Change Silverlight Find Strategy

The default behavior of Test Studio Dev is to time out after a certain interval if the element is not found.

I would like to avoid the Timeout Exception and perform a different set of steps depending on whether the element is found.

Solution

This is possible with a coded solution. Change the SilverlightApp or any FrameworkElement VisualFind.Strategy value to WhenNotVisibleReturnNull.

The example below is against this Silverlight demo site. After navigating there, click DataGrid in the left-hand menu. Then add a coded step:

SilverlightApp app = ActiveBrowser.SilverlightApps()[0]; 
FindStrategy originalStrategy = app.Find.Strategy; 
 
try 
{ 
    app.Find.Strategy = FindStrategy.WhenNotVisibleReturnNull; 
    string gridName = "dataGrid"; 
    DataGrid grid = app.Find.ByName<DataGrid>(gridName); 
 
    if (grid != null) 
    { 
        grid.Wait.ForVisible(); 
        //Perform actions on the DataGrid 
    } 
    else    
    { 
        //You can throw an exception, or perform alternative steps 
        throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("Unable to find the DataGrid named '{0}'!", gridName)); 
    } 
} 
finally 
{ 
    app.Find.Strategy = originalStrategy; 
} 

Dim app As SilverlightApp = ActiveBrowser.SilverlightApps()(0) 
Dim originalStrategy As FindStrategy = app.Find.Strategy 
 
Try 
    app.Find.Strategy = FindStrategy.WhenNotVisibleReturnNull 
    Dim gridName As String = "dataGrid" 
    Dim grid As DataGrid = app.Find.ByName(Of DataGrid)(gridName) 
 
    If grid IsNot Nothing Then 
 
        grid.Wait.ForVisible() 
    Else 
 
        Throw New ArgumentException(String.Format("Unable to find the DataGrid named '{0}'!", gridName)) 
    End If 
Finally 
    app.Find.Strategy = originalStrategy 
End Try 

Note: As is, the IF portion is executed. You can disable step two (treeview item 'DataGrid' select action) to see the ELSE portion execute.