Capturing Controls

The recording process captures a variety of interface objects, including screens, buttons, tabs, checkboxes, drag-and-drop actions, menu paths, edit fields, grids, trees, radio buttons, match codes, list items, and combo boxes.

The following sections provide an overview of recorder capabilities, limitations, and the steps you must take to capture specific objects.

Edit Fields

The recorder captures field labels and data. The field name, a generic placeholder description, and the data that was entered will be captured.

1. Click or tab in the field.
2. Type in the field.
3. Exit the field.

To capture default data, click or tab into the field containing the default data and exit the field. The default data and field name will be captured. In the document view, data is inserted into a Field/Description table.

If a value exists in the field on exit, the recorder will capture this value. If the field is empty, the recorder captures a step without a value in the field.

If you want to capture only the characters typed, instead of all characters in the field, change the Capture Typing Text Mode value to Typed Characters. For more information, refer to Specifying Recorder Tuning Options.

Menu Paths

Menu paths are automatically recorded. The recorder captures menu text when you click on the text.

Simply execute the menu path, and the recorder will capture the first initial click as a step and then display the full menu path as a single step.

Grids

When entering data into a table, the field labels are typically located at the top of the column. The recorder will capture both the row and the column label.

1. Click in the grid cell.
2. Enter data.
3. Click out of the cell.

Screens

New screens are captured automatically as you progress through a task.

A screen image is captured for every step. To capture a screen image manually before any action is taken on the screen, press the Print Screen key on your keyboard then record the step.

The following types of actions will trigger a new screen shot to be displayed in the document view (In a simulation view each step is displayed with its corresponding screen image.). The order that the criteria are applied is as follows:

1. When you take an action on a screen, the recorder checks if the screen title is different than the previous steps screen title. If yes, a new screen image is displayed.
2. If the screen title did not change, the recorder checks if the dimensions of the active region are different than the screen captured for the previous step. If yes, a new screen image is displayed.
3. If the previous action was performed on a tab or a menu item control, a new screen image is displayed.

The recorder also captures the last screen upon stopping the recording process.

Match Codes, Buttons, Checkboxes, Combo Boxes, Tree Items, Tab Controls, Labels, Links, Radio Buttons, and Images

The recorder captures match codes, the button image, the checkbox or radio button and the associated label, and any other images on which you click.

Click on the button, checkbox, radio button, or image.

If you are planning to Re-Record and are selecting a combo box, be sure to click a selection in a combo box, even if the default value in the combo box is not the one desired.

Combination Keystrokes

Keystrokes are captured and recorded as new steps.

Type combinations keystrokes Ctrl+N and Alt+F are supported.

Command combination keystrokes ALT+TAB, CTRL+ALT+DEL, and ALT+ESC are not supported.