Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Does eValid respect the Same Origin Policy? -- An old but critically important security issue.

Inserting a new recording into existing scripts -- Scripts can "call" other scripts!

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Using eValid to look for regular expressions -- The syntax may be tricky, but the powerful results are worth it.

Remembering individual user settings in eValid -- Every user can have their own profile to match individual needs.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Full list of all the validations eValid is able to do -- There are many validation modes possible, as explained here.

Explaining timeouts and time limits during monitoring mode -- The key to making monitoring productive rather than disruptive.

Questions about eValid dealing with strings -- Everything in "browser-space" is strings!

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Explaining chaining waits in eValid -- Some web pages' tests require complicated "wait for" sequences, explained here.

How to understand what counts as a regression test -- Some technical basics about regression testing.

Can eValid show performance data on a page downloading -- Getting basic performance data is very easy to do.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Is eValid able to update a URL string? -- Yet another way to inject test data into a test session.

Unable to find the source-index on the page. -- How to find things within a dynamic page.

Best ways to debug one's script. -- Using eValid facilities to assist in script debugging/perfecting.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Issue with an element on a viewable part of the screen -- Screen viewability is not necessarily essential for good web app tests.

More information on the eValid timing feature -- Timing parts of a test script playback is easy enough.

Details of the eValid adaptive playback feature -- This key feature can save you a lot of time and worry.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Can you explain why eValid is better than XPath? -- The XPath approach gives the same results as eValid, but there are certain advantages to the simpler way eValid does this critical item.

Can eValid run Loadtests using unique login/passwords -- Here is a summary of how to get one machine to look like lots of different users in a LoadTest run.

Does eValid work with Microsoft Dynamics applications? -- This app is known to be tough to test, but here is how eValid does the job.

Question about the internal variables of eValid. -- Using variables internally can "parameterize" your scripts, a very power test amplifier!

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Running a test after all the elements on a page are present? -- With modern web apps -- nearly all based on AJAX ideas -- keeping tests coherent (and thus meaningful) is critical, as elaborated here.

eValid scripts can't call themselves ... why please? -- Indeed, recursion isn't supported...but here's the trick to get the same effect (you have to read the post to find out).

Test synchronization at playback time question. -- Again, the proactive approach to maintaining test stability is to build in synchronizations, in many ways.

Can eValid be used to search for a non-existent element? -- Indeed, this kine of negative verification CAN be a correct test procedure -- when used with care.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Help with a Print function requirement in the test? -- Basic information on handling modal dialogs, including "Print" functions.

Will eValid work on an AJAX App with autocomplete fuction? -- The key idea is to validate partial autocomplete responses direct from the DOM.

Running a Playback with eValid browser mimimized? -- As long as your test doesn't require the desktop, it can run with the browser minimized!

Testing a quirkly login page -- Modern login pages, for security reasons, can be quite difficult to test, but here is an outline of the solution cast in terms of Microsoft Dynamics.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

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

Will eValid handle structural testing of a button -- How to use eValid structural test commands to drive tests of an obscure object on the page

Business case for Site Analysis for customer deployment -- Regular checking of a website is a very good idea, but no, it can't find every problem, as this post explains

Wondering if eValid can do what WebDriver fails at? -- WebDriver, the new emerging W3C standard for browser-based web application testing APIs, is certainly a powerful product, and yet, eValid can do a few things that even WebDrvier has problems with

Question about cache -- LoadTest runs run without using the local machine's cache, and here is an explanation of how this work and why it's important

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.

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

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

eValid taking a long time to load a page -- Wondering about why playback is taking so long? Here are some clues to be looking for.

iPad vs Desktop -- Here are some extended comments about using eValid in "mobile device emulation mode".

Site analysis question -- And, in answer to a common-enough question, yes, eValid CAN run Site Analysis checks while it is imitating a non-PC (non-desktop) device.

Trouble with structural commands -- Here are some suggestions about how to use eValid structural testing commands to match a string expressed as a regular expression.

Selected Recent Forum Posts

Here are some selected posts from our eValid forum:

eValid Perks -- Using the IndexFind and DOM Manipulation technology items in eValid.

Can eValid find a particular element -- What WE like best (and are most product of) in eValid!

Popup Question -- Popups are always tricky, but here is the simple procedure that always works.

eValid the Best for Monitoring AJAX Applications -- Some reasons why using a full browser makes SO much sense!

Examples of Structural Testing

We recently have had a number of customers trying out the "structural testing" aspect of eValid. In structural tests the test script uses information that is derived from the PageMap utility to allow "navigation" within a page based on its HTML structure. Scripts built this way are very durable because they don't depend the current contents of a page.

Here are some examples of Testing with DOM Interactions that show fifteen different types of structural test actions that rely on the DOM manipulating, structural test commands in eValid.

Monitoring Data Collected By eValid

The use of eValid as a "smart" monitoring agent continues to grow. Customers are finding that eValid can monitor a complex AJAX page, involving complicated interactive transactions, with very high reliability and repeatability.

The key to this is the "structural testing" capability in eValid that works by directly accessing DOM with eValid's DOM manipulation commands. Here is an outline of how Structural/Algorithmic Testing compares with regular record/play testing. In addition, as the chart shows, eValid's Structural/Algorithmic tests can be extended to a fully programmatic mode using the eValid Programmatic Interface (EPI) for C++.

Here is a short description about How Well eValid Works in this kind of monitoring application, taken from the website of our Swiss Monitoring Partner RealStuff Informatik AG. Installations made by them at local companies in Switzerland have relied on the advanced Structural/Algorithmic approach for much of the monitoring done.

Selected User Forum Posts

Beginning in mid-2010 we have directed all technical support questions to the eValid User Forum. We have learned that when one user has an issue, all users can profit from the answer.

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

• Tell me more about your maintenance/support contract? -- The great deal you get with a maintenance agreement. 
• Do you have a way to generate a set of records? -- How to collect large amounts of data in server loading. 
• Is there a way to see which AJAX calls? -- How to look inside AJAX operating modes. 
• Offer DOM-based Synchronization -- Synchronization is possible on ANY DOM object/value. 
• Recording from life and then hand-modifying a script. -- The recommended method of "least work" using eValid. 

Mobile Device Testing Solution

Recently we have had a number of people showing interest in eValid as the basis for all kinds of testing of mobile or portable devices -- from smartphones to tablets to whatever.

Here is a link to a summary of how the eValid solution addresses the issues of testing mobile devices:

  http://www.e-valid.com/Products/Documentation.9/Mobile/mobile.solution.html

Selected User Forum Posts

Beginning in mid-2010 we have directed all technical support questions to the eValid User Forum. We have learned that when one user has an issue, all users can profit from the answer.

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

• For monitoring my website "from the cloud" -- Tricks for cloud monitoring setups.
• What's the fastest rate one machine can run monitoring tests? -- How to get the most out of a single eValid installation.
• Why is gmail so difficult to test? -- Technical descriptions of the gmail application.
• How does eValid compare to WebDriver? -- A high level overview and explanation.
• How do Profiles work on eValid? -- A quick summary of how to apply eValid user profiles. 
• The "act, wait, sync" recording process for my AJAX App -- Why this protocol makes life easier. 
• Measure the "true render time" of an RIA application -- Measuring time from the user's perspective. 
• Do you ever do OEM deals? -- Some suggested OEM structues for your consideration.
• Does evalid have an API? What is it like? -- Access to the evalid Programmatic Interface [the EPI feature] 
• Pages appear to be complete but can't act on them right away -- Information about "settling time".

Using evalid With An AJAX Autocomplete Functionality

This scripting example investigates how eValid can be used to validate an AJAX autocomplete function. The two variants of the script shown below operate as follows:

1. Introduce a partial string into the text area, for example evali.
2. Capture the contents of the DOM after the AJAX activity has provided some suggested completions.
3. Confirm that a required string, for example evalid, is present within the available suggestions presented by the autocomplete feature.

The goal of the script is to confirm that, among all of the possible suggested completions, that the target evalid string is among the options presented. If successful, this process effectively validates operation of the AJAX autocomplete function by confirming its results with known (expected) data.

Here is the link to the full solution description: Checking AJAX Autocomplete Functionality