Today, we released XLT 4.0.1. This is an minor update to XLT 4.0 that fixes five defects. Additionally, it provides some documentation enhancements. You can download the release from here: https://lab.xceptance.de/releases/xlt/4.0.1/. At the same location, you will find the documentation as well as the release notes.

We just released Xceptance LoadTest 4.0. This release of our load test software got some really nice feature enhancements to make your regression testing easier. So we stick to our general software approach: One tool for regression and load testing. One set of scripts for both purposes.

Script Developer

As an alternative to writing test cases in Java, you can now use the XLT Script Developer to create script test cases. Script test cases are based on a simple syntax and a reduced set of operations, which makes them a perfect fit for non-programmers. Only the Script Developer, which is an extension to Firefox, is necessary to create, edit, and manage basic script test cases.

To create a new script test case, the test designer simply uses the application under test. All interactions with the application are recorded in the background and stored to an XML script file as a sequence of script commands. While recording, assertion commands to validate the web pages may be inserted manually. From the Script Developer, script test cases can be replayed in Firefox at any time to quickly check whether the test case still runs successfully.

Existing script test cases can be modified later on, for example, to add new or delete obsolete commands. Common command sequences, which could be reused in other test cases as well, can be refactored to parameterizable script modules. Finally, any recorded value can be extracted out of the script into a test data file to separate test data from script code.

Script files can also be run outside of the browser, via the XLT framework, which simulates a head-less browser. This mode is suitable for unattended test case execution, during functional or load tests. When saving scripts, the Script Developer also creates JUnit test case classes as “wrappers” around script test cases, which serve as a bridge between the XLT framework and the script world. This way, from the framework’s point of view, script test cases are in no way different from test cases written in Java.

More Data to Query

For improved tests accuracy, you can now query the request and response data and run assertions on it. This permits checks on the communication because not all requests are reflected in the DOM tree.

Improved EC2 Handling

AWS (Amazon Web Services) added the ability to tag EC2 resources to simplify the administration of your cloud infrastructure. As a form of meta data, tags can be used to create user-friendly names and improve coordination between multiple users. The XLT EC2 administration tool ec2_admin features an additional menu which lets you select your EC2 resources based on the tag name.

Better Automation

To improve automation of tests, we added the ability to pass properties on the mastercontroller command line. Additionally the test definition file for the test suite can be redefined on the command line as well.

Faster Work Flow

When test goes wrong or a logging is turn up, the data to download from all agents can be pretty big. To get a fast or selective result, you can now decide how much data you want to download.

JDK Compatibility

Beginning with v4.0, XLT requires a Java virtual machine 6 or above to run. Java 5 is not supported any longer. The reason is the end-of-life announcement for JDK 5.

Misc

We refreshed HtmlUnit and updated it to version 2.8, Ruby got updated to 1.5.1, and WebDriver is now v2.0a6. The event API got simplified and is now easier to use.

Where to get it

More information about the release, the quick start guide, and the manual can be found in the release area. Of course, the full download of XLT 4.0 is available there too. 

We are looking forward to your feedback, comments, and of course… Happy testing!

If you want to stay in touch with cutting-edge technology in terms of scalability of databases, high traffic sites, and large storage volumes, you should read these two articles on the new hstack.org blog.

Cosmin Lehene wrote two excellent articles on Adobe’s experiences with HBase: Why we’re using HBase: Part 1 and Why we’re using HBase: Part 2. Adobe needed a generic, real-time, structured data storage and processing system that could handle any data volume, with access times under 50ms, with no downtime and no data loss. The article goes into great detail about their experiences with HBase and their evaluation process, providing a “well reasoned impartial use case from a commercial user”. It talks about failure handling, availability, write performance, read performance, random reads, sequential scans, and consistency.

(via High Scalability)

Heute mal wieder etwas aus der Reihe “Erfolgreiche Fehler” oder “Unsinnige Dialoge”. Gefunden im Nautilus von Ubuntu 9.10.

Heute habe ich einen schönen Artikel bei CNET gefunden: Google shifts software value to operations, away from IP. Der Artikel führt prima aus, wie sich Google definiert und warum Google große Teile seiner Software einfach mal gratis weggeben kann:

Google is what Google does with the software, and not the software itself.

Einfach mal lesen und sich seine eigene Meinung dazu bilden.

Skype scheint mit Delphi geschrieben worden zu sein. Ja, das Entwicklungswerkzeug, das von Borland hergestellt wurde. Damals… vor langer langer Zeit.

Interessant…

Die Landschaft der QA-Tool Anbieter ändert sich mal wieder. Borland und Compuware werden beide von Micro Focus gekauft. Damit dürften viele bekannte Werkzeuge in der Bedeutungslosigkeit versinken. Borland hatte erst vor geraumer Zeit Segue erworben.

Eventuell zeigt diese Entwicklung, dass teure Werkzeuge, die umständlich und nur mit grossem Aufwand einsetzbar und verkaufbar sind, einfach nicht mehr IN sind.

Die Zeit der grossen Taschenmesseranbieter ist abgelaufen, man kauft jetzt wieder Messer und Schraubenzieher einzeln.

Mehr dazu bei Heise Online.

JUnit 4.5 wurde heute veröffentlicht. Es gibt keine Features auf der Liste, die uns sofort wechseln lassen, aber gut zu wissen ist es immer.

JUnit 4.5 focuses on features that make life easier for JUnit
extensions, including new public extension points for inserting
behavior into the standard JUnit 4 class runner.

Eine sehr wahre Weisheit von Andrew Tanenbaum:

As I did 20 years ago, I still fervently believe that the only way to make software secure, reliable, and fast is to make it small.

Eigentlich bin ich ja schwer von neuen Sachen zu begeistern, erst recht wenn es sich um Bugtracker handelt. Aber wie immer sucht man einen Tracker und ein Projekttool und und und…. Diesmal haben wir Redmine gefunden und was soll ich sagen, ich bin nach 25 Clicks begeistert.

Redmine is a flexible project management web application. Written using Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database.

Redmine is open source and released under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL).

Eine aufgeräumte Oberfläche und gut miteinander integrierte Features. Was will man mehr? Besonders schön sind die Rollen und der Multi-Projekt-Support und wie beides zusammenspielt.

Wir haben es jetzt bei uns im Probebetrieb und werden uns wohl dauerhaft damit wohlfühlen. Alle Anwender von Xceptance Load Test (XLT) können sich damit jetzt schon auf ein umfangreiches Projektsystem freuen, das Bugtracking, Wiki, Dokumentation, Forum, Roadmap und vieles mehr bietet.