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Risa will cover the following topics during this 30-minute training session:

* A brief overview of data-driven testing
* How to set up local and external datasheets
* Three different ways to access datasheets during playback and when to use each method

The Lunch and Learn recording is now available if you missed the training session or want to watch it again. It’s a great resource to help you get started faster with the beta.

Following is the Q&A from the load testing webinar.

Q&A

1. For load testing, we want the script to replay pretty quickly. We have some controls that JavaScript runs in the background and fills in other controls with the same data. We have to put a delay in QA Wizard Pro to wait. Is there a way to make this process quicker?

Because load testing scripts don’t actually create a browser, none of the JavaScript is run so this should not be an issue.

2. When you say “file” are you referring to a flat-file? If so, can we then use this file as input data into a datasheet?

WebPostFile does take a normal on-disk file. When using a datasheet with a load test, you can have one of the columns specify which file to use as the source of WebPostFile. That way, your load script can upload a set of different files instead of the same one over and over again.

3. What is the maximum limit of virtual users that QA Wizard Pro load testing can support?

Although there is no built-in limit on the maximum number of users, the operating system does limit the number of connections we can create on any one computer. We are still establishing these limits, but at this point believe it will be 250 virtual users per computer. So, to create a load test with 500 users you will need two computers.

4. Will QA Wizard Pro load test scripts be able to report correlated, server-side performance stats associated during the testing (e.g., database, operating system, application server, web server)?

QA Wizard Pro does not install any server-side software, and does not collect any server-side data. However, the detailed data (including time offsets) is available. If you collect any server information using other tools that data could be correlated.

5. What is the benefit of QA Wizard Pro vs. JMeter?

JMeter is a similar product to QA Wizard Pro but it is focused exclusively on load testing. QA Wizard Pro allows you to perform both functional and load testing in one consistent environment.

6. Is there a way to capture the result of a checkpoint into a variable? For example, putting a checkpoint if a specific field is on the screen. So if the screen is blank and the field is not there we can execute a specific procedure?

There is currently no way to get the result of a checkpoint. For a look at alternatives, see the checkpoints lunch and learn.

7. How much does it cost for a 50 block of users?

Please contact your account representative for details on pricing.

Surround SCM Installation Walk Through (PDF)

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• Ways to script and automate repetitive tasks through the Surround SCM API
• How to simplify complex tasks, such as build creation and code review, with custom client menus
• Tips for Xcode, Microsoft Visual Studio, and Eclipse integrations

If you’re looking for the time-saving benefits of increased automation and seamless IDE integration, you can’t afford to miss this event. Register now!

Your “Main” script can use the Run Command statement to launch a QA Wizard Pro batch script file from the DOS command line. Since Run Command returns a ‘0’ if successful and a ‘1’ for anything else, you can use it in a conditional statement to track the number of times the login fails:

if RunCommand(“C:\\Monitor\\Login.qawbatch", “C:\\Monitor, "") > 0 then
Println("Fail")
ErrCount=ErrCount + 1
End if

If your login script fails for any reason, that failure will be captured and counted. If you are using a checkpoint to verify success, for example making sure the correct welcome greeting appears, make sure to set the failure behavior to generate an error and stop the script. Since the batch script has been launched independently of the “Main” script, the error will not affect the “Main” script.

To ensure that each launch of the login script will run cleanly, use the Run Command statement prior to the call to kill any hanging application processes (Internet Explorer browser in this case):

RunCommand("C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe", "C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\", "/C\"taskkill /F /IM iexplore.exe\"")

Since you will be running the script repeatedly, create a loop that will exit after a certain condition is met. The condition may be the script must run a certain number of times, or stop if the number of login failures is above an acceptable number. A While loop will allow you to keep checking a flag that will be set, and an If statement will perform the check:

DONE=False ‘set initial value to False
While DONE=False
If ErrCount >= 3 then ‘Finished if three or more errors found
DONE=True
End if
WEnd

Finally, you can create an Interval variable to allow you to control how long between script executions. One way to do this is to translate the time into milliseconds (1 sec = 1000msec, 1 minute=60000 ms, etc) and use a Delay statement wait the specified amount of time. The Delay step should be right before the WEnd of the While loop:

Delay(Interval) ‘Wait the specified amount of time

Once you have your “Main” script set up, save it as a batch script file and use the Windows Task Scheduler to do the initial kickoff – QA Wizard Pro will take care of the rest!

Create Folder Types

To get started with release planning,  you need to create a new folder type. Choose Tools > Administration > Folder Types, and then click the Add button.

Make sure you select the ‘Enable Release Planning fields’ option. Any folders you create using this custom folder type will now include fields for specifying start and end dates, available man hours, and target story points.

You’ll also want to create a folder type for each type of  project iteration so you can time-box the contents of the folder. Common folder types used for release planning include: Sprint, Iteration, Phase, and Milestone.

Set Release Planning Information

After you create new folder types, you can choose a type when adding folders or change the type of an existing folder. For this example, let’s assume you added a new folder using the folder type you just created.

Right-click the new folder in the folder view and select edit folder. Click the Release Planning tab.

• Enter the start and end dates for the release to allow planning reports, such as burn down charts, to be created based on the folder contents.
• You can also specify the working hours per day and the number of users available for the release. TestTrack uses this information to automatically calculate the number of available man hours.
• If you use story points in your development environment, you can also indicate the story points to complete during the specified period.

After you finishing configuring the release planning information and adding items to the folder, you’ll be able to view the progress of a release or sprint and also perform detailed planning. When viewing the folder, the Release Planning pane displays helpful information, such as remaining days and available man hours. The Live Charts pane displays real-time project information. You can also drag-and-drop between folders to add or remove work based on the schedule.

Release planning in TestTrack makes it easy to keep track of your progress on a daily basis while providing the ability to also easily share information with team members.

You can still verify data about these HTML elements in QA Wizard Pro, even though you cannot click on them.

• While recording against your web application, click the Checkpoint button on the Recording dialog.
• Right-click on an HTML element to view all of the HTML elements at that point and all of their parent ancestor elements.
• Choose the desired HTML element from the context menu.

QA Wizard Pro will add the HTML element to the application repository, if it’s not already there, and will then allow you to add a Checkpoint to your script.

Don’t forget that you can also use XPath to access hidden HTML elements.

Suppose your web page contains the following HTML:

<span id="myspan" style="display:none;" myattr="42"/>

An XPath query can retrieve the important attribute value from your hidden HTML element:

myattr = Window("page").PerformXPathQuery("//span[@id='myspan']/@myattr")

TestTrack Installation Walk Through (PDF)

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In this interview, Paula shares her perspective with Mike on how tenets of Agile and traditional methodologies can, and often should, coexist to efficiently develop software. As described on the Outlooks Series web site:

“Agile development can boost the productivity of developers, QA testers, product owners—and ultimately, increase the value of what is delivered to customers. Agile also enables development teams to collaborate better, and shortens release cycles. So, even if your team is not completely immersed into agile development, you are probably seeking to make parts of your process more Agile. To meet that challenge, you need the flexibility to run Agile and traditional software development projects in parallel without different teams having to use different tools. Whether your organization is using iterative waterfall, scrum, or another development methodology, you need a solution that adapts to the way your team works. We interview Paula Rome to gain Seapine Software’s perspective on Agile Development.”

Along the way, you’ll also learn a bit about how the various products in Seapine’s ALM solution work together to facilitate Agile development. For an even more in-depth discussion of Agile, join our Agile Expedition.

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Learn how to get started with load testing in QA Wizard Pro 2010.2:

• Recording and playing back load testing scripts
• Specifying virtual user counts
• Distributing playback across your network
• Reporting on load and performance results