7 Reasons why Ranorex is a great companion to our Keyword Driven automation tool, TMX.

As an Automation Engineer, my job is to prepare the playing field.  Before all the keyword tests can be created in our keyword driven automation tool, TMX, I first have to ensure the framework for the system we’re testing is in place. 

Our TMX framework consists of Object and Action libraries. For every button automation needs to click, there needs to be an object for that specific button in the Object library. Likewise, there also needs to be a ‘click’ action that works for that type of object (buttons) in the Action library. These objects and actions are agnostic to the test automation tool being used.

Over the years, we’ve created many frameworks for many different test automation platforms. We have TMX users creating tests that run with Selenium, Quick Test Pro, Rational Functional Tester, and others.

But here are the 7 reasons why I find Ranorex to be one of my favorite test automation tools to work with.

1. Ease of Setup: 
   One of the first tasks I have after getting test environment access is to get all the needed software installed and setup. Ranorex is one of the easiest test automation tools to setup. For many test automation tools, I’ve had to create cheat sheets to help remember all the steps with install and setup that detail all the required files and jars and IDEs and permissions and docks and libraries needed. With Ranorex, it’s a simple, single installation (plus a quick License Manager install too, if required) and you are up and running ready to accept and execute TMX generated test scripts.
2. Controlling Objects:
   
   One of Ranorex’s great strengths is its object functionality centered around the use of x-paths. The ability to pinpoint exact objects within the application hierarchy (parents, siblings, ancestors) plus the ability to use regex within the x-paths lends tremendous versatility to what I can do with objects. These features give me greater control when I’m defining objects and developing the action code for those object types.
3. Identifying Objects: 
   When populating our TMX Object library, we can import objects from an existing Ranorex repository. So, if a new client already has Ranorex with existing tests and repositories, great! I know our TMX object importing feature can save me a lot of time. But even when I need to add new objects, Ranorex makes this easy with its built-in Spy tool providing instant object tracking, object hierarchy trees and editable object x-paths.
4. Baked-in Functionality: 
   Ranorex is built upon the .NET platform. In addition to .NET functionality, it also includes many built-in, Ranorex-custom functions that make it such a powerful test automation tool. As I build the actions in my framework library, I am able to take full advantage of these Ranorex functions saving myself the effort of recreating the wheel for complex object functionality like dynamic object searching (i.e. ‘TryFindSingle’).
5. Test Insertion:
   It is easy to generate tests from TMX and populate them directly into the Ranorex solution project. A simple test script file copy and a quick Ranorex solution file update and our tests are immediately recognized by Ranorex in its project and ready for execution. Whether it be brand new generated tests or existing test updates, Ranorex makes it easy to populate tests into your project from the click of a button in TMX.
6. Customized Reporting: 
   Ranorex test execution reports are elegantly simple and easy to review. What makes them even better is the built-in functionality that allows them to be customized. Our TMX tests can fully self-document passing and failing steps as well as all the additional details and messages we want to include in the reports. From user readable message narratives in the readable report, to xml data capturing in the underlying report files, there is great versatility in what we can do with test execution documentation using Ranorex reports.
7. Run Repeat-ability: 
   In a nutshell, Ranorex just works! In the various applications we’ve used Ranorex with (web, winform, wpf), it has never ceased to amaze us at just how well it works, works consistently and works repeatably. This is a huge selling point for us as we make recommendations to clients on the best test automation software for their needs.