In the world of load and performance testing, validating the steps of a user simulation is crucial for ensuring the accuracy and success of synthetic tests and workloads. When a business application or website is put under simulated user traffic, it’s essential not only to track the performance metrics but also to verify that each user action is executed correctly. This is where validations in LoadGen come into play.
As we approach the upcoming Q3 2024 LoadGen release, we’re excited to highlight the powerful tools we already offer, while introducing new, advanced OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and QR code validations to enhance our validation capabilities.
The Importance of Validating User Simulations
Synthetic tests, also known as workloads, simulate the activities of real users interacting with an application or environment. During these simulations, a variety of operations are performed—logging in, interacting with UI elements, submitting forms, navigating through interfaces, etc. However, performance issues may arise under load, leading to unexpected delays or failures.
Validations ensure that each of these steps completes successfully by verifying visual and control-based elements of the application. Without proper validations, even a well-designed synthetic test can fail to detect a critical issue that only becomes visible at the user interface level.
By adding validations to user simulations, testers can:
Ensure user actions are executed as expected.
Validate that user interfaces behave correctly under stress.
Detect hidden errors that might occur during a peak load.
Confirm that business-critical processes, like completing transactions, finish successfully.
Current Validations Available in LoadGen
LoadGen provides a broad range of validation options to ensure that the simulation reflects real-world user behavior as closely as possible. The following validations are already available in LoadGen:
Caption of Foreground Window: This validation checks the appearance or disappearance of a window caption in a session. It verifies that a particular window, like an application’s main screen or a dialog box, has appeared correctly.
Control in Foreground Window: Many applications, such as Chrome, SAP, Windows applications, and even browsers like Edge or Firefox, expose their controls to the operating system. This validation ensures that specific controls (like buttons or input fields) in the top foreground window are present and functioning as expected. It is an especially robust validation method for testing business applications and web apps.
Image Validation: This method searches for a specific image within a defined area on the screen. It is ideal for verifying that visual elements, such as icons or notifications, appear where and when they should be during a test.
Single Pixel Validation: A pixel-level validation that checks whether the RGB color of a specific pixel matches expectations. This is useful for verifying changes in the UI that occur at a very fine level of detail, like color changes for visual status indicators.
Introducing New Validations: OCR and QR Image Text Validation
As part of the Q3 2024 LoadGen release, we’re expanding the available validation options with the introduction of OCR and QR image text validations. These new features will further enhance the flexibility and robustness of synthetic testing, particularly in environments where text recognition and QR code validation are key parts of the user experience.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) Text Validation
OCR validation allows LoadGen to recognize and validate text that appears within images or non-standard user interface components. Whether the text is embedded within a graphic, PDF, or scanned document, OCR validation can detect and confirm that the expected text appears on-screen.
Key Use Cases:
Validate dynamic content in applications or websites that display text in images or scanned documents.
Ensure that text-based confirmations (such as status messages or transaction details) appear correctly, even if the text is not exposed as a control element.
Perform text recognition in interfaces where standard control validation methods might not apply.
In LoadGen, the OCR feature includes additional customization options, such as difference percentage, which allows testers to define a tolerance level for acceptable variations in text, and occurrence count, which ensures accurate validation when the same text appears multiple times on a screen.
QR Image Text Validation
QR codes are now a part of many business processes, from payment transactions to user authentication. With the QR image text validation feature, LoadGen enables you to scan and validate QR codes that appear during a synthetic test.
Key Use Cases:
Validate that the correct QR code appears during specific stages of a business process (e.g., for login, transaction confirmation, or multi-factor authentication).
Automate testing for applications that rely on QR code-based interactions, ensuring that codes are displayed and can be successfully scanned.
Confirm QR-based workflows in web or mobile applications by verifying that the QR code contains the expected encoded data.
This new feature provides a fast and highly reliable way to validate transactions or processes involving QR codes, enabling seamless validation of modern workflows.
Conclusion
As we roll out the Q3 2024 release, we’re excited to bring OCR and QR image text validation into the LoadGen suite. These new tools will empower users to create even more precise and reliable synthetic tests. Whether you’re validating text embedded in images or ensuring that QR codes appear and function correctly, these new features will offer significant improvements in flexibility and functionality for a wide range of business applications.
Stay tuned for the official release, and start planning how these enhanced validation options can be integrated into your existing workloads!
Commentaires