Workarounds to problems of Robot GUI against Internet Explorer 7 and 8

Resolving The Problem

IE7 is supported in beginning with Robot version 7.0.0.1 with 7.0.0.1 iFix01. The following is a list of limitations and workarounds for using IE7 and IE8 with Robot.


Versions 7.0.1.1 and earlier


Browser commands do not playback in IE7
The following browser commands do not playback on IE7.

Browser Back, recMethod$, parameters$
Browser GotoUrl, recMethod$, parameters$
Browser Refresh, recMethod$, parameters$
Browser Forward, recMethod$, parameters$
Browser StopLoading, recMethod$, parameters$


Workaround:
To playback Browser Back and Browser Forward that you scripted in IE 6, pause the playback at that command. On IE7, select Back or Forward from the right-click menu options to record the Back or Forward actions.

For workaround on Browser GotoURL see the following technote.

Workaround for Browser GotoURL, <URL>, "" against IE7


Versions 7.0.0.1 and 7.0.1

Robot version 7.0.0.1 and Robot version 7.0.1 have the following limitations.

Combo box recording in IE7 and IE8
Combo box recording in IE7 requires Robot 7.0.1 with 7.0.1 iFix01 or 7.0.1.1.

For example:
In a Gender combo box if the option Female is selected, in previous releases Robot recorded the script as follows:

ComboBox Click, "Name=Gender", ""
ComboListBox Click, "Label=Gender:", "Text=Female"


In version 7.0.0.1-iFix01 and later Robot recorded the script as follows:

ComboBox Click, "Name=Gender", ""
Window SetContext, "Class=Internet Explorer_Server", "Activate=0"
Window Click, "", "Coords=55,23"


Workaround:
In the recorded script, manually type for this example:

ComboListBox Click , "Name=Gender;Index=1", "".


In some cases version 7.0.1 iFix01 does record the ComboListBox correctly. You might consider to update your Robot version.

For more information on the syntax, see the ComboListBox help topic in the Robot Help.

Workaround:
In the recorded script manually type

ListBox action%, recMethod$, parameters$

For example,

ListBox Click, "Name=Gender", "Text=Female".



For more information on the syntax, see ListBox help topic in the Robot Help.

1. When you play back a script that you recorded either in IE5 or IE6, you see a warning message in the Log. This message states
   
New Page not detected in the browser
.
   
   In IE7 Robot performs the SetContext action for the browser window in
   
   Browser NewPage.
   
2. Therefore after the first Browser NewPage, whenever the Browser NewPage application program interface (API) comes in the script, a warning message gets into log.
   
   Note: You see this warning even thought the result is Pass in the TestManager log.
   
3. Browser NewPage call fails to wait for new page to load in IE7
   You see that Robot does NOT wait for the NewPage to draw; Robot proceeds with the next command instead. As a consequence the browser ends abnormally.
   
   Workaround:
   The only solution for the above code to work is to insert a delay before the click.
   
4. Script playback against IE7 fails if Browser NewPage command is not recorded
   
   Workaround: Insert a Browser New page line in the script as the first action on the IE7 window along with SetContext line.

Workaround: You can write the scripts as in IE6.0. Robot handles the Tab control settings internally.