eValid™ -- Automated Web Quality Solution Browser-Based, Client-Side, Functional Testing & Validation, Load & Performance Tuning, Page Timing, Website Analysis, and Rich Internet Application Monitoring. © Copyright 2000-2011 by Software Research, Inc.

Summary
Tests of a web server done from the client side -- i.e. from the browser -- simulate user interactions by stimulating the server to produce and deliver various files based on requests made by the client (the user).

This is what happens when, for example, you click on a hypertext link to request that the server deliver you (the browser) a new page. The server generates the page and sends it to the browser. In turn, the browser may request additional pages based on what it was just sent. For example, pictures or style sheets or JavaScript files are requested automatically by the browser if the page to which you just navigated references them (there are many ways pages can make requests for secondary pages).

While most simple navigation activity does not involve the browser having to remember anything from moment to moment, almost any activity other than that does require "memory" on the part of the browser. Getting and keeping that information internally is how the browser "maintains state" for your session.

Browsers Require More than HTTP/HTTPS
Websites are designed to interact with client-side browsers via the HTTP/HTTPS protocol. Recordings made using only HTTP/HTTPS can emulate session navigation activity with good fidelity, and some simulations include generating requests for secondary pages. But some website activities aren't directly recordable and/or can only be "simulated" with great effort. Among these are:

• Browser State Preservation. This includes session cookies, cookies, Javascript state, Java Applet state, and state of the cache.

• Human Interaction. This includes mouse clicks, keyins (other than to HTML FORMS), changes of focus, and mouse-drag events.

• Activity Off The Browser (On The Desktop). In many cases a web-based session involves interaction with non-browser desktop objects, such as an ftp download session.

Specific Usages Requiring Browser
Here are some examples of information the eValid browser keeps for you and how your eValid browser can help manage this information:

• Cookies. These files are written to your disk and store details about your login.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid keeps cookies just as any browser does -- automatically. If you wish to simulate a non-cookie situation, eValid lets you run without keeping cookies.

• Session Cookies. These files are kept in memory by the browser -- they are never written to your disk -- and they also keep track of various details of your session.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid maintains session cookies as requested by the server.

• Local JavaScript Values. As you work with a page locally you generate values that are kept in local JavaScript storage, possibly for use in subsequent pages.

  eValid Solution Advantage: Because eValid has full JavaScript support it automatically keeps all of your locally generated values.

• Secure Session ID Values. The browser keeps the current value of a session ID that is assigned by the server to help it keep track of who you are -- and to authenticate the actions you take as correctly connected to the session it is working on.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid handles secure session IDs with the "EnterSecureZone", "ExitSecureZone", and "SecureDataID" command. You can select as many as 32 Secure Data IDs for eValid to keep track of in any session.

• Applet and "Opaque Object" Interactions. If the page you are looking at is a Java Applet or an other kind of "opaque object" (for example, a Flash page), you need to be able to record and play interacting with the object directly.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid can record and play back the user clicking on the desktop to provide the responses these kinds of objects need.

• Screen Input Interactions. The eValid playback has the capability of directly driving screen input fields, which in many cases are not directly related to name=value pairs sent to/from

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid can automatically lock the screen for its own temporary use, click on a button or an image, and unlock the screen.

• Modal Dialogs. In a modal dialog the browser screen is locked waiting for a specific user response -- that's why it's called a modal dialog.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid has special provision for recording and playing back inputs to a modal dialog, including recording the real time that a typical user waits (the "think time") to make a decision.

• Accurate Timings. The eValid playback engine has complete control of the cache so it can provide accurate timing of the total time that it takes to download a page.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid has a built-in timer with 1 msec. resolution, so the times you measure are accurate and 100% indicative of times actual users experience.

• Synchronization of Playbacks. In actual browsers there may be variable-length transactions that need to accounted for -- synchronized for -- so that the playback is an accurate model of what the real user does.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid has a variety of built-in automatic synchronization modes that guarantee playback never gets "out of sync."

• Plugins. Many times a site requires that the browser accept a plugin in order to operate with that site.

  eValid Solution Advantage: Being a complete, free-standing browser, eValid can accept plugins that permit this kind of test to run without difficulty. This is true even in LoadTest mode, when many copies of eValid are all running independently.

• Content Validation. Pages returned by the server may have been modified and you will want to know about that. Or, you may wish to confirm that a page contains a specific feature.

  eValid Solution Advantage: eValid has very easy to use content validation capabilities that simplify and extend page difference techniques. These validations are very difficult of even impossible with HTTP based methods.

• Cache Operations. Sessions regularly store material in the cache for use by later parts of a session. The browser-based eValid solution handles this with ease, but a HTTP capture can't do this.

  eValid Solution Advantage: Automatic operation of the cache assures extremely accurate sessions.

• Off Browser Operation. In many test sessions it is necessary to interact with a non-browser object. For example, this is needed with an ftp download.

  eValid Solution Advantage: The ability to operate in Application Mode gives an eValid user the ability to handle out of browser operations with ease.

The Bottom Line
Using the eValid browser is a more powerful method of website testing than using "memoryless HTTP protocol" testing. Test scripts that do not involve actual use of a browser cannot maintain state because sessions that involve more work than simple navigation involve more than merely getting HTML files.