What is VO (Virtual Object) browser extension in Silk Test?

The silk test automation tool comes with several extensions such as the DOM extension, VO browser extension and so on. 

VO here stands for the ‘virtual object’. 

About Virtual Object 'VO' Browser Extension

- This browser extension is an add–on component for the silk test and is employed during the testing of the web sites and web applications. 

- This virtual object browser extension makes use of a special technique known as the sophisticated pattern recognition technique in order to facilitate the identification of the objects rendered by the objects. 

- The web pages are viewed by the virtual object browser extension as they are in actual. 

- The virtual object browser extension does not opt for the recognition of the HTML tags present in the code of the web application.

- The objects present in that web page or web application are viewed by the virtual object browser extension. 

- These objects may include tables, links, images, compound controls and so on. 

- The technology behind these objects is well ignored by the virtual object browser extension just as we the users do.

- Objects are recognized by the silk test based up on the following aspects of an object:

1. Control type
2. Caption
3. Associated text
4. Control index
5. Location and
6. Window ID

Actually silk test has got two methods for the recognition of any object present in the application under test or AUT and they have been stated below:

1. Virtual object recognition
2. Document object model

Both of these methods produce the same result however they cannot be totally inter changed within a test script. 

The objects that are a part of the web applications which run in a browser such as the following need to be dealt with in a special way:

1. Java applications
2. Visual basic applications and
3. Power builder applications

- Technologies behind such applications are not directly supported by the silk test rather these technologies are provided support by the means of some optional extensions.

- These extensions have to be installed separately. 

- The extensions that have been installed are displayed in the option set of the silk test. 

- All you need to do is check the extension that you need to use and un-check the others. 

- There are certain default settings that can be configured manually by the user. 

- In some cases, a combination of the add ins and extensions might be treated mutually exclusive. 

- Another possibility is that some of the add-ins or the extensions might be supported in the new versions of the silk test. 

- A third possibility is that some of those add ins and extensions might be supported by the earlier versions of the silk test. 

- A table mechanism is used by the silk test for the recognition of the objects and as a means to isolate the variable name from the description of the object that is used by the operating system for accessing the objects during the run time. 

- The GUI declarations of an application are placed in a test frame file usually by the silk test. 

- For each and every object in a window there is available, a GUI declaration which  consists of the class of the object as well as its identifier which is nothing but the variable that was used in the test script. 

- It may also consist of an object tag definition. 

- The following are the capabilities that are provided by the silk test for defining an object tag:

1. String
2. Array reference
3. Function
4. Class and index number
5. Multiple tags
6. Browser specifier