodes with a target component, like events or checks, have the attribute QF-Test component ID, which refers to the QF-Test ID of the Component. This indirect reference of GUI elements is very useful: If the interface of the SUT changes in a way that QF-Test cannot automatically compensate for, only the Component nodes of the unrecognized components need to be adjusted. Then, the test will run again.
It is very important to understand that the QF-Test ID of a Component is only an artificial concept for the internal use in QF-Test, not to be confused with the attribute Name, which serves to identify the component in the SUT, which will be explained further in the next section. The actual value of the QF-Test ID is completely irrelevant and has no relation to the GUI of the SUT. The only important thing is that the QF-Test ID is unique and that other nodes correctly refer to it. On the other hand, the QF-Test ID of the Component node is displayed in the tree view, and not only for the Component itself, but even for events and other nodes that refer to it. That is why Components should have expressive QF-Test IDs that indicate the actual component in the GUI.
When QF-Test creates a Component, it has to automatically assign it a QF-Test ID. It does its best to construct a meaningful identifier from the available information. Details about this can be found in Generating the component QF-Test ID. Should a generated QF-Test ID not be to your liking, you can change it. If you choose a value that is already taken QF-Test will output a warning. If you have already recorded events referring to this component, QF-Test offers to automatically adjust their QF-Test component ID attribute. This automatic mechanism does not work for references with variables in the QF-Test component ID attribute.
Note A frequent mistake is to change the attribute QF-Test component ID of an event
instead of the QF-Test ID itself.
This destroys the connection between event and its target component,
leading to an UnresolvedComponentIdException.
So, you should only do this if you actually want to change the target component.
Frequently, tests are assembled from existing procedures. For this it is often helpful to use the process described in Recording components. The QF-Test component ID recorded this way will be stored in the operating system clipboard to be easily inserted into the corresponding procedure parameter.
Using Recording components you can also first create the entire component structure of the SUT to get an overview and assign sensible QF-Test IDs. During recordings, theses QF-Test IDs will then be used.