PeerSpot user
Test Manager/ QA Consultant at Aspire Systems
Real User
We've used it for one of our biggest clients to automate Web (Asp .net, Sharepoint and Silverlight applications) and Desktop (Windows and WPF) applications. But tests fail with minimized browsers.
Pros and Cons
  • "Easy integration with CI Tools like Jenkins, TFS, and TeamCity."
  • "Other OS Support, Ranorex Spy performance improvement (Especially for Silverlight controls)."

What is most valuable?

Strong Element capturing feature of Ranorex Spy, Coding in C#/ VB .net, Easy integration with CI Tools like Jenkins, TFS, TeamCity, Supports cross browsers, Tool Stability, Powerful record and playback, Ranorex IDE, Visual Studio IDE Integration.

How has it helped my organization?

We have used Ranorex for one of our biggest client to automate Web (Asp .net, Sharepoint and Silverlight applications) & Desktop (Windows and WPF) applications. We had smoke and regression test were running on daily basis on Production environment. Now doing some migration on the existing scripts for CRM support.

What needs improvement?

Other OS Support, Ranorex Spy performance improvement (Especially for Silverlight controls)

Tests will fail if browser minimised, Parallel Execution Not possible (We could do are some extend if we use DOM method), From my experience, Ranorex Spy is slow when spying on Silverlight controls (ex:- Consider if 500 UI Elements are in an hierarchy & you are trying to spy 470th element)

For how long have I used the solution?

for more than 5 years

Buyer's Guide
Ranorex Studio
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Ranorex Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

not issues, but difficulties when I try to integrate with tfs

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Performance was slow for Silverlight applications

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

not specific

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

7 out of 10

Technical Support:

8 out of 10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

yes, previously I was using an automation tool (build on VB .NET) which did not have capability for automating flash/ Silverlight/ windows applications.

How was the initial setup?

Very simple

What about the implementation team?

in-House

What was our ROI?

We have automated 15+ internal applications for our client, which reduced much manual effort on regression testing.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

no comments

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

When I try Silverlight automation (5-6 years back) no tools were promising, (Including popular tools in the market), So chosen Ranorex. But now many tools supporting Silver light applications, So better if we do re-evaluation against latest tools in the market

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Test Engineer at a newspaper with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
We can now perform automatic testing of a web solution every night and after every deployment, but it needs more possibilities on mobile devices.

Valuable Features

  • Easy to use - without any dev skills you can automate some nice things
  • C# or VB.NET is used for development, and you can find a lot of information online
  • Fast email support and a forum with several experienced users and Ranorex employees on it
  • Online webinars to help you get started
  • We can combine Ranorex with Jenkins and JIRA. We can store our test results in a database, configure our email templates, and create libraries so we can easily reuse code.

Improvements to My Organization

  • Automatic testing of a web solution every night and after every deployment
  • Every morning we get a test status of our different brands. We've created status pages that read the test status from a database, so we get a clear overview of all the tests that have been running at night or after each deployment
  • Everybody have access to our status pages and can have a look of the status of a specific test

Room for Improvement

More possibilities on mobile devices, as we have already encountered some problems with iFrames integrated in a web page.

Use of Solution

We bought this solution more than a year ago, in March 2014.

Customer Service and Technical Support

It's at a high level, as we always get a clear and fast answer. There’s also a lot of activity on the Ranorex forum.

Initial Setup

Setup and installation was straightforward. If you watch the online webinars, you can easily start with recording test steps. If you have previous experience with C# or VB.NET in visual studios, you won’t have any problems developing in Ranorex. Otherwise, you can find a lot of information online how to expand your recorded modules with additional code.

Implementation Team

We did the implementation by ourselves, it was not that difficult to install and add the license key.

ROI

Previously, we had to check and test every night the same test sets, and after every deployment a basic check of several test cases was needed. To do that, we needed a full time person to do that. Now, we can focus on new functionalities after each deployment.

Other Solutions Considered

We did some tests with Selenium, but you still need a lot of dev skills to setup and write an automated test.

Other Advice

Try the free trial and have a look at the several demo videos.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Ranorex Studio
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Ranorex Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user346857 - PeerSpot reviewer
Test Automation Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
The results of test execution are represented with more details, but sometimes, it's hard to decide which function to use as the explanation of the existing functions is extremely short.

What is most valuable?

Features that I have been using actively and bring the most value to me are:

  • Ranorex API – using different functions that the API provides to manipulate with the elements on the web page
  • Ranorex Spy – identifying the different elements on the web page and generating the element repository to be used in different tests
  • Ranorex Reporting – generating the report that shows the overall result of test execution, together with as much detailed as possible result of each step in a test case

How has it helped my organization?

Firstly, I can say that Ranorex offers easy-to-use test automation software for developing and managing projects which enables more efficiency with implementing new test cases.

Also, the results of test execution are represented with more details and in a very concise and effective manner. Log failures, successes, info, warnings, screen captures, etc. are possible to use to make the reporting more representable.

What needs improvement?

I would definitely say that the existing documentation of their API has a lot of room for improvement. Sometimes, it is hard to decide which of the existing functions to use since the explanation of the existing functions is extremely short. So it is left for the user of the solution to try out different possibilities to make sure that the chosen function will fulfill the needs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product actively in my work about a year and a half.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability because the tool itself gives enough flexibility to work with. For example, if some new features are added to the existing system being tested, it is feasible and easy to add new elements to the already existing repository without any complexities. We can then use existing functions of the Ranorex API to manipulate the elements.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I would rate it positively since their feedback comes a very short time after the requested help, support, or answer via email or their forum.

Technical Support:

I would rate it positively since their feedback comes in a very short time after the requested help, support, or answer via email or their forum.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

From the beginning of the project, Ranorex was used as solution for test automation.

How was the initial setup?

I wasn't involved in the beginning of the project.

What about the implementation team?

The solution was implemented as an in-house one. There wasn't need to hire the vendor team since the project by itself is not that big or complex.

What was our ROI?

Since it is possible to reference the API from some other tools and solutions, instead of being forced to use Ranorex studio, we gained a lot on flexibility and re-using our existing tools and technologies in combination with Ranorex features which are relevant for our test automation process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Compared to the benefits that the product brings, I would say that the prices are reasonable and justified. I think the great advantage this tool offers is that it supports multi-technologies so that it is possible to cover the test automation of variety of different applications and systems.

What other advice do I have?

My rating is based on the features I use. There are some other features of the product that I haven't touched yet because of the way the test automation is organized on the project I have been working on.

I would suggest using this product because even though it is not an open source solution, the benefits of using it are achieved based on the products price. I was a beginner when I started using this tool and got used to the tool in a very short amount of time so I started working actively very quickly.

It depends on the way the tool is used on the project, but either way, I personally think that the period the user needs to get used to the tool is very low because of the support that is offered through user guides and Ranorex forum or customer service.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Automation Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
All our automation teams' suites are now more robust and accurate, but they need to focus more on the coding modules.

What is most valuable?

We primarily use the libraries provided by Ranorex to access our application, and the Ranorex Spy, to view the current application's object model.

How has it helped my organization?

By using this product, we have been able to explore some more advanced strategies in developing our automation which has been able to carry over to other automation teams. This has made all of our automation teams suites more robust and accurate with their testing.

What needs improvement?

There is too much focus on the drag-and-drop features of Ranorex, and not enough focus on the coding modules which we use extensively. As a programmer, would like to be able to come up with a code only interface so that features such as the Test Suite don't have to be used if they don't want to be.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for around two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For a very long time, we were running into crashes with either Ranorex or Ranorex's utility (UIALauncher) which would stop our testing dead in its tracks. These areas would then need to be run test by test, and not in whole batches at a time. We eventually tracked the issue down ourselves to be a rare condition between Ranorex and Windows 8, where both systems were trying to access an element at the same time, and was failing.

How are customer service and technical support?

Other then not being able to track down the issue above that was plaguing us for quite some time, the Ranorex customer support has been great. The only complaint would be that at one time, we were having issues with our licensing, and while one of our engineers was talking to them for a while. All of a sudden, they said that they were required only the primary account holder to talk to them, which needlessly required a third party to get involved in what was a very minor issue.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

When we started evaluating Ranorex, we were already using a number of other products for the various platforms we run automaiton against. Unfortunately, none of the products we were using at the time had the capability to automate Windows 8 apps. Ranorex's ability to do this (the only product we found at the time that could) is the reason we chose the product.

How was the initial setup?

Setup and installation of Ranorex was extremely straightforward. However, getting the initial script running was a bit complex, as we soon found that parts of our application weren't accessible through Ranorex, and the way Ranorex wanted us to create scripts wasn't intuitive to us. We eventually opted out of "their way" of doing things, which is more for a non-coding QA person, and opted for a 99% programming method.

What about the implementation team?

All implementation is done in house with a small team of three to four engineers. My best advice for implementation is that if you can, try to go through a pure programming route with your implementation, and not through the recorded modules. While it may be more time investment in the beginning, it will pay off in the end because you will have a more robust suite that will scale much better then using the "standard" Ranorex Route.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Ranorex, like many other automation tools is expensive. I highly suggest planning out how many licenses you need ahead of time, and try to plan your suite to use as many licenses as possible. With this approach you should be able to get as much testing done as possible without breaking the bank with licensing costs.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user347727 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software QA Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
We have our own Python library that uses the Ranorex API and are using the Robot Framework for test automation with it.

What is most valuable?

Ranorex Spy is the most valuable feature for us, as it provides functionalities for analysis of host or web applications, as well as information for test automation.

How has it helped my organization?

We are using Robot Framework for test automation. We have our own Python library that uses the Ranorex API.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for seven months.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We didn't have any issues with deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been no stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scaled just fine for us.

How are customer service and technical support?

I haven't had to use technical support yet.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This is the only product I've used in my current role.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was completely straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

It is reliable and fast. I've had no problems in the seven months I have used it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Staff Test Development Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vendor
Using this product, we have been able create and manage UI automation in the best possible way, but they need to improve their support of different web browsers along with Flash support.

Valuable Features:

UI Automation for web and desktop applications is a valuable feature. 

Also, the Studio tool is so easy to use and manage Ranorex projects.

Improvements to My Organization:

Using this product, we have been able create and manage UI automation in the best possible way. It has helped us to improve our product's UI quality.

Room for Improvement:

They need to improve their support of different web browsers along with Flash support. Also very important (at least to our team), Ranorex should provide Python support. Currently they only support C# and VB

Use of Solution:

I've been using it for five years.

Stability Issues:

We need some tricks on instrumenting flex based web applications.

Initial Setup:

It was straightforward. You install the .exe and you are done. 

Implementation Team:

We installed and did the set-up in-house.

Cost and Licensing Advice:

It’s good that Ranorex has not changed to floating runtime licenses. This means that users can have flexibility for the managing of their test environments, and get the best return on their investment of license.

Other Solutions Considered:

We evaluated Selenium and HP Quality Center. We found Ranorex very helpful in supporting both web and desktop based application. It’s very easy to use.

Other Advice:

It's excellent for desktop based applications (win forms), and the best for web based applications, with some instrumentation tricks on Flex/Flash based applications.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user333708 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Developer/Tester at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
It has the ability to cover large amounts of testing with minimal coding, but it needs less changes to the code when modifying a repository.

Valuable Features

Ranorex Recorder records and replays keyboard and mouse actions performed by the user.

Improvements to My Organization

It forced many developers to stick with conventions and organizational coding practices.

Room for Improvement

Less changes to the code when modifying a repository. Any minor change to a repository can result in a version control system nightmare, making it more difficult when working in teams.

Use of Solution

I've used it for one year.

Deployment Issues

Yes, however many issues were in-house. Those that were not, were typically dealt with expediently with an update or offered support.

Stability Issues

Yes, however many issues were in-house. Those that were not, were typically dealt with expediently with an update or offered support.

Scalability Issues

Yes, however many issues were in-house. Those that were not, were typically dealt with expediently with an update or offered support.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service: It's above average.
Technical Support:

It's above average.

Initial Setup

It was pretty straightforward.

Implementation Team

We performed implementation in-house. The difficulty of implementation can scale with the size and complexity of your software project, it can become quite a daunting task.

My advice is that you back up and test your current project in a separate environment. Start small, and dedicate time to learning the different Ranorex tools and features.

ROI

The returns will always vary depending on the software. It is a great tool for some shops to start out new developers on, helping them learn more about the integral parts of a system. It can be worth it as a learning aid or knowledge base alone.

Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing

This is completely based on the project, and a company's willingness to forgo other cheaper alternatives. Ranorex does offer a free trial which should give most customers an idea of what they're getting into.

Other Solutions Considered

We tried several, and we chose Ranorex for it’s ability to cover large amounts of testing with minimal coding.

Other Advice

As a stand alone product Ranorex is quite useful. However, if you plan to implement and merge this with a project that is complex, it requires full automation, API integration, and has a large data set it can be arduous.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user333795 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Test Engineer at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Due to the ability to code our own adaptors, the code maintenance effort has been reduced, but they are not engaging model-based testing technologies.​

Valuable Features

Our team highly appreciates the ability to use the Ranorex library directly in code. That has enabled to create our own libraries (we call them adaptors) which access various parts of our product.

Improvements to My Organization

Due to the ability to code our own adaptors, the code maintenance effort has been reduced. We do not use the Ranorex Studio thus there is no “spaghetti code”, which is difficult to maintain, being created.

Room for Improvement

Ranorex has truly been a “little monster” able to access even the most complex custom WPF controls. It is a pity Ranorex is not engaging model-based testing technologies.

Use of Solution

We have been using the product for the past four years and are quite satisfied with its performance.

Deployment Issues

No issues encountered.

Stability Issues

No issues encountered.

Scalability Issues

No issues encountered.

Customer Service and Technical Support

In the rare cases where we have had to contact the technical support, the reply via email came relatively quickly.

Initial Setup

All we had to do is to link a couple of .dlls into the automation solution. The complexity was in how to structure the adaptors so that the code maintenance effort could be kept as low as possible, but that had got nothing to do with Ranorex.

Implementation Team

We are a QA team capable of writing automation code, thus we implemented everything in-house. Before implementation, think hard on how to structure your automation code, especially your adaptors.

Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing

We have a number of floating licenses.

Other Solutions Considered

We initially tried out the CodedUI by Microsoft, but the coding effort plus the product maturity at that stage convinced us to pick Ranorex.

Other Advice

We have been employing Ranorex in the field of desktop PC application UI automation. In this particular area Ranorex proved to be a perfect choice. Unfortunately we could not gather any experience in the field of web application automation.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Ranorex Studio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Ranorex Studio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.