What changes in the browser state might affect my S/A runs?
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:04 pmWhat changes in the browser state might affect my site analysis runs?
hNoel wrote:What changes in the browser state might affect my site analysis runs?
The state of the browser may affect what pages or page components are downloaded over time.
(1) If you have a simple navigational site, and the pages are navigated in a fixed order, then the state of the browser does not change and the URL sequence downloaded does not change. Replaying A simple trace of the URLs downloaded will appear to the server as identical.
However, in this case pages that are stored in the cache are usually not reloaded, so all of the URLs in the traced URL sequence are loaded, even if they are already there in the cache (and in real life would not be reloaded unless they are out of date). The URL-trace replay would demand more from the server than the true browser playback.
(2) However, if the recorded action you are taking involves ANY change of state (cookies, cache, or internal state), or involves setting a query-string login, then to reproduce behavior accurately will require some kind of active processing of the URL sequence.
(VU driver software do this to a limited extent. The ultimate VU driver software is the browser itself, ergo the eValid solution to these issues.))
Examples where active client-side processing is required are:
* Query-string based unique login state key.
* Login to a website that plants a session key in the web browser.
* AJAX pages which have JavaScript passages that run autonomously without user interaction.
Example: Automatic timed page updates or asynchronous data feeds.
* JavaScript that interacts with a user over time.
Example: A script that times how long a user takes to fill in a form, and requests different responses from the server based on total times.
* JavaScript programs that monitor external states, e.g. date and time signals.
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