How to identify custom controls and add coded step

[Lim]

Hi.  My team is currently evaluating WebUI and have hit a couple of roadblocks.  

1/ How can I find/identify custom controls?
2/ How do I find controls in a coded step?  I tried using code that I had built up using WebAii but it didn't work and didn't provide a particularly useful error message.  

Help on these questions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[Cody]

Hi Lim,

Thank you for taking the time to evaluate WebUI Test Studio.

1. I'm afraid the tool can only see the base elements that are used to compose any custom control your developers create. For example, a calendar control usual consists of a test of buttons and text blocks (and sometimes a dropdown). We'll see and interact with each component that makes up this calendar control, but we won't be able to recognize and interact with such a custom calendar control as a "MyCustomCalender" type of object. Usually this is sufficient for most test automation scenarios.
2. You have two options for interacting with elements in a coded step. a) During recording, you can highlight an element and add it as a Project Element. This will allow you to quickly and easily refer to that element with code like "Pages.USWorldPopulationClock.UsclocknumSpan". Or b) you can create your own FindExpression to find and interact with the element desired. How to use FindExpressions is documented here.

if there's anything else I can assist you with don't hesitate to ask.

Sincerely yours,
Cody
the Telerik team

[Lim]

If I understand correctly this way I can only find a particular control and not all control of a particular type?  So can I search for all TextBlock in my SL app?  So far I haven't been able to do this using the WebUI QA or Dev.  Doing this with WebAii is quite straightforward.  

[Cody]

Hi Lim,

WebUI uses the WebAii framework at it's core. Using a coded step you may code up anything you like just like when you were using only the WebAii framework. Thus yes you can find all controls in exactly the same manner.

Regards,
Cody
the Telerik team