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# Descriptors

This topic describes how to use the TruClient Descriptor Editor to identify objects in your TruClient scripts.

In this topic:

## Descriptors overview

Descriptors support Object Identification by specifying logical conditions for identifying the object using its HTML and CSS properties (such as ID, Class, Position). Each condition contains a property, an operator, a value, and when applicable, optional arguments.

TruClient creates the Descriptor conditions during recording or when you select an object in the step editor.

You can use the Descriptor Editor to improve or control identification by adding or editing conditions. The Descriptor Editor is accessed from a step: Object > ID Method > Descriptors.

For example, you can edit a Descriptor to:

- Select a different menu item on each iteration by parameterizing the menu text.
- Identify one of several similar objects by its ordinal position on the page. You can also choose a different object each iteration by parameterizing the ordinal position.
- Add a condition that uses a property that TruClient does not record.
- Delete properties that are not required and may change in a way irrelevant to identification.

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## Configure descriptors manually

1. Add a Generic Object Action step or expand an existing step to your script. Expand the Object section, select Descriptors from the ID Method dropdown box.
2. From the Descriptors, select Click here to edit to open the Descriptors Editor.

3. Set the value for the tagName condition.

4. Add additional conditions

   1. Select an object property. See List of object properties.

   2. Select an operator. See List of operators.

   3. Set the property value. The property value can be parameterized. See Use parameters to vary arguments.
5. Repeat step 4 until you have defined all the properties required for identification of your object.

6. If relevant, specify the Object Ordinal.

   When an element cannot be identified uniquely, you can use the Object Ordinal to specify which occurrence to pick.

   Note: The Object Ordinal is 1-based.

   For example, let's assume that you would like to identify the third row of the column in the table below. You cannot do it without specifying the Object Ordinal = 3 since all the columns look the same.

       <table>
           <tr><td class”emptyrow”></td></tr>
           <tr><td class”emptyrow”></td></tr>
           <tr><td class”emptyrow”></td></tr>
           <tr><td class”emptyrow”></td></tr>
       </table>

   Optionally, you can select Use random ordinal to randomly select from a set similar objects.

7. Click the Highlight object button to verify that the object can be identified.

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## Use a custom property or attribute

You can use DOM attributes or JavaScript properties to identify an object. JavaScript properties are attached to the DOM object by JavaScript or by the browser code during initialization. Both attributes and properties can be changed.

Differences between custom properties and custom attributes

- The APIs to manipulate properties contain the dot operator. The attribute APIs use the “`getAttribute`”and “`setAttribute`” methods.
- JavaScript properties cannot be set by the HTML markup.
- JavaScript properties cannot be seen in the outerHTML/innerHTML strings of an element. Attributes can be seen in those strings.
- The `JSON.stringify` function serializes a subset of JavaScript properties but not DOM attributes.

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## List of object properties

The following table provides a list of object properties:

Property Category | Property | Value type | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
Role | role | String | Standard role DOM attribute.
ID | id | String | Standard id DOM attribute.
Name | name | String | Standard name DOM attribute.
Class | class | Comma-separated string | A list of the class's stylesheet selectors.
Text | text | String | Inner text.
Label | text | String | Element label.
ARIA label | labeledby | White space separated string | Element ids used as labels for the object.
Title | title | White space separated string | Standard title DOM attribute.
Input type | input/type | String | Type attribute of an input element.
Input text | input/text/value | String | Text value of a text box.
Button value | input/button/value | String | Caption of a button.
Alternative text | alt | String | Alternative text for an element when the text property is not available.
Image source | img/src | String | Standard src attribute of an image element.
Hyperlink | url protocol pathname search | String | Standard hyperlink properties.
Form action | form/action | String | Standard form action.
Form method | form/method | String | Standard form method DOM attribute.
Table columns | tr/cols | Number | Number of columns for table row elements.
Number | isNumber | Boolean | Determine if the textual content of the element is a number.
Currency | isCurrency | Boolean | Determine if the textual content of the element is a currency value.
Date | isDate | Boolean | Determine if the textual content of the element is a date value.
Time | is Time | Boolean | Determine if the textual content of the element is a time value.
DOM leaf | isLeaf | Boolean | Determine if the element is a tree leaf.
Custom Attribute | attributeA attributeB ... attributeZ | String | Custom DOM attribute with an arbitrary name.
Custom Property | propertyA propertyB ... propertyZ | Expected value is a string while the actual value can be any JS type | Custom JS property with an arbitrary name.

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## List of operators

The following table provides a list of operators:

Operator | Description
--- | ---
equalsIgnoreChars | Compares the object property to the value specified in the descriptor editor ignoring any characters specified in the Arguments section.
endsWith | The object property ends with the value specified in the descriptor editor.
equals | Compares the object property to the value specified in the descriptor editor. For example, for "class", the class has all the style-sheet selectors in the value, and no others.
equalsIgnoreDigits | Compares the object property to the value specified in the descriptor editor ignoring any numeric characters.
equalsIgnoreCase | Compares the object property to the value specified in the descriptor editor ignoring case considerations.
equalsIgnoreDeviation | Slight deviations are ignored when comparing the object property to the value specified in the descriptor editor. Applicable only for metrics such as length and width.
startsWith | The object property begins with the value specified in the descriptor editor.
contains | The object property contains the full value specified in the descriptor editor. For example, for "class", the class has all the style-sheet selectors in the value, and may have others.
contained | The object property contains the value specified in the descriptor editor. For example, for "class", the class has at least one of the style-sheet selectors in the value, and may have others.
isRegExpMatch | The object property matches the regular expression specified as the value in the descriptor editor. The value is a JavaScript regular expression object, and should be of type “JavaScript”.
isSubstring | The object property, for example `alt`, is a substring of the value specified in the value field. Example: If the object `alt` is "aaa" and the value specified in the descriptor editor is "aaab", the return value for the specific expression will be true.

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See also:

- Object identification

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