Just a wild guess, but are you running on 64-bit Windows 7? What version of IEDriverServer.exe are you running, 32-bit or 64-bit?
IE, or any process, for that matter, can't load a cross-bitness .dll (an ActiveX control is a .dll with some specific API endpoints built into it). So if your ActiveX control is a 32-bit ActiveX control, you won't see it when you start 64-bit IE. For the same reason, the "bitness" version of IE that gets launched by IEDriverServer.exe (and therefore by watir-webdriver) is determined by the "bitness" of the executable. --Jim On Thursday, April 25, 2013 12:52:13 PM UTC-4, Alan May wrote: > > Hi, > > I understand that Watir doesn't support ActiveX controls.(I have read the > FAQ entry and several posts on this matter). > > I think Watir is an incredibly useful tool for web application testing and > I've had good results with using it on various projects. Please bear with > me for a brief thought exercise: > > I've been just experimenting with using watir to lead me through a web > flow until the point that I come to an Internet Explorer specific control > (spawns a separate window) (I am thinking this is probably based in ActiveX > technology... I had to install an .exe file on my client to access the > functionality and the functionality is only visible in Internet Explorer.) > My tenative plan is to use Ruby to interact with the ffi gem or, somewhat > more crudely, invoke a java class that leverages the java.awt.Robot.class > to finish the necessary flow. > > Working in Windows 7, I have noticed something I didn't anticipate.... > > when I invoke: > > c:\"Program Files"\"Internet Explorer"\iexplore.exe // the > control doesn't seem to be recognized as installed (the app is checking for > the installed software at the beginning of its flow) > > However, > > If I invoke: > start iexplore.exe > // the control appears to be loaded and works as anticipated. > > > When I load the IE browser(version 9.0.8) through webdriver, I get the > behavior I see when I invoke iexplore.exe without the "start" directive. > > > > I was going to also try the original Watir IE driver and attempt the same > thing with Selenium (and potentially try other frameworks if I exhaust > those options), but just wanted to check with this group beforehand in case > anyone had any suggestions. > I don't have direct access to the source code, so white box approaches > won't work in this situation. > > I looked at the command line switches for Internet Explorer 9, and there > is a switch for disabling loading add-ons, but I didn't see anything else > that might appear useful. > > > Anyway, I was just curious if anyone had had success with using a similar > approach/technique or could give me any guidance. I'm a bit stuck if the > control isn't accessible at all (for instance if I have watir bring up the > browser, and I step through the flow manually from that point). I wasn't > sure if the issue with being able to have IE load applets, activeX controls > --- and --- once you have them loaded, not having a mechanism to recognize > and click widgets (since they aren't native web form controls, links, etc.) > --- OR if it was just the latter issue. > > Is anyone aware of a potential workaround for the loading issue? > > Thanks for your time! > Alan > > > > > > > > > > -- -- Before posting, please read http://watir.com/support. In short: search before you ask, be nice. watir-general@googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/watir-general watir-general+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Watir General" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to watir-general+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
