Optimizing the playback time of a test

When you play back a Web UI test, by default, the test collects a lot of data. This data includes screen shots, response time breakdown data, and highlighted UI controls. The size of a test depends upon the data it contains; playback time increases as the size of a test increases. To optimize the playback time, you can choose to collect only the data which you need.

About this task

For example, when you play back a test, screenshots of all of the steps are captured and shown in the UI Test report. Most of the times, you might require screenshots only for the failed steps.
Note: For the Safari browser, you can capture only the web page screenshots.

Also, if the computer on which you are playing back the test is locked or you are working on other applications on that computer, the captured screenshots will either be dark black or belong to applications that are not relevant to the test. When you capture only page screenshots, you can lock the screen or work on other applications on the computer.

Similarly, you might be interested only in testing the functionality of the application, and the performance testing might be covered by someone else. You can choose not to capture the response time breakdown data thereby improving the speed of the playback of your test.

You can apply playback optimization options for the test or for the workbench (in Preferences). When you set the optimization options for the workbench, only the desktop screenshots are captured and applied to all of the tests. When you import a test for playback, the configurations on your workbench are used by the test. When you set the optimization options for the test, you can choose to capture screenshots for pages or desktop. To apply playback configurations at the test level, use the pre-defined variables and values mentioned in the table.
Table with variables for playback optimization:
Table 1. Variables for Playback Optimization

Table with variables and their description
Variables Values Description
webui.report.screenshots
Note: If this variable is not set, desktop screenshots for all of the steps are captured.
 DISABLE Stop capturing screenshots for all the steps
PAGE* Capture the screenshots of pages for all of the steps
PAGE_ONFAIL Capture the screenshots of pages for only the failed steps
PAGE_ONVP Capture the screenshots of pages for all of the verification points
PAGE_ONVPFAIL Capture the screenshots of pages for only the failed verification points
PAGE_ONFAIL_AND_VP Capture the screenshots of pages for only the failed steps and all of the verification points
DESKTOP Capture the screenshots of desktop for all of the steps
DESKTOP_ONFAIL Capture the screenshots of desktop for only the failed steps.
DESKTOP_ONVP Capture the screenshots of desktop for all of the verification points
DESKTOP_ONVPFAIL Capture the screenshots of desktop for only the failed verification points
DESKTOP_ONFAIL_AND_VP Capture the screenshots of desktop for only the failed steps and all of the verification points
webui.responsetime False Do not collect response time
webui.highlight False Do not highlight UI controls during playback
Test with variable to capture page screenshots
* If you specify the PAGE value, screenshots are captured differently on different web browsers and take more time:
  • Google Chrome
      • The portion of the web page that is hidden under the scroll bar is not captured.
      • The browser is in focus even when minimized.
  • Internet Explorer
    • The portion of the web page that is hidden under the scroll bar is captured but in black.
    • The browser window resizes often while the screenshot is taken.

Procedure

To apply playback optimization options for the workbench:
  1. In the workbench, click Window > Preferences > Test > Test Execution > UI Test Playback.
  2. Click the Report tab and select the following options as required:
    • To capture the screenshots of only the web browser page that runs the application under test, select the Capture browser page screenshots checkbox.
    • To capture screenshots, click the Take screenshots while playing back checkbox is selected, and select one of the options to take screenshot for.
    • To highlight the recorded page elements during playback, select the Highlight the page element checkbox.
  3. To collect performance data, click the Desktop tab and select the Collect performance data checkbox. If the checkbox is not selected, the response time breakdown (On App/Off App) data is not collected and the related report is not generated.
  4. Click OK.

What to do next

You can now play back the tests.