Overview

AppNavi uses element search to locate application elements when recording or playing Route steps and configuring Pins. The search method determines how AppNavi identifies the intended element in the application's Document Object Model (DOM).

AppNavi provides two search methods:

AI Search: Uses a captured element's characteristics to identify a matching element. You can retrain the capture and adjust the search focus between text and position.

Fuzzy Search: Uses captured element information, including its position among its parent's children, classes, and attributes. It supports multiple captures for the same step and checks candidate matches before accepting them.

The appropriate method depends on the application, how its elements change, and how the content needs to behave.

Compare AI Search and Fuzzy Search

These methods work differently. Neither guarantees that an element will always be found after application changes.

Which search method should I use?

Use these scenarios as a starting point.

Use AI Search when:

• A captured element is being confused with a similar element.
• The element moves within the same parent container but retains identifiable text.
• You need to adjust how strongly the search relies on text or position.
• You want to retrain a capture and review its displayed accuracy.

For example, a dropdown option named Estimates moves from the first position to the third position within the same parent. You can retrain the capture and increase the emphasis on text so the search can prioritize the option's name.

Read AI Search for retraining, weighting, accuracy thresholds, and troubleshooting.

Use Fuzzy Search when:

• You want to configure multiple captures for the same step.
• An element may be difficult to locate consistently using a single capture.
• You need to recapture an element after the application changes.
• You want AppNavi to try alternative captures if an earlier capture does not find a valid match.

For example, if a step cannot locate its target using the first capture, Fuzzy Search can try the next configured capture. The search stops when a capture finds an element that passes verification, or when no captures remain.

AI Search

AI Search helps AppNavi identify the application elements used by Route steps. It is designed to improve element matching when traditional search methods do not reliably identify the intended element.

For example, a Route may need to find a button inside a dropdown. If the dropdown's contents change or the button moves to a different position, the original capture may no longer identify the correct element. AI Search allows you to refine how AppNavi identifies that element.

AI Search is selected under Search Mode in the Route step settings and is the default search mode.

Who should use this guide?

Use this guide if you:

• Create or maintain Routes in AppNavi.
• Notice that a Route highlights the wrong element.
• Work with dynamic applications where elements move or change.
• Need to improve the reliability of an existing element capture.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

• Access to the AppNavi Portal and the relevant Route.
• Access to the target application where the Route runs.
• Permission to edit the Route and its step settings.
• A way to test the Route in the application.

Recommended: Test the Route before changing its search settings. Identify the exact element the step should find and compare it with the element AppNavi currently highlights.

How AI Search is used

1. Create or open a Route.
2. Capture the application element associated with a step.
3. Open the step settings and locate Search Mode.
4. Confirm that AI Search is selected.
5. Save the Route and test it in the target application.

Expected result: When the Route reaches the step, AppNavi attempts to identify the captured element using AI Search.

If AppNavi identifies the wrong element or cannot find the intended element, retrain the capture as described below.

For instructions on creating a Route, see Record a Route.

Retrain AI Search

When should you retrain?

Retraining is useful when:

• AppNavi highlights a similar but incorrect element.
• An element changes position within its parent container.
• A dropdown or table contains several similar elements.
• The original capture no longer matches the application layout reliably.

Retraining lets you select the intended element again and adjust the search settings to improve matching.

Step 1: Open retrain mode

1. Open the Route in the editor.
2. Locate the step whose element is not being identified correctly.
3. Open the capture's retrain option.
4. Inspect the elements highlighted in the application.

In retrain mode:

• Blue identifies the currently captured element.
• Orange identifies elements similar to the captured element.

Use these highlights to find the element that the Route should target.

Step 2: Select the correct element

If the currently captured element is wrong, select the intended element from the highlighted options.

To increase the accuracy of the existing capture, hold Ctrl and click the intended element with the left mouse button.

The displayed accuracy helps you assess how closely the search configuration matches the selected element.

Step 3: Adjust the accuracy threshold

AI Search provides three deviation settings:

The threshold determines the minimum search accuracy required for AppNavi to accept a match. For example, with Medium selected, the element is searched for only when its search accuracy is at least 85%.

Choose the threshold according to your needs. A higher threshold requires a stronger match, while a lower threshold allows matches with lower scores.

These percentages are search thresholds, not a guarantee that the Route will behave correctly in every application state.

Step 4: Save and test

1. Review the selected element and search settings.
2. Save the retrained capture.
3. Run the Route in the target application.
4. Confirm that the step highlights the intended element.
5. Repeat the test in relevant application states, especially where the layout or element order changes.

Expected result: The saved capture uses the updated search configuration, and the Route identifies the intended element in the tested scenario.

Choose how AI Search matches an element

AI Search allows you to adjust the weighting between Text and Position. Choose the weighting based on how the element behaves in the application.

Search by Text

Text weighting prioritizes the element's text when identifying it.

Use this approach when the element may move to a different position but remains within the same parent container and retains identifying text.

Example: A dropdown contains an option called Estimates. The option moves from the first position to the third position. Text-based matching can help AppNavi identify the option by its text rather than relying primarily on its previous position.

To adjust the setting:

1. Open retrain mode for the capture.
2. Select the intended element.
3. Move the weighting slider towards Text.
4. Review the displayed accuracy.
5. If needed, hold Ctrl and left-click the intended element to refine the capture.
6. Save and test the Route.

Limitation: If the element moves outside its original parent container, text weighting alone may not be sufficient to find it.

Search by Position

Position weighting prioritizes the element's position when identifying it.

Use this approach when the element's location is a useful indicator of the intended target.

To adjust the setting:

1. Open retrain mode for the capture.
2. Select the intended element.
3. Move the weighting slider towards Position.
4. Review the displayed accuracy.
5. Save and test the Route.

Important: Position-based matching may identify a similar element at the expected position rather than the original element if the page layout changes. Review the highlighted element carefully before saving.

If an element is removed from its parent container, position weighting may also fail to find it.

Understand the accuracy indicators

Use the retrain dialog and capture information to assess whether AppNavi can identify the intended element.

Accuracy indicators help diagnose element matching. Always verify the actual result by running the Route.

Troubleshooting

Related documentation

• Record a Route — Create a Route and capture application elements.
• AppNavi Element Search — Learn about element search in AppNavi.
• Fuzzy Search — Review the alternative search approach.

Next step: After retraining, test the complete Route in the target application. Confirm that each step targets the intended element before publishing the updated guidance.

Fuzzy Search

Fuzzy search displays accurate results in a minimum time frame as Fuzzy search supports multiple Captures in one Step, it starts with finding element using first Capture, if its able to find the element, its stops the search, else it goes to next Capture, this cycle keeps repeating until it finds the element or there are no Captures left.

It uses information from the captured element, such as:

• Its position within the parent's children.
• CSS classes.
• HTML attributes.
• Its position in the DOM hierarchy.

Fuzzy Search supports multiple captures for a single route step. This allows AppNavi to try alternative captures when the original capture cannot be found.

Importance of Fuzzy search

In AppNavi, we use other search modes which helped to find the element but sometimes it didn’t find the element accurately.

AppNavi has added Fuzzy Search with optimized search results which helps to find an element more quickly and accurately providing users more confidence to use a system. In Fuzzy Search It goes through every captured element and for each element, it uses its position in the children array of parent, classes and attributes to find it in the DOM.

How Fuzzy Search Works

When a route step is executed, Fuzzy Search follows these steps:

1. Start with the first capture: AppNavi attempts to locate the element using the first available capture.
2. Check the DOM: It uses the captured element's metadata, including its position, classes, and attributes, to identify a matching element.
3. Verify the result: After finding a potential match, AppNavi performs a verification step called Heuristic Search.
4. Validate the element: The captured and found element paths must match at least 80% of the original captured path.
5. Try another capture: If the verification fails, AppNavi discards the result and attempts to locate the element using the next available capture.
6. Stop the search: The search stops when a valid element is found or all available captures have been checked.

The Fuzzy Search algorithm runs every 50 milliseconds for a maximum of 30 seconds. If the element is found before the time limit, the search stops immediately.

Example: Finding an Element Using Multiple Captures

Consider a route that contains a step to click the Save button.

Initially, the Save button is captured using its current DOM structure.

Later, the webpage changes slightly, and the original capture can no longer identify the button.

You can add alternative captures for the same Save button.

During route execution

• AppNavi first tries the original capture.
• If the original capture cannot locate the element or fails verification, AppNavi tries the next capture.
• The route continues when a capture successfully identifies and verifies the element.

This provides alternative ways to locate the same element without requiring users to recreate the entire route.

Configure Fuzzy Search

Fuzzy Search can be selected from the Search Mode setting in the step settings.

To use it:

1. Open the route in the AppNavi planner.
2. Select the step containing the element you want to search for.
3. Open the step settings.
4. Select Fuzzy Search as the search mode.
5. Save the changes.

Recapture an Element

If an element has been removed, changed, or moved within the webpage, you can recapture it.

To recapture an element:

• Open the route in the planner.
• Select the relevant step.
• Open the capture settings.
• Use the recapture option to select the element again.
• Save the updated capture.

Recapturing helps AppNavi identify the intended element using its updated DOM information.

Add Multiple Captures

Fuzzy Search allows multiple captures for the same step.

This is useful when an element can appear in different DOM structures or when the original capture may not always be available.

To add multiple captures:

1. Open the relevant route step.
2. Open the Fuzzy Search capture settings.
3. Select the option to add another capture.
4. Capture the same intended element using an alternative reference.
5. Save the changes.

During execution, AppNavi tries the available captures in sequence until it finds a valid match.

Limitations and Considerations

Keep the following points in mind when using Fuzzy Search:

• Fuzzy Search depends on the captured element's DOM information.
• Significant changes to the DOM structure may prevent the algorithm from identifying the original element.
• The heuristic verification requires at least 80% of the original captured path to match.
• If none of the available captures produces a valid result, the search fails.
• The search runs for a maximum of 30 seconds. It does not continue indefinitely.
• Adding multiple captures provides alternative matching attempts, but does not guarantee that the element will always be found.

If an element cannot be identified after webpage changes, recapture it or add alternative captures.

Fuzzy Search vs. AI Search

AppNavi provides two element-search methods: Fuzzy Search and AI Search. Both help locate captured elements during route execution, but they use different approaches.