What is AJAX TrueClient Protocol in Loadrunner

AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a technique for creating
interactive Web applications. With AJAX, Web pages exchange small packets
of data with the server, instead of reloading an entire page. This reduces the
amount of time that a user needs to wait when requesting data. It also
increases the interactive capabilities and enhances the usability.

AJAX components, also known as AJAX controls, are GUI based controls
that use the AJAX technique - they send a request to the server when a
trigger occurs.

The Ajax TrueClient protocol interactively records scripts on the user level.
This enables VuGen to record dynamic, complex web-based applications
and create user friendly scripts. Scripts are created in real-time and steps can
be seen in the LoadRunner VuGen for TrueClient tab of Mozilla Firefox as
they are performed.

AJAX Supported Frameworks:
The supported frameworks for AJAX functions are:
1) Atlas 1.0.10920.0/ASP.NET AJAX—All controls
2) Scriptaculous 1.8—Autocomplete, Reorder List, and Slider
VuGen supports the following frameworks at the engine level. This implies
that VuGen will create standard Web Click and Script steps, but not AJAX
specific functions:
3) Prototype 1.6
4) Google Web Toolkit (GWT) 1.4

Steps for recording Ajax script:
1) Configure the Run-Time Settings
Configure the Run-Time settings before recording and performing a load
test. To open the Run-Time settings dialog box, click F4.

2) Configure the Global Browser Configuration Settings
The Firefox Browser Configuration settings allow you to configure
settings that apply to all TrueClient scripts. The settings are imported to
new scripts as they are created. To open the Browser Configuration
settings dialog box, click the Edit Browser Options button from the
Record toolbar in the VuGen main window.

3) Start developing the script
Click Develop Script to initialize the interactive recording session in
Mozilla Firefox.

4) Record interactively
Navigate to the desired starting website and click record. All of your
actions will be recorded and displayed in the VuGen tab on the left as you
perform your business process. You can pause or stop the script and
continue recording from any point in the script.
To record into different sections of the script, use the drop down bar
above the toolbars.

5) Enhance the script
You can enhance your script in a number of ways such as inserting
parameters, transaction, loops, and verification steps.

6) Replay the script in Firefox
Replay the script at least two times, correcting any errors that occur
during the process. After two successful consecutive replays, you can
move on to the next step.

7) Stop developing
Click the Save button to save the script. Close the firefox window.

8) Replay the script in Load Mode

TrueClient scripts are run slightly differently when performing load
testing, so Load Mode was created to run the script exactly as it will run
during load testing. In the VuGen main window, click the arrow next to
the Develop Script button to replay the script in Load Mode. Progress can
be monitored in the Interactive Replay log. Firefox does not open, and
snapshot are not displayed.

How to Resolve Object Identification Issues in Ajax Trueclient Script

In dynamic websites, objects which have been recorded can often move or
change content. This can cause the script to lose the ability to locate the
object. The following steps describe the ways to resolve these issues. When
identifying objects for applications that recorded in windows, make sure
that the correct window is selected using the Window tab.
 - "Highlighting an object"
 - "Improve Object Identification"
 - "Modify the Object Identification Method"
 - "Modify the script timing"
 - "Relating objects to other objects"
 - "Replacing an object"

1) Highlighting an object
Regardless of which method of object identification is used, you can use the
highlight button to check if an object is visible in the application at any
time. If the object cannot be found, an error message is displayed.

2) Improve Object Identification
Use this option first if the object was not found or if multiple objects were
found. Objects are identified using the objects properties. Some of these
properties may be dynamic and thus prevent object identification during
replay. The Improve Object Identification button next to the ID Method
field identifies the object a second time and uses the two definitions to
create a more accurate object definition.

3) Modify the Object Identification Method
You can modify the way TruClient identifies the object by modifying the
object identification method in the Object section of the step properties.
defined The following options are available:

a)Automatic. TruClient’s default object identification method. If this
method does not successfully find the object during replay, click the Improve Object Identification button and replay the script again.
b)XPath. Identifies the object based on an xpath expression that defines
the object in the DOM tree. You can manually modify the expression.
To regenerate the original expression generated by VuGen, click the
Regenerate Expression button.
c)JavaScript. JavaScript code that returns an object. For example:
document.getElementById("SearchButton") returns an element that
has a DOM ID attribute of "SearchButton".

4) Modify the script timing
Sometimes objects may not be found because of timing and
synchronization issues. For example, the script may be looking for an object
that was in the application, but the script replayed too quickly and already
progressed to another page. If you suspect that the object is not being found
because of a timing or synchronization issue, you can insert Wait steps.

5) Relating objects to other objects
If an object becomes difficult to identify on its own, you can label the object
based on a different, more stable object. For example, you can select an
object which is not dynamic and "relate it" to the target object. Relations are
defined visually, relating objects according to their distance in pixels from
other objects. Relations are defined per ID method, per object. If more than
one relation is defined for an ID method of a given object, both relations
must locate the same object for the step to pass. VuGen then uses this object
to help locate the target object. To use this function, expand the step, select
Object > Related Objects, and click the add button. Follow the directions to
create a relation. Verify that it has worked by highlighting both the object
and its related object.

6) Replacing an object
If you selected the wrong object during recording, or an object has
permanently changed you can replace it with a different object without
replacing the step. This effectively resets the step, deleting changes made to
the original step such as relations. Expand the step, select Object, and click
the Replace button. Select the new object and replay the script.

VuGen Parameterization

What is Parameterization

• Replacing hard coded values in the script is called Parameterization.
• Parameterization helps in :
• Reducing script size
• Avoiding cache effect

Type of Parameters

#1. Date/Time – Whenever we have to replace a date value with a parameter, Date/Time parameter is used. Any post with past date is not valid. To keep it updated, Date/Time parameter provides flexibility to get the current or future date. If past date is needed, it handles that too.

#2. Group Name -We can generate a parameter on the basis of group that we select on controller for the script while execution. This parameter will only work while running the script on controller.

#3. Iteration Number – This replaces the parameter with current iteration number. This is generally used to build some logic. For example- when we want some code in script to be executed alternatively. For this, we will use the iteration number to check whether it is even or odd number and for one of the condition we will execute the function.

#4. Load Generator Name – We can also generate parameter while executing the script on controller on the basis of load generator name on which that script is running. This parameter only works while running the script on controller.

#5. Vuser ID – When we run the script on controller, it assigns a unique id to each virtual user that emulate during the execution. This parameter type is used -

• To print the Vuser ID in an external file for script-debugging purpose.
• To segregate transaction volume based on Vuser ID

#6. File – Some time we want to pass the specific value in the script. In such cases, we use file and enter the values that want to use during execution. LR provides options to run the script with provided list sequentially or randomly on next iteration.

In few cases we want to use a set of values passed to the script. In such cases, we can use same file for the other parameter value as well.

#7. Random Number – As per need, Vugen also generates random value from the provided range.

#9. Unique value – In few situations, script is not allowed to pass any duplicate value. In such cases, unique parameter is used  to avoid failures due to duplicate value,.

#10. User Defined function – Such parameter calls a function whose return value replaces the parameter name.

#11. XML – XML Parameter Types are used for multiple valued data contained in an XML structure.  XML parameters are widely used with Web Service scripts and with SOA services.

RTE script functions

Below are some RTE script useful function with explanations:

TE_connect	Connects the terminal emulator to the specified host.
TE_find_text	Searches for text in a designated area of the screen.
TE_get_line_attribute	Returns information about text formatting.
TE_get_text_line	Reads text from a designated line on the screen.
TE_get_cursor_pos	Returns the current location of the cursor.
TE_set_cursor_pos	Sets the position of the cursor on the terminal screen.
TE_getvar	Returns the value of an RTE system variable.
TE_setvar	Sets the value of an RTE system variable.
TE_perror	Prints an error code to the LoadRunner output window or Business Process Monitor agent log.
TE_sperror	Translates an error code into a string.
TE_send_text	Sends a null-terminated string to a VT terminal emulator.
TE_type	Sends a formatted string to the client application.
TE_typing_style	Determines the way text is typed into the terminal emulator.
TE_unlock_keyboard	Unlocks the keyboard of a mainframe terminal
TE_wait_cursor	Waits for the cursor to appear at a specified location in the terminal window.
TE_wait_silent	Waits for the client application to be silent for a specified number of seconds.
TE_wait_sync	Waits for the system to return from X-SYSTEM or Input Inhibited mode.
TE_wait_sync_transaction	Records the time that the system remained in the most recent X SYSTEM mode.
TE_wait_text	Waits for a string to appear in a designated location.

Error No match found for the requested parameter 'ParameterName'

When replaying Web script with a correlation statement, the user receives the following error:

"No match found for the requested parameter 'ParameterName'. If the data you want to save exceeds xx bytes, use web_set_max_html_param_len to increase the parameter size."

Even though the user tries to increase the size for web_set_max_html_param_len, it does not help. What will be a good number for this parameter, and what is the maximum value?

Diagnosis:

When replaying a script with a correlated value, the replay engine will return the above error when there is no match found for the predefined boundaries on the correlation statement. The following information from the error message: If the data you want to save exceeds xx bytes, use web_set_max_html_param_len to increase the parameter size

The above is just a suggestion to try, it may not be a solution. This suggestion should be taken, only if the expected data is over xx bytes.


Solution:

Dealing with web_set_max_html_param_len

1. Find out the size of the data you are trying to retrieve. If it is over 256 bytes, increase this value. Correlation will fail if you try to retrieve a string whose length exceeds the maximum length specify by web_set_max_html_param_len.

Note:
The maximum length for web_set_max_html_param_len is maximum value of unsigned int, which is equal to 4294967295 bytes. If the data you want to save exceed this boundary, you will need to create multiple correlation statements for retrieving the entire dataset.However it is not recommended that such a big value be used and that a value closer to the maximum paramter length expected should be used.

2. If the data you want to save do not exceed the bytes specify in the function, you should focus on finding the correct boundaries or placing the correlation function on the correct place. 

Tracking Login Attempts and Logged In Users in HP BSM/BAC

We can always track the user activity in HP BSM/BAC very easily and it is very important too. Follow the below process for doing the same:

There are lots of log file in BSM root folder but below are the stuffs we are concerned here;

See \log\EJBContainer\UserActions.servlets.log.

The appender for this file is located in \conf\core\Tools\log4j\EJB\topaz.properties.

It can also be done by the JMX console as stated below;

To display a list of users currently logged in to the system:
1 Open the JMX console on this machine. For detailed instructions, see
"Using the JMX Console" in the Platform Administration guide.
2 Under the Topaz section, select service=Active Topaz Sessions.
3 Invoke the java.lang.String showActiveSessions() operation.