Selectors

Selectors

                        To identify an element on the UI tools require some kind of identification mechanism. This can be through background by element Id’s or UI Image. The unique way of identifying an element can be through its ID. User interfaces and HTML web pages are built using a series of containers, nested one inside the other. Selectors store these attributes, in the shape of an XML fragment so that a specific element from a window or page can be identified.
                       
                        For example lets consider text box element that is present in a container the element that has the ID as item1 and name on the element as Nokia, then the selector can look like
           <webctrl Id='item1' aaname='Nokia' parentid='container1' tag='input'>
                         
                        Lets now see how to form selectors , in uipath we don’t need to struggle much to form selectors, on the toolbar we have an icon named ui explorer you need to open that to from selectors. Ui Explorer will open in a separate window, then select cursor icon and point to the element whose selector you want to retrieve.  This gives you a framed selector. This window also displays top level containers selectors and other attributes. These need to be selected when we need to fine tune a selector.
                       
                        Fine tuning a selector is tricky , you need to include as many attributes as possible to make the element identification easier. This makes the selector unique to identify element. Include parent containers if there are elements with same name in different containers.

Full vs Partial Selector

In order to understand the concept of partial versus full selector you need to be clear on the above concept. 

Partial Selector

As the name suggests a partial selector contains few attributes in the selector which identifies the element. These are usually used inside window \container activities where the top level container selector is present in the window\container selector. And the selector of the element is present for the actual element.

Full Selector

Full selector includes all the top level containers\window and the attributes of the actual element whose selector is required. This uniquely identifies the element. 
The usage of these types is based on scenarios and code model that you follow. Using a window will allow to perform all actions related to the window where the scope is confined to.

Note: Please let me know if more information is required through comments