Customizing Web Performance Test Recordings Using Web Performance Test Editor

Edit an existing Web performance test recording: After you have created a Web performance test, you can edit it and add validation rules, database connections, and other properties.

You can set properties within Web performance tests to control the way the test runs and verify aspects of the site that you are testing. For example, you can set the StopOnError property so an error on an HTTP request will cause the test to fail or you can add a reporting name for a Web request. A reporting name makes it easier to identify in the Web Performance Test Results Viewer.

• How to: Edit an Existing Web Performance Test Using the Web Performance Test Editor

• Web Performance Test Editor Overview

• Setting Web Performance Test Properties Using the Web Performance Test Editor

Convert a recorded Web performance test into a coded Web performance test: After you have created a Web performance test and configured it, you can convert it into a coded Web performance test. A coded Web performance test is a .NET class that generates a sequence of WebTestRequests. It can be programmed using either Visual C# or Visual Basic.

Note   A coded Web performance test can be created manually, but it is suggested practice to convert a recorded Web performance test to a coded Web performance test.

• How to: Create a Coded Web Performance Test

• Walkthrough: Creating a Coded Web Performance Test

Add reporting names to clarify identification of Web requests: You can add reporting names to Web requests to make it easier to identify Web requests in reports and while you are testing. The reporting name will be displayed in place of the URL.

• How to: Use Reporting Names to Easily Identify Requests in a Web Performance Test

Configure the permitted response time for a Web page in a Web performance test: An important aspect of Web applications is the time it takes for each Web page to load. This is known as response time. When you create a Web performance test, you can set a response time goal for each Web page request in your Web performance test.

• How to: Set Page Response Time Goals in a Web Performance Test

Add validation and extraction rules to Web performance tests: You can add validation rules to your Web performance test to help verify that a Web application is working correctly by validating the existence of text, tags, or attributes on the page returned by a Web request. Validation rules can also verify the time that it takes a request to finish, and the existence of form fields and their values.

You can also add extraction rules to help verify that a Web application is working correctly by extracting data from the responses to Web requests. Extraction rules store results in the test context as name value pairs. Extraction rules can extract form fields, text, attributes, headers, regular expressions, and hidden fields

• Using Validation and Extraction Rules in Web Performance Tests

• Walkthrough: Adding Validation and Extraction Rules to a Web Performance Test

Using transactions in a Web performance test: Within a Web performance test, you can encapsulate a set of actions in a transaction. You can think of a typical transaction as starting a timer, requesting a page, requesting another page, and then ending the timer. This series of actions, from start to end, constitutes a transaction.

• How to: Add a Transaction to a Web Performance Test

Configure a Web site to use specific user credentials: You can set the credentials in your Web performance tests for a Web site that uses basic authentication or Integrated Windows authentication. Web sites that contain personal information frequently require user authentication before they display any information through the browser.

• How to: Set Credentials on a Web Performance Test

• Walkthrough: Creating a Web Performance Test that Requires a Login and Logout

Promote dynamic parameters in a Web performance test: Your Web application being tested might dynamically generate data, such as a session ID. A Web performance test can use such a generated parameter value by capturing it from the HTTP response, using an extraction rule, and then binding it to a subsequent HTTP request. This capture and binding sequence is the promotion of dynamic parameters to Web test parameters. Dynamic parameter promotion can prevent many cases of playback failure.

• How to: Promote Dynamic Parameters to Web Performance Test Parameters

Use context parameters in a Web performance test: You can use context parameters in your Web test to parameterize a string value. For example, you might want to parameterize the Web site URL so that you can quickly change where the test is run on all the Web requests.

• How to: Use Context Parameters in a Web Performance Test

Extract some Web requests to use in another Web performance test: You can extract some of the Web requests in an existing Web performance test and create a new one based on it. The original Web performance test will then call the new Web performance test to use the extracted requests. This can be useful if you need to include the requests in more than one Web performance test.

• How to: Extract Requests in an Existing Web Performance Test to Create a New Web Performance Test