Modifying Cell Values in Developer Express XtraGrid

When testing applications that use the Developer Express XtraGrid controls, you may need to change values displayed in the grid’s cells. You can do this in any of the following ways:

• By simulating the user input into grid cells..
  
• By using the internal methods and properties of the XtraGrid control.

Below, I will explain how you can implement these approaches in TestComplete scripts. In your tests, you can use any of these approaches. The second approach - modifying the cell value programmatically - is easier; however, it assumes the user does not interact with controls and thus no corresponding events will be triggered. So, you may find that simulating user actions on the grid is more convenient.

Both approaches require access to internal properties, methods and objects of the XtraGrid control. To enable TestComplete to access them, you need to install and enable the .NET Open Application Support plug-in.

Simulating User Input

To modify grid cell values, you can input the new values directly in grid cells. To be able to do that, first, you need to select the desired cell within the grid and activate the cell’s in-place editor. I explained how to do this in my previous articles - Selecting Cells in Developer Express XtraGrid. and Activating and Closing In-place Editors in Developer Express XtraGrid.

When the cell is in the edit mode, you can “type” the desired value into it using the Keys action applied to the grid control. Below is an example that illustrates how you can do it. This example works with the GridTutorials sample application that is shipped with the Developer Express XtraGrid Suite. The example contains four routines:

• Main - The scripts’s “main” routine. It obtains the scripting object corresponding to the XtraGrid control and calls InputCellValue to input new values into grid’s edit boxes.
  
• InputCellValue - Modifies the cell value by simulating the user input into the cell. It has the following parameters:
  
  • Grid - Specifies the tested XtraGrid control.
    
  • View - The grid’s view in which the cell resides. If the null value (Nothing in VBScript) is passed in this parameter, this means that the cell belongs to the grid’s main view.
    
  • RowIndex - The zero-based index of the row (card) that contains the cell.
    
  • ColumnId - The caption or its the zero-based index of the column (card field) that contains the cell.
    
  • Value - The string to be “typed” into the cell.
  
  The routines does the following:
  
  1. Selects the specified grid cell using the helper ClickCell routine.
     
  2. Calls the ActivateCellEditor routine to activate the cell’s edit mode.
     
  3. “Types” the new value into the cell using the Keys action.
     
  4. Calls CloseEditor to close the cell editor saving the changes made.
• ClickCell - Simulates a mouse click on the specified cell. For more information on this routine, refer to Selecting Cells in Developer Express XtraGrid.
  
• GetColumn - A helper function that returns the column object by the column caption or index.
  
• ActivateCellEditor - Activates the cell’s edit mode using the F2 shortcut.
  
• CloseEditor - Simulates the Enter key press to apply changes made to the cell value.

Using Internal Methods of the XtraGrid Control

It is possible to set grid cell values using the SetRowCellValue method of the grid’ view where the cell resides:

This method assigns the value specified in the Value parameter to the cell specified by the row index and the column object. However, it does not select the specified cell.

The following example demonstrates how to use this method in scripts. It contains three routines:

• Main - Obtains the scripting object corresponding to the XtraGrid control and then uses the SetCellValue routine to modify values of some grid cells..
  
• SetCellValue - Sets the new value of a grid cell. It has the following parameters:
  
  • Grid - Specifies the tested XtraGrid control.
    
  • View - The grid’s view in which the cell resides. If the null value (Nothing in VBScript) is passed in this parameter, this means that the cell belongs to the grid’s main view.
    
  • RowIndex - The zero-based index of the row (card) that contains the cell.
    
  • ColumnId - The caption or its the zero-based index of the column (card field) that contains the cell.
    
  • Value - The string to be “typed” into the cell.
• GetColumn - A helper function that returns the column object by the column caption or index.