The test editor lists by title a test's HTTP pages that, when expanded, show the request and response data in each page.
With the test editor, you can manually write a test for a web application. But more typically, you use the editor to inspect or customize a test that was automatically generated from a recorded session with an application that you started from your browser. The following figure shows the test visitIBM, generated from a recording of these tester actions: type URL http://www.ibm.com, under "Shop for" select "Software," stop recording.
There are two main areas of the test editor pane. The area on the left, Test Contents, displays the test's HTTP page hierarchy. The area on the right, Test Element Details, displays details about the currently selected item (test, page, page request, page response, connection) in the test hierarchy. Thus, in the figure above, Test Edit Details displays information about the test because the test's name, visitIBM, is selected in the Test Contents. The Timeout action and Timeout value settings apply globally, to each page in the test.
When you expand a test page, you see a list of the page's requests, in separate folders, whose names are the full URL request string minus the initial http://. For example, the following figure shows the expanded first page of the visitIBM test with the page selected in the Test Contents. Now, the settings displayed in the Test Element Details apply to the selected page.
The primary request, listed in bold, is the one from which the page title came. The primary request can be the URL that the tester typed into the browser, a clicked hyperlink, or a URL to which the tester was redirected from another page request. In the illustration, the primary request is the latter: the user was redirected to www.ibm.com/us/ from the initial page request (www.ibm.com). If the primary request does not return a page title, the test generator creates a unique name for it from the first node of the URL.
To see an illustration of color coding in performance tests, go to Window > Preferences > Test > Performance Test Editor and click the Fonts and Colors tab.
When you expand a request, you see the request's Response data. Requests may also, as in the following illustration, contain Connection data. Since the response is selected in the Test Contents, the Test Element Details display this request's response data.
The Response data inside each request shows the data that the Web server returned to the browser based on that request. Collectively, the requests listed inside a page are responsible for everything that was returned by the Web server for that page.
Use the Add button to add elements to the selected test element. Alternatively, you can right-click a test element and select an action from a context menu.
The choices that are presented depend on the current selection. Thus, with the test selected, you can add a new page, a block of custom code, or an if condition. With a page selected, you can add a request or an if condition. The Insert button works similarly. Use it to insert an element before the selected element. The other buttons (Remove, Up, Down), and some Add choices (HTTP Page, HTTP Request, Basic Authentication) are primarily for use with tests that you write substantially or completely by hand: these actions or choices are likely to break a generated test. The types of structures that are expected to be commonly used in generated tests are explained in Adding verification points to a test and Adding elements to a test.
If you test Siebel applications, see Testing Siebel applications for prerequisites and details about the few differences between standard HTTP and Siebel tests.
Occasionally, an area of the editor in which you need to work might be
obscured. For example, in the following figure, the URL field is partially
obscured and the Response Headers table is too small to work with.
You can enlarge an area by moving your cursor over one of the blue lines
until your cursor changes shape (to a vertical line with an up arrow at the
top and a down arrow at the bottom) and dragging up or down with the left
mouse button held. For example, in the screen above this paragraph, after
you have lowered the blue line above Data and raised the blue line above Request
Headers, you can work with the URL field and the Request Headers table.
Parent topic: Editing tests