Configuring Browser-Simulation Settings

  1. In Silk Performer, expand the Profiles node in the Project tree.
  2. Right-click the profile that you want to configure and choose Edit Profile.
    Tip: Alternatively, you can choose Settings > Active Profile from the menu bar.

    The Profile - [<profile name>] dialog box opens, and the Replay category is displayed in the shortcut list on the left.

  3. In the shortcut list, click the Web icon.
  4. Click the Simulation tab. Use the Simulation area to set options for realistic simulation of users visiting Web sites.
  5. Check the Simulate user behavior for each transaction check box to have each virtual users reset their browser emulation after each transaction. Depending on the additional option you select, Silk Performer either simulates users who visit a Web site for the first time or users who revisit the site. While users who visit a site for the first time have no persistent cookies stored and no documents cached, users who revisit a page typically have closed their browsers between the Web site visits, have documents cached, and persistent cookies set. Disabling this option lets the virtual user emulate a Web browser that is not closed until the end of the test, thereby reusing cached information throughout multiple transactions.
  6. Click the First time user option button to generate a realistic simulation of users who visit a Web site for the first time. Persistent connections will be closed, the Web browser emulation will be reset, and the document cache, the document history, the cookie database, the authentication databases, and the SSL context cache will be cleared after each transaction. In such instances, Silk Performer downloads the complete sites from the server, including all files.
  7. Click the Revisiting user option button to generate a realistic simulation of users who revisit a Web site. Persistent connections will be closed, and the document history, the non-persistent cookie database, the authentication database, and the SSL context cache will be cleared after each transaction. In such cases, users do not clear the document cache. For more details, review the WebSetUserBehavior function in the BDL Function Reference. Use the User tolerance area to adjust the advanced options of the user tolerance simulation.
  8. Use the slider to adjust the tolerance level of the simulated user.
  9. Click the Customize button to open the Advanced User Tolerance dialog box where you can alter the individual behavior of the selected user tolerance level. Use the Loading times tolerance area to specify the user tolerance regarding the loading times.
    1. Check the If no data arrives after check box to make the virtual user react if the server does not respond at all in a given time frame. Also specify the maximum time in seconds a user is willing to wait if the server does not respond.
    2. Check the If document is not complete after check box to make the virtual user react if the first document (root) is received, but the HTML content (frames) is not completely loaded within a given time frame. Also specify the maximum time in seconds a user is willing to wait if the first document (root) is received, but the HTML content (frames) is not complete.
    3. Check the If page is not complete after check box to make the virtual user react if the HTML content (documents) is received, but the embedded objects are not completely loaded within a given time frame. Also specify the maximum time in seconds a user is willing to wait if the HTML content (documents) is received, but the embedded objects are not completely loaded.
    4. Check the If the pure image load time exceeds check box to make the virtual user react if the loading time of the embedded objects exceeds a given time frame (The timer starts, when the last HTML document is received). Also specify the maximum time in seconds a user is willing to wait for the loading of all embedded objects. This time starts, when the last HTML document is loaded.
    5. Click the Continue waiting option button if the user is to continue to wait if the timeout occurs and the page has already been retried the specified number of times; unlimited or until another timeout occurs.
    6. Click the Abandon option button if the user should press the stop button (abandon) when a timeout occurs and the page has already been retried the specified number of times.
    7. Click the Wait additional option button if the user is to wait an additional period of time if the timeout occurs and the page has already been retried the specified number of times. If this time expires too, the user will press the Stop button (ending the load test). Also specify the number of seconds that the virtual user is to wait before pressing the stop button. Use the Error tolerance area to specify user tolerance regarding errors on a page.
    8. Check the Retry check box to make the virtual user react to errors in the page.
    9. Specify how often the user is to press the Refresh button in the case of errors.
    10. Click the Page option button to have the user press the Refresh button for any error in the page (for example, a missing image).
    11. Click the Documents option button to have the user press the Refresh button only when errors in the document portion of the page (for example, a missing frame) occur.
  10. Click OK to save your settings on the Advanced User Tolerance dialog box.
  11. Click OK to save your settings on the Profile - [<profile name>] dialog box.