Full versus partial selectors

Target definition in UI Automation Modern activities separates the top-level window selector from the element selector:

• Window selector - Full selector for the application window.
• Strict selector - Partial selector. A strict selector is the precise string that matches exactly one specific on-screen UI element.
• Fuzzy selector - Partial selector. A fuzzy selector allows the robot to find a UI element by using a fuzzy matching algorithm, which can identify elements even if the selector doesn't contain an exact match for the attributes.

Full selectors

Full selectors contain all the elements needed to identify an UI element, including the top-level window.

The top-level window is defined by a full selector that can be found in the Selector property in the Use Application/Browser scope.

Example of a full selector for the Notepad window:

Partial selectors

Partial selectors do not contain information about the top-level window.

Activities containing partial selectors are enclosed in a container (Use Application/Browser) that defines a full selector of the top-level window.

The UI element full definition is determined by merging the Window selector with the Strict selector/Fuzzy selector.

Example of a partial selector for the editable panel in Notepad:

Selector Editor and UI Explorer display the full selector, not just the partial one. However, only the elements belonging to the partial selector can be edited, the window selector is grayed out and read-only.