This window allows you to
create a CompareTo script command easily via GUI and insert it into
the active editor. If the window is opened while the caret is on an
already existing CompareTo command in the editor, the window loads
its parameters and allows to edit the command. See the Compareto command
specification for more information on fields and values defined in
the window. To open the window either select Script -> Compareto Command or
click on the corresponding toolbar button in the mani GUI menu. To
edit an existing command perform a right mouse click on the command
in the editor and select Properties
in the context popup menu.
The major window component, the Template
Properties panel, is a shared component used in the Waitfor Command and Screenshot Command Windows as well. It
provides a common way to define a list of template images and/or image collections and
configure image comparison parameters. The panel consists of five
components:
The Template Image File List allows to create a list
of one or more template images or image collections (directories
with images). The image on the left shows the list with one
image collection called calculator which contains two images.
The button opens a file
browser allowing to select an existing image file or a
collection from the file system. To create a new template from
the current desktop image type a file name which doesn't exits
yet into the browser's File
Name field. The button
removes the selected template from the list. The button rewrites the selected
file with the current remote desktop image (this is really done
only after the dialog is closed with the OK button)..
The file browser initially opens in the template folder defined
by the _TEMPLATE_DIR
script variable. If this variable is not defined, the path
defaults to the value in user preferences (look for the Language preference group).
If no default path is configured, the template folder finally
defaults to the user home folder.
The arrow buttons and
allow to change order of the
templates. As image comparison is performed against one template
at a time and it stops when a single match is achieved or the
end of template list is reached, the order may play a role in
performance. For best performance place the templates with
higher occurence probability first.
The panel below the file list
component contains image comparison parameters, such as pass rate, comparison method and comparison area. For details
refer to the CompareTo
command specification.
An interesting enhancement delivered in v2.1 are comparison
method specific parameters represented by the Image Search Parameters
group in the picture. These parameters are displayed dynamically
depending on the selected method and allow to pass algorithm
specific values to the selected image comparison method. This
functionality is currently used just by the image search which
newly supports background color independent comparison. For more
information on particular parameters refer to the CompareTo
command specification. As these parameters are also supported by
the template editor, additional information can be found also in
the Template Image Editor
help topic.
The Compare button allows to execute the image
comparison against the currently selected template (one at a
time only) with the parameters specified in the window. If
a custom image has been loaded from a file using the Load RD Image button, the
comparison is performed against this image. Otherwise the
currently connected desktop is used.
This feature is useful to verify that the command works as
expected. It may be also used to debug comparison against a
desktop image saved to a file earlier on (this is similar to the
Static Image Client
functionality delivered in 2.2). If the "search" comparison module
is specified, there is additional functionality allowing to
debug the comparison to the level of individual pixel mismatch.
See the Image Search Features chapter
later on.
The Edit Template button opens the currently
selected template in image editor which allows to crop it. This
window can be opened also through a double click on the
thumbnail image in the Template
Preview component. Note that though the image preview
component will display a cropped image, the Edit Template window
will always display the full size image if reopened and you can
edit the crop area as many times as needed. The image gets
really cropped and saved to a file only when the window is
finished with the OK button.
The Delete button deletes the selected template file
from the file system. Unlike the other actions this one is
performed immediately and must be used with care.
Button Load RD Image allows you to load an image from a
file and perform image comparisons through the Compare button against it
rather than on the remote desktop image. This feature is
designed to help you to troubleshoot failed image comparisons
which happened in the past, e.g. during automated test
executions. It will have no effect on your script command. To
switch the dialog back to the current remote desktop image click
the same button again (it should read Reset
RD Image when a custom image is loaded) or simply close
and reopen the dialog.
The Preferences button serves as a shortcut to the
image comparison preferences of the CompareTo command. These
parameters are shared with the WaitFor and Screenshot commands.
The Help button next to the Preferences one displays
the Image
Comparison Capabilities section of the language
specification.
The Template Preview component shows a thumbnail
image of the selected template image together with its real
dimensions. If the image fits the component display area, it is
not scaled and displays in full size such as the template on the
picture above. Double click on the image opens the Image Editor (just like the Edit
Template button described above).
2. Image Search Features
When the comparison method is set to one which produces locations,
such as the "search2", "search", "object" and "text" ones, the Compare button offers an extra
functionality. If there is at least one match, the window displays a
message box with a list of coordinates as is displayed below.
Selecting the Show Matches button
opens
a
window
with a copy of the remote desktop image (or eventually the image
loaded through the Load RD Image
button). An example follows:
The window provides several important features. The first row of
controls contains a drop down called Match(es) Displayed containing locations
(rectangles) of the template, objector text instances found on the
remote desktop. Selecting a particular match will highlight the
corresponding rectangle with a red border (unless the Match Rectangle check box is
off). The color is configurable through the color drop down on the
right for the case the red color conflicts with the desktop color.
The second row of controls deals with pixels and pixel differencies. This functionality is
specific for the Image Search
("search") method and it is not used by other ones. When the
pass rate was set to a number lower than 100% the controls display
the mismatching pixels in the selected color (green by default).