Curtisp wrote:Can eValid emulate a mobile device rather than simulate it?
We have been struggling to find the right word for what eValid can do, and the best word we have found is "to imitate".
An emulation implies some kind of hardware support, which eValid doesn't offer. A simulation implies existence of a layer of software between the browsed page and the server, which eValid doesn't have. So those terms don't quite describe what's going on, or may misdirect a user into believing something is true that isn't really true.
We thought about "masking" and "cloaking" and "spoofing" and "tricking" but none of those words seemed quite right.
So we seem to have settled on "imitate" as the most accrate descriptive term.
When eValid imitates a non-IE browser, say device "X", it reports to the server of the page that it is an instance of "X" [rather than an instance of IE]. The server responds accordingly, if it is programmed to detect the device change and to behave differently as a result.
From the point of view of the user, which is where eValid is strongest, all of the performance factors -- byte counts, download speed and page content -- are "as if" eValid were an instance of "X". Because eValid is primarily a regression test and performance testing engine, it is precisely THOSE factors that are most important. What was sent from the server, how long did the server take to send it (via the web), and what was in the information that was sent.
Do eValid does truly
imitate device "X", and the inherent accuracy of the eValid test engine is thus available to you for use... It's a pretty good imitation, by the way.
eValid Engineering
by Curtisp » Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:34 pm