Ranorex Forum

Hi,

We have been successfully using Ranorex for a few months now to automate our Flex application. Our Flex application runs in an IE browser window. Previously, to instrument the application, we were using the Ranorex 3.0 "RanorexFlex4.SWF" file. After upgrading to Ranorex 3.2.1 we now make use of the "RanorexAutomation.SWF". This offered us much better object recognition in our application.

However, we have now hit a serious problem which didn't occur with the Ranorex 3.0 file. As our tests are running, the memory usage by IE climbs and climbs to the point where Flex shows an exclamation icon indicating that it has run out of memory.

It is as though Ranorex, by accessing the Flex objects, makes Flex leave memory behind. The same memory issue occurs whether we put the SWF on the server or use the Pre-Loader method.

Just to be clear, the memory leak appears in Internet Explorer, not the code we run Ranorex from.

Any help much appreciated,

Gordon

As an addition to this, here is some information about the "Flex Exclamation Mark of Death". Noting the fact that our Flex app does not have this issue when tested manually, it does point to a memory leak in the RanorexAutomation.swf file.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3087523

Thanks,

Gordon

As an additional bit of background as to how this issue is exposed:

1. Our Flex application has a Flex Container that has potentially 1000+ text boxes in it.
2. Our C# code takes the Flex container object and cycles through the text boxes looking for a match.
3. Once a matching text box has been found, the text box is clicked on.

Could it be the case that the quantity of objects we are dealing with here is bringing the leak to the fore?

Additional info - My test clients are Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit)

Can someone from the Support Team please let me know if this is being investigated please?

Hi,

gordonm wrote:Can someone from the Support Team please let me know if this is being investigated please?

Sorry for the late response. We were able to reproduce the issue and this will be fixed with Ranorex 3.2.2.

Regards,
Peter
Ranorex Team

Thanks for your response Peter, do you have a target date for 3.2.2? It's just so we can map out a plan of action in the short term.

Thanks,

Gordon

Hi,

Ranorex 3.2.2 should be available next week.

Regards,
Peter
Ranorex Team

That's excellent. Thanks very much for your help Peter!

Gordon

Hi,

Thanks very much for the quick resolution to this - 3.2.2 no longer appears to have the mem leak problem.

Thanks,

Gordon

Hi,

Unfortunately this Flex memory leak seems to have returned as soon as we upgraded to 3.3.0.

Can you check to see if the fix been lost somehow?

Thanks,

Gordon.

Hi,

Yes, we will analyze the issue and come back to you as soon as we found the issue.

Regards,
Markus
Ranorex Support Team

Hi,

We analyzed it and in our case it appeared although our plugin was not loaded, so can you test if it also appears although Ranorex is not used?
With which flex player version are you working and did you see the issue with the same objects or with other ones?
If it happens with other elements, can you send us a Ranorex Snapshot of them?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Markus
Ranorex Support Team

Hi,

My Flash version is: WIN 11,2,202,235 (Debug player).

No, if I test manually, the memory within IE stays relatively stable. If I run our Ranorex script though, the memory within IE goes up and up until the application crashes.

Although I can't say for sure, the most likely object to cause the issue would be Ranorex.Button (as we deal with a lot of those in the script that causes us problems).

Let me know if you need any further information, or whether this is enough.

Regards,

Gordon

I should add I am using 64-bit Windows 7 and IE 8.

Thanks,

Gordon

Hi,

Thanks for the information!
We tested it with a pop up window which includes 1000 buttons, the flash player 11.3 was used.
We opened it, then closed it, and checked the total memory. These steps were executed several times without using Ranorex and we noticed that there was a memory leak but it wasn't caused by Ranorex.

As we cannot reproduce it on our machines, would it be possible to get access to your application or to send us a sample which illustrates the problem?
This would help us to identify the issue.

Regards,
Markus
Ranorex Support Team