Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some recent selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Can a test script send a message out? -- Some ways eValid can communicate with the "outside world".

How many tests can eValid run at the same time? -- The continual question: sizing the driver computer with parallel playbacks.

Does eValid interact with desktop clients? -- A description of eValid's unique dual mode.

Does eValid have a simple way to list all links on a web -- Enumerating existing links is easy! 

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some recent selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Need some input on keystrokes -- Technical details on handling of text inputs, including random wait intervals

How to make my script continue w/o pausing on errors? -- A short discussion on error recovery.

Question about eValid's Pagemap feature? -- How eValid digs into a web page?

Will eValid work if the ID tags on a page are not unique? -- How to handle non-unique ID tags in a page. 

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some recent selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Can eValid be used to find all frames/iframes on a webpage? -- Some details about how eValid handles frames/iframes and their identification

Seeking a web testing tool with an API. -- Yes, eValid DOES have an available programmatic interface!

Need advice with simulating a thousand logins? -- How to parameterize large numbers of similar test cases.

Can you go in depth, how Link Wizard works? -- Not complex, really, but here's how eValid does this key task.

eValid Installation on Windows 10

We have hesitated to upgrade Windows 8 and 8.1 installations to Windows 10, but recently we did a successfully update on Windows 8.1 system to Windows 10.

eValid installed normally and our basic "sanity checks" (a simple record and playback and miscellaneous other tasks) all appeared to run normally.

The only issue was with file permissions.

eValid needs to have full read-write permission to create a script and create log files that result from an eValid playback or site analysis run.

We had to provide "full control and modify" to the appropriate folders and after doing that everything was normal.

Our normal process for checking out a new platform is to perform these "sanity checks" and if they pass then to run the entire multi-day test suite.

We'll report on that later if any issues are found but we think that will be unlikely.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Can you go in depth, how Link Wizard works -- -- Some critical details about a key eValid capability.

Automated Test Case Question -- Concerns about browser state (context) that affect test reality.

Need some input on keystrokes -- Hints on random keystroke inputs.

Looking for examples of eValid on PDF interactions -- Yes, you can test PDF page/file interactions with some tricks.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Can eValid recover from tests that fail? -- An explanation of eValid recovery modes and protections.

Can eValid be used to find all frames/iframes on a webpage -- Part of the continuing discussion about frame/iframe naming conventions. 

Seeking a web testing tool with an API -- A re-introduction to the available eValid API (EPI).

Need advice with simulating a thousand logins -- Practical advice on Load Test mode.

New eValid Build Released

Regular users of eValid should be aware of the newly released eValid Build, V9#9325.

Features of this latest rebuild of eValid include:

• Recompilation to incorporate latest OS environment changes.
• Incorporates additional browser security updates beyond those included in V9#324.
• Supported platforms are XP, Vista, W2003 Server, Windows 7 (32-bit), and Windows 8 [8.1].
• Supported browsers are IE 8, IE 9, IE 10, and IE 11.

eValid users should download and re-install eValid to make sure you have the latest security and functional updates.

Installation can be done "on top of" the existing installation (you don't have do uninstall first).

This eValid update is optional: if your current eValid operation does not have any problems, you do not need to update it.

You can always find out about new builds of eValid by consulting the Current Build Information.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Can eValid be used to highlight a text on a page -- How to manipulate the current DOM can be a very important capability. 

Provide some examples of eValid DOM testing -- A compendium of DOM manipulation examples.

Can eValid run more than 10 VU on one machine? -- How eValid squeezes 100's of parallel playbacks out of one user.

Can I use eValid to run scripts done with Selenium? -- Translating into eValid as a playback engine is perfectly OK if you have the right eValid license.

Parameterizing Tests

There have been a lot of questions asked of us recently about how to parameterize tests and it may be helpful to review some of the options.

Data Synthesis
The main mode of injecting test data in parametric form, one test run per line of input file, is done with eValid's Data Synthesis feature, described in this manual page: Data Synthesis Mode

In this mode eValid, reads lines from an input file that have value assignments to parameters. It matches these up with the same parameters in the script file, does the string substitution, and runs the script. eValid sets up the test execution, substitutes parameters and makes one run per line in the file.

Your script file has to contain this command at the top (before the first parameter usage):

DataSynthesis "filename"

The filename itself can be just the local filename, in your project directory. Or it can be a full Windows path name like this:

C:/TestArea/data-synthesis.txt

The actual file is a text-only file, but yes, of course you can create a text only file using a spreadsheet.

Value Extraction
Another way to feed data into your playback script that also takes advantage of the parametric macro-substitution feature is what eValid calls the "value extraction" feature, described in this manual page: Value Extraction Command Explanation

As you can see from that description , if you have a data input file that looks like this:

$VAL1=100 $VAL2=200 $VAL3=300 ...
$VAL1=101 $VAL2=201 $VAL3=301 ...
$VAL1=102 $VAL2=202 $VAL3=302 ...
$VAL1=103 $VAL2=203 $VAL3=303 ...

and at some point in your script you want to copy in the entire line from this file then you simply tell your script to do this with the command:

!file|number

where file is the name of the file and number is the line number in the file. For example, If you type in:

...!file!2...

you will get line 2, that is:

$VAL1=101 $VAL2=201 $VAL3=301 ...

LoadTest Parameter Setting 
You can also drop parametric values into each one of multiple instances of the eValid browser during a LoadTest Run using the $NAME=value format available in the LoadTest file, as described in this manual page: Script String/Parameter Substitution

As you can see, it is entirely possible to have 100's of different browsers running 100's of different data values, all in parallel. It takes some planning and some construction time, but the effort is well worth the payoff.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Seeking examples of eValid manipulating the DOM -- An array of already-coded DOM manipulation examples

Overcome a popup on a webpage -- Deep diving in the DOM to suppress popups

Concerns about testing a tricky AJAX web page -- AJAX can be a baffler...but not hard for eValid

Mouse-over question -- Clever ways to handle capturing mouse-over passages

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected forum posts from our eValid forum:

Question about Dom Elements -- More details about DOM manipulation.

Need help with eValid settings -- There's a built-in facility to "save your settings" (and restore them!)

Verify URLS links question -- A simple way to verify links is explained.

eValid using JavaScript question -- Indeed, eValid can invoke a user-supplied JavaScript passage with a special command.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

What happens if eValid can't find an element on a page -- Some hints about eValid internal limits and constraints.

Does eValid work with SQL? -- An example of eValid interacting with SQL.

Can you go into further details on the IndexFindElement command? -- The full story about searching the DOM.

Need help with overcoming frames. -- Solving pesky problems with frames/iframes.

Testing Microsoft Office 365

Some applications are easier to test than others, and some can be quite tricky. The login process for Microsoft's Office 365 system is an example of a tricky one.

What makes it hard to test is the fact that the login page interacts with a Microsoft site and only lets you log in to your account if the page recognizes your login account name as one for which a password exists. If it doesn't recognize the login name, the site will navigate you to a page that invites you to set up an account. Which is fair enough -- that is much more secure. But this interaction happens on a keystroke-by-keystroke basis and that's inconvenient when testing.

The solution is to dig around inside the page and identify the correct place into which to insert both the complete (working) account name and the complete (working) password.

Here is the completely worked example that shows all the details. Obviously we are not showing the actual logins here.

        Testing Microsoft Office 365 with eValid V9

New eValid Patent Issued

We are pleased to report that an additional eValid patent has been issued, effective 17 March 2015. 

Titled "Synchronization Checks for use in Testing Websites", US Patent #8,984,491 is the eighth issued patent in the eValid patent portfolio.

This patent focuses on protecting eValid's ability to actively synchronize test of complex AJAX applications that involve asynchronous download of content. 

The technology used involves applying a synchronization loop that waits until a particular DOM property exists, or takes on a particular value. 

This powerful method allows tests of such web applications to run reliably independent of how long, and in which order, AJAX operations take to complete essential tasks in the web page.

In addition to the Issued eValid Patents in the portfolio, several additional applications are currently on file with the USPTO.

If you are working in the general area of web application testing you may want to look into the possibility of basing your efforts on the technology that eValid offers.

Please see eValid BizDev Opportunities for details.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

A few questions regarding AJAX -- More discussion about synchronization of AJAX applications.
 
Seeking examples of what eValid emulates different-devices -- Some "how-to's" on using eValid for testing mobile applications.
 
How to clear off eValid instances on a computer -- How do use "pskill" to clean up rogue processes.

Need help with a test items past the first one -- Here's a solution to a complex test concern.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

Question on devices for web apps -- Concerns about overloading the server with too many devices resolved.

Help with a photo array application? -- How to handle testing a photo array on a website.

How easy does eValid support frames? -- Details on how eValid actually does handle frames and iframes.

Legality of modifying DOM elements? -- Some discussion to resolve a user's doubts and concerns.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

Getting a lot of JavaScript Errors -- How best to deail with a problematic JavaScript-heavy page.

Regarding Microsoft putting WebDriver in IE11+ browsers -- Some exciting developments that advance automated web-browser based testing. 

Load Testing ... how does eValid do it??? -- Some explanations of how eValid can drive 1,000 real browsers from a single machine. 

How to handle a pop-up that keeps asking about password -- Another tough testing problem resolved with DOM manipulation! 

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

Simulate two users talking to each other -- A novel use of two eValid browsers to test an unusual situation.

Simple way to look up syntax of an eValid command -- It is a special built-in connection from a live script to the script language definition.

Do all elements on a page have to visible? -- It is an old controversy, but one that that comes back again and again, but it's still important.

eValid's dual modes -- Even in this age of smartphones and tablets, we get a lot of questions about about how to test web applications that interact with the desktop. eValid can do it.

eValid Supports Mobile Via Device Imitation

We know that many of our customers use eValid in "monitoring mode" which means, roughly, that they use eValid playbacks to collect detailed data about the behavior of their application (performance, validity, reliability, etc.). In most cases these test are run from from one or more geographic locations -- to show (and validate) performance from various locations worldwide.

We know that some of our "monitoring mode" users run multiple millions of tests per month, and that they run tests on some of the very most sophisticated business process software systems. You can get eValid to imitate any mobile device. There are many, many such.
Here is the simple batch command that does it:

start evalid -AGENT "Mozilla/5.0
    (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)
    AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0
    Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3"
exit

As the number of devices grows, this especially affects our monitoring customers. But they're covered because they can monitor ANY device easily, and probably with existing test scripts.
You can also see Starting eValid With A Specific User Agent String (UAS) and Illustration of User Agent String Modification.

Feel free to contact us for more details, worked examples, comparative performance checks, etc.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

How to extract links from a page using eValid -- Picking off links, the contents of DOM "anchor tags," is easy with eValid.

Like to test a new gateway -- A new gateway may need testing with lots of different browser types, something eValid can do with ease.

Timing Questions -- Some basic factoids about how evalid times things during a test playback sequence.

JavaScript Errors -- How eValid handles errors in JavaScript during a test playback by noting them in the EventLog.