Red Gate forums: ANTS Load script tester

Testing scripts with dynamic data

Brian Donahue — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:18:42 GMT

Hi,

I noticed this with script tester -- if you parse any content from a webpage and use it in your test script, for instance if your web page returns something like a session ID in a hidden field and you want to post it back to the server, script tester will use stale data when you try to view the compiled script in IE.

For example, I test this forum using ANTS Load. PHPBB returns a session in a hidden field. I examine WebClient.HttpResponse.Content and pull the session ID from the GET request, so it can be posted to the server.

When the script 'compiles', the session ID is valid. But when you then step through the script in IE, PHPBB creates a new session ID, but the script tester is using the original one.

The result, in my case, is that my test script doesn't post new topics, for example, because the session ID is invalid, and PHPBB continually redirects me to the login page.

In ANTS Load, however, the script runs great and posts new topics.

Maybe I can find a workaround for this in the future!

RE: Use of Modules

Brian Donahue — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 00:15:00 GMT

Hi Tom,

I believe I've done it! Can you please download script tester again and see if it works for you?

I've found an array in the ANTS Load project object that lists the ANTS Load scripts, so I can compare all of the VSA scripts in your development environment to that list. Anything that doesn't match must be a module or a class, so I compile the selected test scripts along with the modules. This will mean that if you have test scripts that don't actually use the modules, they will also have the modules compiled in with them. It doesn't appear to hurt anything though.

RE: Use of Modules

TomChantler — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 07:57:25 GMT

Hi Brian,

Thanks a lot ! In the meantime I am just copying my module into my main script item (I can actually have the Module and the class side by side in the single script file of course, so it works fine for testing purposes, but perhaps not if I want to assign virtual clients in different ratios cos the module would exist inside one of the virtual client scripts instead of outside all of them (haven't tried this last bit though)). I look forward to hearing how you get on in due course.

RE: Use of Modules

Brian Donahue — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:15:36 GMT

Hi Tom,

I'll see if I can have a look at that tonight. I don't believe that I compile anything but the main script item.

RE: Use of Modules

TomChantler — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:02:03 GMT

No when I was editing my script in ANTS Load I created new modules by right-clicking on the project in the Porjects Explorer and choosing Add -> Module. SO the modules exist WITHIN the ANTS Load project itself!

RE: Use of Modules

Brian Donahue — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:58:54 GMT

Do these modules exist in their own independent dll files? If so, tester should support it.

Use of Modules

TomChantler — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:32:47 GMT

Hi,

I have a number of separate scripts which, whilst running simultaneously, all make reference to certain properties and methods contained within a module. When I try to compile a script for testing purposes it fails because the module members are not included in the compilation, as you would expect.

Is there a way to include the module during the compilation process or do I have to manually edit each script to include the members from the module? i.e. can I compile the "project" and then test an individual script?

RE: Script Compilation Errors

Brian Donahue — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:04:31 GMT

This should be fixed now. Thanks for pointing it out.

The Headers object now acts like a WebHeaderCollection object, so you can get request headers by name from your ANTS Load script.

I've also added a few enhancements

Percentage complete
HTTP error report
UI things (window resizing, control updating)
Added Imports to the script so VB Constants such as vbCrLf work

RE: Script Compilation Errors

Brian Donahue — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:44:09 GMT

Hi Tony,

I'll look into supporting this. The problem is that the HttpRequest and HttpResponse objects are 'fakes' in script tester. I don't think I supported the 'inherited' methods like ToString and Headers["something"].

Script Compilation Errors

tonymaynardsmith — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 16:27:05 GMT

I get a script compilation error talking about a Null reference when I include the lines:

logtofile(webclient.HttpRequest.Headers.ToString)
logtofile(webclient.HttpResponse.Headers.ToString)

Over to you.

Regards, Tony.

RE: Error when clicking "Request Info"

Brian Donahue — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:12:53 GMT

Never mind: I know what's happened.

I have added in some logic to display a messagebox stating that there is currently no request in memory, which is a shade nicer than a NullReferenceException!

RE: Other result HttpResponse.Content

Brian Donahue — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 18:34:19 GMT

Okay, Microsoft seemed to make an empty promise regarding IE7. So instead, I've done a workaround by trapping the web browser's onNavigateComplete2 event. If this fires and the URL is different than the one originally requested, the navigation is cancelled and the script tester moves forward to the next request. This should hopefully simulate ANTS Load a bit more closely.

RE: Error when clicking "Request Info"

Brian Donahue — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 18:31:38 GMT

I know the GUI is not so great, but considering the price of the product...

Anyway, the Request Info button is meant to show you a MessageBox with the current request's URL and headers and post data, if any. I need to look at this again because large amounts of post data totally kill the application.

If you send the ANTS Project to my email address with a quick note, I'll look into it.

RE: Compilation error when tester encounters AddCredentials

Brian Donahue — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 16:25:21 GMT

Hi,

I've now updated the ANTS Script tester so that there is a dummy method for addcredentials. The script test run should still work with Windows authentication as it should pass your current login credentials instead of whatever you have specified in the AddCredentials method.

I've chosen not to fully implement AddCredentails because it would involve risking a bit too much of the ANTS Load source code to disassembly by 'curious' users.

RE: Other result HttpResponse.Content

Brian Donahue — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 21:23:44 GMT

Thanks Peter!

There is a difference that would cause this. The script tester automatically follows redirections, whereas ANTS Load does not. The reason for this is that the Internet Explorer web browser component (shDocVw.dll) always follows redirects, and there is no way to disable the behavior.

When IE7 comes out, it will have an option to disable automatic redirection, so I'll definitely look at the issue again once IE7 is widely installed.