August 4, 1997

Web Testing That's Smooth As Silk Segue's SilkTest eases end-to-end application performance testing By Atif Ali and Laural Porth lobal business is increasingly reliant on Web technology for both commerce and communications. Along with this reliance comes the need for robust and reliable applications. Segue Software Inc. addresses this critical business need with the recently released SilkTest, a Web and client-server test tool. The browser-independent SilkTest assists with the creation of reliable solutions for electronic commerce and online collaboration. SilkTest lets programmers test end-to-end applications and program as many test cases as required for each component of the application's graphic al interface. End-to-end testing is the most thorough way to test total performance. SilkTest's reviewer's guide promises that through the integration of the Silk products, all parts of a Web application, including servers, databases, network links, and other components, will be tested to ensure that the application implements the goals of the business process. Segue's Surf! Web performs automatic link checking, and Silk Performer, scheduled to be available in the third quarter, will provide server load testing. All of these products are sold separately. Many Web authoring tools such as Microsoft FrontPage include hyperlink verification as a standard feature. While this helps to find broken links on a Web site, you need Quality Assurance tools that can test your Web site, including the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) applications, ActiveX controls, Java applets, or JavaScript code. Most important, the Web QA tool should be programmable. SilkTest tests these and a variety of other technologies commonly used in Web applications. How It Works SilkTest is based on its own object-oriented scripting language, called 4Test, which makes it easy for programmers to record and reuse test scripts. Because of SilkTest's strong recovery features, it is possible to run the Test Scripts unattended. Users familiar with client-server testing and quality assurance should have no trouble getting up and running with SilkTest. Advanced users will find its 4Test scripting language quite powerful and flexible. Supporting the concept of Test Plans, SilkTest lets programmers itemize the list of test cases they want to run and organize them into a hierarchical outline. Users can create the test plan in Microsoft Word by using the Word macro included with SilkTest, which converts the Word Outlines to SilkTest Test Plans. SilkTest organizes each test case as a separate logical entity allowing unattended operation and recovery. The failure of one test does not bring the entire test application to a halt. T he test tool stores extensive information about the failure and continues with other tests in the test plan after bringing the application being tested to the state that is required for the next test. The state of the application is recorded with each test case. SilkTest's recovery features are quite robust. Even when Microsoft Internet Explorer crashed, SilkTest noted it as a test failure and continued. SilkTest's best feature is object recognition. It recognizes every component of the user interface as an object, including hyperlinks, text boxes, and command buttons. As a result, objects do not have to be placed in exactly the same place on the screen during the tests for SilkTest to recognize them. It will not only find the object required for the test, but will also scroll the object into view if required. SilkTest will verify any properties of the objects on the screen when you point your mouse toward the object and press Ctrl and Alt keys together while recording the script. Browsers presen t a twofold challenge to testing: Web applications must run on different vendors' browsers, so the tool used to test Web applications must also work on different browsers. SilkTest addresses this by supporting two of the most popular browsers-Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. SilkTest lets you record your test cases using one browser and then run them against the other. To run your tests against a particular browser, be sure that you turn on the appropriate extensions by going to the agent menu item under the options menu and checking the appropriate extension under the extensions tab. You also have to make sure that the correct browser is selected as the default browser in the run-time menu item under the options menu. There is one challenge with SilkTest when switching from browser to browser: It's necessary to restart it every time you switch browsers. Otherwise, you'll run into problems such as failure of valid Test Cases. Another browser challenge is attributable to the browser itse lf. Occasionally during testing, SilkTest did not recognize the objects in the Navigator browser. Segue reports that this is a common problem with Navigator 3.01 and earlier versions, but not with Navigator Gold 3.01. The problem disappeared when SilkTest and Navigator were restarted. No Limits Finally, SilkTest is not limited to Web based applications. It has support for client-server testing and multiapplication testing, including built-in testing support for most Microsoft Windows applications. In addition, you can install the SilkTest extensions to test applications built in Microsoft Visual Basic or Powersoft PowerBuilder. SilkTest can simultaneously drive multiple applications. For example, if you're testing an intranet application written partly in Visual Basic, SilkTest allows you to have both the browser and the VB application open at the same time. You can toggle between them to make changes and can view the changes made in VB as they affect the application. Web vendors have only begun to address issues of robustness and reliability. SilkTest has the potential to become the product of choice for QA professionals involved in medium-to-large Web and client-server development projects. SilkTest's biggest drawback is that it's available only on 32-bit Windows platforms. A Web product as useful as SilkTest should also be available on other popular platforms, such as 16-bit Windows, Mac OS, and Unix. According to Segue, SilkTest is the first product in the Silk line. It was released for production on May 27 after three beta releases and, as a relatively new product, will require some time to mature. This is a tool with great potential and could dominate the Web testing environment. Atif Ali ( aali@online-can.com ) is a developer with Online Business Systems and Laural Porth ( laural @online-can.com ) is communications manager for the Winnipeg, Manitoba, company. Back to News in Review Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page

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