Obtaining the Latest Release Notes
System Requirements
What's New
Technical Notes
Known Issues
Contacting Compuware Customer Support
If you accessed this document from the product CD or from the program shortcuts on your desktop, you may not be reading the latest release notes. For the most recent information, go to FrontLine, Compuware's customer support Web site. The first time you access FrontLine, you are required to register and obtain a password. After logging onto FrontLine, select your product from the drop-down list and click Go. On the left side of the page, click the Documentation link. You will find the latest release notes listed with the other product documentation.
QALoad has the following minimum system requirements:
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is supported for use with the Player only.
The system requirements for each individual QALoad component follow:
cdo.dll must be installed on
the machine to use the send utility. CDO is an optional messaging component
of Microsoft Outlook. When you view the options for Office or Outlook
setup, CDO is listed under the options for Outlook.The QALoad Player and associated utilities are supported on AIX, Linux, HP-UX, and Solaris. The system requirements for each operating system follow:
In addition, your Windows system may need to meet specific requirements to support the middleware you will be testing. The Winsock and NetLoad middlewares do not have any additional QALoad Windows Player requirements.
QALoad supports load testing under Oracle Net8/Net9 when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under IBM DB2 when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under ODBC when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under Tuxedo when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under Uniface when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under Citrix when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under SAP when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under ADO when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under Oracle Forms Server when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing of J2EE components when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports load testing under WWW when the following requirements are met:
QALoad supports Streaming Media under WWW when the following requirements are met:
The following environments and middlewares, though supported in this release of QALoad, will not be supported in the next major release:
· DB2
· Tuxedo
· Solaris 7
· SSL 40-bit encryption
You can now load test SAP 6.40 applications in addition to Versions 4.0B, 4.5, 4.6D, and 6.20 using EasyScript for SAP.
Support for Oracle Forms Server load testing has been enhanced in this release. You can now record both WWW and OFS transactions in a single script. In addition, newly-recorded OFS scripts are coded in C++ and are now easier to read and modify. If your environment allows server access, you can also enable server-side recording, which is a new, more reliable method of recording OFS scripts.
Existing support for Citrix and SAP 6.20/6.40 testing now includes the ability to restart failed transactions. Refer to the QALoad online help for more information about how to implement transaction restarting.
SSL support in QALoad has been updated in this release. QALoad now supports:
Additionally, QALoad's certificate generation module now creates matched P12 certificates along with PEM files, providing support for applications that do not support PEM certificates.
The Conductor now provides real-time performance data for WWW tests and response time data for checkpoints and counters. You can select specific checkpoints or counters and create graphs. These new features are designed to help you understand how your tests are performing and react appropriately. The new runtime Conductor features in this release enable you to:
In conjunction with the expanded real-time test information, the runtime Conductor's user interface has been updated to provide easier access to summary information, graphs, and test details.
There are no major enhancements to QALoad Player in this release.
Analyze now includes a Top Ten Longest Checkpoint Durations report and a Player Performance report. The Top Ten Longest Checkpoint Durations report provides graphs and lists details about checkpoints that had the longest checkpoint duration during the test. This information can help you quickly identify user activities that had slow response times. The Player Performance report displays transaction durations in a graph format by player machine. This report helps identify individual player machines that have poor test results. View these reports in QALoad Analyze or in a Web browser.
All product information except installation procedures has been combined into a single source of information in this release. You can now access product overview information, advanced scripting tips, and all reference information from the combined online help.
The online help now includes a glossary of QALoad and load testing terms.
When you install QALoad on a Windows XP machine with Service Pack 2 applied, the Windows Firewall is automatically configured to include the QALoad Player agent as an allowed exception. This configuration is required for communication between the Conductor and Player machines during a load test.
If you are migrating from a previous version of QALoad, you must re-compile your existing scripts in the Script Development Workbench to use them in this release.
QALoad 05.02 supports integration with ApplicationVantage version 9.3.
When load testing WWW scripts that use NTLM authorization, do not use the "Switch User" feature of Windows XP. Using this feature allows multiple user sessions to be active simultaneously, which can cause problems with script playback. If you need to use a different Windows profile, log off Windows and log on as a different user instead.
EndCheckpoint() statements now appear
after Verify(PAGE_TITLE...) statements. This change in the
order of script statements prevents checkpoint values from being recorded
if the script fails on the Verify statement.
certdb.txt for OFS recordingFor the SSL support provided in this release, QALoad modifies
the client machine's JInitiator certdb.txt
file to include QALoad's CA certificate
during the initial SSL recording process for an Oracle Forms Server application.
This certificate authority information is internally validated by Oracle
during the OFS-SSL session. If you want to remove the QALoad CA
certificate, delete the following text from the certdb.txt
file:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
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
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
#qaload
To use the SAP or Citrix middlewares, you must ensure that the VC++ MFC and Template Libraries option is selected when you install Visual C++. This option installs the headers, libraries, sources, and browser database for MFC and ATL, which are required for both the SAP and Citrix middlewares.
To prevent performance issues, Compuware recommends that you increase your system paging file size to a fixed size of:
1. When mouse move consolidation is enabled via the Combine Mouse Input option on the Convert Options dialog box, not all events that were captured appear during replay. As a result, the placement of wait points for window moves and window resizing is important.
When a window is moved on the desktop, a
window move event is created for each mouse move. However, during replay
of a consolidated script, only one mouse move is made (to the final destination),
and subsequently only one window move event occurs. Because of this consolidation
of consecutive mouse and window moves, the WaitForWindowMove
command in your script should target the final window move in the series.
This issue also applies to the WaitForWindowResize
command and the resizing of windows on the desktop.
2.
If a window's title changes while the window
is being created (such as a browser window's title bar changing once the
default Web page begins to load), the WaitForWindowCreate
command may time out. If this occurs, remove the wait point or insert
a WaitForScreenUpdate command to
preserve the wait in the script.
To ensure that the entire Citrix interface is visible during recording, set the Resolution field in the Citrix recording options to a lower value than that of the desktop. Also, the screen resolution must be the same as the screen resolution specified in the Citrix ICA file.
When recording a Citrix script on a restricted desktop, you must take extra steps to ensure proper playback. Dynamic windows may be created and destroyed with no user interaction at both logon and logoff. To prevent unexpected results during playback, do not click on any of these dynamic windows. For example, the script might attempt to click on a destroyed window or a window that has not been created yet.
The appearance of dynamic windows often depends on the speed of the server or the load on the farm during playback.
In this release, all Citrix script functions have a prefix of "Ctx". Scripts from previous versions will still compile and run with the previous function names, but new scripts should include only the Ctx-prefixed functions.
This section describes known issues related to the current release of QALoad.
When a capture file is converted to a script, occasionally the wrong
Citrix Window Information object ID is referenced. For example, a Click,
MouseDown, MouseUp,
or WaitForWindowCreate action might
be using the wrong CWI ID. The correct CWI ID can be determined by inspecting
the capture file to find the window handle that has focus.
SetTitle
MethodDuring the conversion process, calls to the SetTitle
method are sometimes placed at an incorrect line in the script. Determine
the correct line by inspecting the capture file and moving the call to
that position in the script.
The SetTitle method is added
by QALoad during conversion and should otherwise not be modified
or manually added to a script.
Uppercase characters are not captured when the CAPS LOCK key is on.
Manually modify the script to use uppercase characters or hold down the
SHIFT key during recording.
Similarly, the Windows logo key is not supported. Do not use the Windows
logo key to start applications while recording a Citrix script.
If you receive a type mismatch error when compiling an SAP script, you
must remove the quotation marks around the last parameter of the affected
command. For example:
error C2664: '<FuncName>' : cannot convert
parameter n from 'char [n]' to 'long'
This compiler error, which can occur in commands that manipulate column
widths, indicates a data type error and can be corrected by removing the
quotation marks around the last parameter. The following example shows
the lines in a script that could cause an error, and the corrected version
of the same lines.
Script that produces the error:
SAPGuiPropIdStr("wnd[0]/shellcont[1]/shell");
SAPGuiCmd2(GuiCtrlTree, SetColumnWidth, "REPNAME", "218");
Corrected script:
SAPGuiPropIdStr("wnd[0]/shellcont[1]/shell");
SAPGuiCmd2(GuiCtrlTree, SetColumnWidth, "REPNAME", 218);
During validation of SAP scripts, do not minimize the SAP window. If the window is minimized, the validation may fail. This problem does not occur if you select the Hide Graphical User Interface for SAP Users option by clicking the browse [...] button in the Type column of the Script Assignment tab in the Conductor. This SAPGUI option runs SAP on an alternate desktop that is not visible.
When loading a class by name in the QALoad Player during runtime, do not use a class name on the Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) InitialContext call. Instead, use a class instance or add a line of code before the JNDI lookup call. Refer to the following examples:
Replace the InitialContext properties and JNDI names in the following example with the values that are appropriate for your application.
Before:
java.util.Hashtable ht = new java.util.Hashtable();
ht.put(javax.naming.Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
"org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory");
ht.put(javax.naming.Context.PROVIDER_URL,
"fh12623:1099");
javax.naming.InitialContext ic
= new javax.naming.InitialContext(ht);
Object ref = ic.lookup("AddressMSvc");
After:
org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory nf
= new org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory();
java.util.Hashtable ht = new java.util.Hashtable();
ht.put(javax.naming.Context.PROVIDER_URL,
"fh12623:1099");
javax.naming.Context ic =
nf.getInitialContext(ht);
Object ref = ic.lookup("AddressMSvc");
Add the following line before the JNDI
lookup call:
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader());
If it is a static method, use the following
sample, replacing CLASSNAME with the class name of the code.
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(CLASSNAME.class.getClassLoader());
On the Windows XP operating system, QALoad EasyScript for Uniface requires Uniface Service Pack s603 or later. On Windows 2000, Uniface Service Pack s601 or later is required.
If you are running McAfee's VirusScan 8.0 with the "Buffer Overflow Protection" option enabled, Internet Explorer may crash when you start a Winsock recording. To prevent this issue, disable the "Buffer Overflow Protection" feature within McAfee VirusScan.
If you are migrating Oracle Forms Server 9i SSL capture files from a previous version of QALoad and validation fails, ensure that the HTTP/1.1 specifier is included in the second parameter of the HTTPConnectToFormsServlet call in the converted script. The following examples show the original script line that can cause a validation error and the same script line with the correction applied.
Script line that causes validation errors:
oracleForms.HTTPConnectToFormsServlet( 6, "https://127.0.0.1:4445/forms90/f90servlet?ifcmd=startsession",
OracleForms.WF_HTTP );
After adding the missing specifier: oracleForms.HTTPConnectToFormsServlet(
6, "https://127.0.0.1:4445/forms90/f90servlet?ifcmd=startsession
HTTP/1.1", OracleForms.WF_HTTP );
MS XML version 4.0 parser is required to view pre-defined or custom reports (relying on XML translations). Internet Explorer 5.5 ships with the MS XML version 3.0 parser. Compuware provides the MS XML 4.0 parser with this version of QALoad so that an upgrade to IE 6.0 is not required. It is automatically installed by QALoad but does not override any other version that may exist on the machine. QALoad Analyze looks for and loads this parser when using pre-defined or custom reports.
The Send utility in Analyze does not always work properly with Outlook 2003. If you experience problems when clicking the Send button in the email that is generated by the utility, you can instead use the utility to create a .zip file of the results and manually attach that file to an email you create directly in Outlook.
If you are using the QALoad Conductor on a machine that has Microsoft Office 2000 or XP installed, when launching Conductor, you may be prompted repeatedly to insert a Microsoft Office installation CD. This problem is a known issue with Microsoft Office and occurs during use with an account that is different from the account that was used during the Office installation, and if none of the Office components have been launched since installation. To avoid receiving the prompts, launch any Microsoft Office component under the user account that was used during installation, and close it. For more information about this Microsoft Office issue, refer to the Microsoft knowledge base article Q298385.
QALoad supports load testing of Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Web applications that use Double Byte Character Sets (DBCS). Viewing timing files and Summary reports with International versions of Microsoft Windows is only possible if the timing file is viewed on the same Windows language platform on which the timing file was created.
When using the Server Analysis Agent to monitor the "Process->% Processor Time" counter on a multi-processor machine, values greater than 100% for any instance of the counter are reported as 100%. To ensure accurate results, Compuware recommends that you use Remote Monitoring or Top Processes Monitoring when monitoring any instance of the "Process->% Processor Time" counter.
To use the Application Expert component, an installation of the ApplicationVantage Agent is required on the machine with the QALoad Conductor. You can install the Agent as an option available with the QALoad installation, or you can install it directly from the Application Expert or ApplicationVantage installation disk. If you are using Windows XP, the Agent does not appear as an option with the QALoad installation. Instead, you must install the Agent from the Version 9.0 or higher Application Expert or ApplicationVantage installation disk.
The result of the Application Expert/ApplicationVantage integration is an *.opt (Vantage Agent Version 8.0) or *.opx (Vantage agent Version 9.0) file. To open an *.opt or *.opx file, you must have a full installation of Application Expert or ApplicationVantage on the same machine as the Conductor. If you uninstall either application, and then try to open the *.opt or *.opx file, it will not open. Reinstall the application to restore the ability to open the *.opt or *.opx file. If you do not have either application installed, you could instead copy the *.opt or *.opx file to a machine that has one of the applications installed, import the file, and generate reports.
If the scroll wheel on your mouse is not functioning while you are working in the QALoad Script Development Workbench, download and install the latest driver from the mouse hardware vendor and try again. Some mouse scroll wheels are not supported.
A file descriptor limit exists on the Solaris platform if a script is running in threaded mode, logfile generation is turned on, and there are more than 250 virtual users. To avoid this limitation, modify the Logfile Generation parameters so that logfiles are not generated by all virtual users:
QALoad now supports the use of non-Administrator users on the Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional Edition platforms. Administrative rights are still required to install the software and appropriate user privileges are required for QALoad to write files to its own directory (which by default is in the Program Files directory). Administrative rights are also required when using middlewares that require the Capture Initialization Phase option. This requirement applies to middlewares other than WWW.
If you have uninstalled all previous versions of QALoad but the
installation process indicates that a previous version of the product
is still installed, you may need to remove a registry key. In the Windows
Registry Editor, delete the following registry key if it exists on your
system:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{90C9114B-ED44-4AB9-B32F-1B9EA363FBEF}
Easyscript for ADO.
ADO capture produces the following error message if Microsoft security update 873333 is installed on the Workbench machine:
“The version of OLE32.DLL is incompatable with QALoad. This could be because it is a newer version than handled by this release. Please contact Compuware support."
In this scenario, the security update needs to be uninstalled in order for ADO capture to be successful.
Compuware Customer Support can assist you with all your technical problems, from installation to troubleshooting.
Prior to contacting customer support, gather the following information:
800.538.7822
Refer to Compuware's FrontLine support Web site for fast access to critical information about your QACenter product. You can read and print documentation, download product fixes, review frequently asked questions, or directly email Compuware with questions or comments. The first time you access FrontLine, you are required to register and obtain a password.
Refer to Compuware's corporate Web site at http://www.compuware.com for information about Compuware customer support policies and problem resolution process.
Customer Support
Compuware Corporation
One Campus Martius
Detroit, MI 48226-5099
End of QALoad
Release Notes
(C) 2005 Compuware Corporation. All rights reserved. Unpublished
rights reserved under the Copyright Laws of the United States.