Selected Forum & Blog Posts

Here is a selection of interesting recent queries and responses in the eValid User Forum or in the eValid BLOG:

• Problems with Server Loading? (Server Loading)
• Can eValid do Xpath? (DOM Processing)
• Web Site Connection With a Firewall (Application Monitoring)
• Speed of Elements (Regression Testing)
• Regular Expression Search -- What is it Good For? (Regression Testing)
• Economic Advantage (Server Loading)

We invite eValid users to create an account on the eValid User Forum and post queries or responses.

Recording Autosuggest Text Boxes

In the last couple of months some of the most popular search engines have added a new "autosuggest" feature into their primary search window. When you type a character or two the search engine adds in some possible suggestions for what you might want to search for, and you can either click on the suggestion of keep typing characters and seeing more suggestions.

To be clear, this activity is done with an AJAX process in which the browser interacts with the server to make suggestions from its lexicon of search terms. [A related concept, called "autocomplete", relies on the use local search history and maybe what is stored locally in cookies, but that is NOT done with dynamic AJAX interactions.]

In all the cases we've seen, however, if you type enough characters into the text box eventually the search engine gives up and stops making suggestions. At that point, you have a regular non-AJAX text box (see below).

The question then becomes, what does this mean in terms of testing? How do you record a test (or hand script a test) to account for this kind of dynamic behavior?

The first thing to note is that after some point, the autosuggest feature stops making suggestions. So in this case you can record your test as you always have, because the behavior is the same as if there the autosuggest feature isn't there.

Where it becomes tricky is when you DO want to record -- and maybe even validate -- the behavior of the AJAX-based autosuggest processing of a text entry. Just to be clear, you certainly can do this with eValid, but you have to be reasonably careful about how you go about it.

To make it simple we've made up a simple step-by-step Recording Autosuggest Text Boxes recording protocol that shows how easy this is to do. Let us know if you have any trouble following the protocol.

AJAX Application

We get a lot of questions these days from people who are concerned about (a) regression testing of an AJAX application and (b) setting up a script to continuously monitor an AJAX application to confirm availability and measure performance.

eValid has special "index/motion" commands that can be used to drive the eValid browser in various ways. Scripts developed with these commands have these properties:

* They don't depend on where particular things are on the page, just that they are there.

* They can handle AJAX synchronizations that involve waiting for page-internal signals.

* The overhead for this kind of synchronization is so low that you can get reliable "how lond did it really take" measurements, the kind of data you want for 24x7 monitoring.

To illustrate this we've prepared this Google Finance AutoCompletion Demonstration Script that shows off eValid's abilities to meet all of these requirements.

Less Is More: Three Applications in One - Applying eValid Technology

Test Complex Applications -- Including AJAX -- Simply and Reliably
Regression Testing, Monitoring, Server Loading Tests,
All From The Same Test Engine

Thursday, 18 June 2009 — 2:00 PM Eastern Time / 11:00 AM Pacific Time

The challenge posed by global economic changes forces all of us to work smarter, not harder. To do more in less time, with fewer ressources and on a smaller budget. How would you like to get a single pair of shoes and discover that you can wear them to work, and on the beach, and for a heavy hike in the Rocky Mountains? No matter their use: they always fit and feel right. No blisters, just comfotable. No, we are not giving shoes away. But in this webinar you will discover how eValid's technology provides you with a single point solution for every web application quality assurance and testing need. By embodying the test functions in a full featured browser, eValid provides a unified, reliable, efficient and easy to use engine for every kind of web application testing: from regression, to load, to monitoring, to AJAX. Plus you can re-use the same test scripts. Talk about saving time, money and getting more work done with less energy.

Outline

eValid architecture and structure: how eValid works. Functional testing: "What you see is what you record is what eValid reproduces" AJAX testing: How to handle asynchronous operations. Monitoring: Regular tests feeding data to a Status Reporter Server Loading: Amplifying functional tests and scaling up.

You are cordially invited to attend this free Webinar.
REGISTER NOW!

Great Ideas and Great Offers for Tough Times

It is genuinely "tough times" right now — we're sure this applies to everyone! So to do our part to help our customers get over the hump we have put together some ideas for big savings and hugh productivity gains:

• Get a big payoff with eValid based PerformanceTest™ server loading services: you can beat the $1 browser-hour barrier. (A browser-hour is one browser applying a test continuously for one hour.) In fact, in some cases you can even lower your costs below 25¢ per browser-hour. Choose the level of load you need from five scaled options. There's sure to be one to fit your budget.
• Here's the PerformanceTest Press Release on the new service option.
• If you purchase a PerformanceTest™ project you can take 33% off all eValid licenses requested in the same order.
• Here's how we produce rapid increases in applied load: Illustration of Step Function In Server Loading. This approach give you the ability to control 100's to 1,000's of eValid browsers located anywhere.

Check our website for upcoming special eValid offers! We're on your side!

Selected Forum Items & Blog Items

Here is a selection of interesting recent queries and responses in the eValid User Forum: or in the eValid BLOG:

• Application Mode Explained (Regression Testing)
• Right Page with Right Test? (Synchronization Issues)
• Dynamic Access to sourceIndex and elementValue values (DOM Processing)
• Capacity Issues (Application Monitoring)
• LoadTest Run (Server Loading)

We invite eValid users to create an account on the eValid User Forum and post queries or responses.

Recent and Upcoming Conferences & Technical Community Events

Here are pointers to interesting recent and upcoming technical conferences that should be of interest:

• Information and Software Technology Special Issue on Mutation Testing, papers due 30 October 2009.
• AQuSerM: Advances in Quality of Service Management, EDOC 2009 Workshop, 31 August - 4 September 2009, Aukland, New Zealand.
• International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis: ISSTA 2009, 19-23 July 2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification & Validation (ICST 2010), 6-9 April, 2010, Paris, France, EU.
• 5th European Symposium on Verification and Validation of Software Systems (VVSS 2009), 11 June 2009, Eindhoven, Netherlands, EU.

These events deserve careful consideration, so please take a look at each of them!