Technology White Paper Available

We have recently updated our Business White Paper eValid Technology Summary: Automated Testing of Modern Web Applications. This paper outlines the origins, the internal architecture, and the general capabilities of eValid. It is now available for general use from our website.

This paper discusses the basics of testing AJAX and Web 2.0 applications, compares eValid with "traditional" testing tools, describes eValid's underlying technical base, and explains how that technology is applied to the work of testing complex web browser enabled applications.

A translation of a slightly earlier version of this white paper appeared in French as Le Test Automatise de Applications Web Modernes, published in Genie Logiciel: Le Magazine de L'Ingeniiere du Logiciel et Des Systems, Decembre 2011, ISSN 0295-6322.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here is a selection of some of the posts that we think would be of general interest.

• Using your DynamicLinkCheck commands -- Pros and cons of Dynamic Link Checking. 
• If my web page has dynamic content can eValid still test it -- Testing the untestable? How stable to you have to be? 
• Can eValid read and validate the text inside an image? -- Technical limits on image content extraction apply here. 
• Modify a script to account for AJAX synchronization problems -- A simple way to forumlate good AJAX test scripts 
• Can eValid help me tesing a CAPTCHA? -- What can and can't be tested. Realism prevails.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here is a selection of some of the posts that we think would be of general interest. 

•  Your justification for using eValid to test a mobile device -- More about "Spoofing" mobile devices. 
• Can eValid test salesForce applications? -- Sample tests for a complex application. 
• What is the biggest obstacle in testing an AJAX application? -- The main barriers to successful AJAX testing. 
• The ebb and flow of "web performance" -- Observations about performance variablility. 
• What is your take on WebDriver? -- Where does eValid stand with respect to WebDriver?

Examples of Dynamic DOM Manipulation

As eValid users know, there is a unique capability available from within the eValid script language to manipulate the current contents of a page at the Document Object Model (DOM) level. This capability can often be important when adjusting test scripts to increase their resistance to failure due to non-critical changes in a page, or for performing complex validation steps.
To illustrate some of the kinds of things that can be done, we have put together these simple example scripts.

• Dynamic Modifications
  In this example the goal is to change an element inside the DOM of a page locally, that is, with the HTML content that is currently in the browser. The technique used is to apply the ValueSet and ValuePutElement commands to a particular page element that affects, for illustration purposes, the background color of a table element. Just to be sure the script passage does this for two different colors. Here's the full explanation: Modify a DOM Element Dynamically.
  
• Checking AJAX Operation
  A very common feature that is AJAX-supported is the autocomplete function. Users initial input keystrokes are feed to the server, which responds by adding HTML to the page that shows suggested possible endins for the string. In our example, we use a common search engine's autocomplete feature to illustrate how to verify that a particular partial string will always produce a specific suggestion. The verification is done with a MatchString command, which confirms that the target string is present in the newly-updated page HTML. Here's the full explanation: Checking AJAX Autocomplete Functionality.
  
• In-Place Modifications
  The actual content of the current HTML can be adjusted, without getting fresh HTML from the server. To show this, the example script uses adds a ValueSet and ValuePutElement command to add a "NEW-WINDOW" requirement to an anchor tag. Then, just to make sure that the change has been made, the script clicks on the link, which dutifully replaces itself in a new window. Here's the full explanation: Change the Target of an Anchor Tag Link.