What is Anchor and how to use it?

[Jack SmithParticipant]

Hello Zap,

We are using the new ZAPTEST Community Edition testing tool and we’ve encountered with a new feature in it:
After recording a set of windows appear asking to specify an Anchor:
Please explain to us what does the Anchor means, do we need it, and how to specify it correctly?

Thanks.

[Sasha ZAPModerator]

Hello JSmith,

Thank-you for your question.

The Anchor feature is new in Zapfree (ZAPTEST Community Edition) but it is one of the first features in ZPX (Zap-fix – The main Zap testing tool, which today we have its standalone version named ZAPTEST).
The Anchor is another object the Zapfree user specifies which its main advantage is by helping to locate already captured objects, for example:
If you recorded a test in Zapfree or scanned a web page, the “captured” and saved objects (Object = linkimagetext-boxetc any item appears in a specific application’s page) sometimes Zapfree will have difficulty to locate them again during execution of the test (This is because situations such as, similar objects in a specific page, object which its properties are dynamic, etc), if you’ll have another object which is more stable in its properties (Such as the Anchor) Zapfree will locate the required objects more easily during the runtime.
To specify an anchor you’ll need to specify a text or an image based object after the recording stops:
If this is a text based object specify the text and make sure Zapfree can find it, and an image based object will be located based on its coordinates.

Hope this helps to clarify this issue.

Please contact Zap for further help.

Thanks,
Sasha

[Jack SmithParticipant]

Thank-you Sasha for the quick and detailed answer.

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