Xceptance is proud to announce the availability of Xceptance LoadTest (XLT) 4.1. XLT 4.1 is a major milestone in improving regression test capabilities. It also adds more reporting functionality for custom data. The setup procedures for larger agent controller deployments have been simplified.

XLT is a platform-independent tool for regression and load testing. It features a wide range of usage patterns, such as record and replay via XLT Script Developer and optional usage of WebDriver. A data-driven testing approach is available as well as an export to Java to utilize the power of a programming language. All tests written can be executed as regression and as performance tests.

The XLT load test modules feature distributed load testing, including test data distribution and result data collection. XLT uses open storage formats to simplify the integration into existing solutions and adapt it to the organization’s needs.

Further, XLT uses JUnit patterns and is therefore easy to integrate in existing test frameworks.

Script Developer

XLT Script Developer, a Firefox extension for easy record and replay, has been extended to provide packages for sorting of test cases and modules. It now permits replay of all or selected test cases and offers an HTML report of the test result.

For testing of GWT- or GXT-based applications, a new feature has been added that permits the inclusion or exclusion of class, name, or ID attributes when recording element locators. This helps to clean up the XPath from unwanted and mostly automatically created attributes which constantly change and therefore break test scripts frequently.

Element identification strategies are adjustable now, making it easier to choose the one that is most suitable for the current use case. This will help lower the manual maintenance effort around element locators and make the scripts more stable at the same time.

Script Developer preserves the information about possible alternative locators during the recording and editing of a script. This reduces the time needed when the locators have to be adjusted or reconfigured.

XPath expressions can be long and hard to maintain. XLT now offers CSS selector support. This makes locators simpler and bridges the gap between web development and testing.

The new version of Script Developer provides the possibility to export test cases to Java code that is structured as action classes. This brings back the well-known programming pattern that was not part of the 4.0 export.

Load Testing

The new multi-agent feature simplifies the scaling of agents per load generation machine. A simple parameter permits the starting of multiple agents at once and improves scaling and run-time behavior. This also speeds up test setup times, because the amount of required data to be uploaded decreases.

Several changes have been made to support easier installation and configuration, such as: unreachable agent controllers will be ignored when starting a test; the master controller can easily communicate through a proxy with its agents; and relocating the agent directories as well as the configuration directories is possible.

A new setting permits the limitation of the transaction run time to prevent scripting mistakes from causing infinite test loops.

Reporting

XLT’s unique request filtering and bucketing feature has been extended to permit filtering by agent and transaction name as well as filtering by run-time range to further improve the analysis of performance test results.

Third-party data gathered externally during a load test can now be included in the load test report as statistical values and/or charts. Support for data in CSV format is already built-in. Custom formats can also be read if the respective reader/converter classes are provided.

Agents’ health reports have been extended with more detailed garbage collection information.

With XLT 4.1, the test report generation has been sped up. It now uses all available processor cores to create reports, but if necessary, this can be limited via a parameter.

Now not only custom run times, but any kind of custom numeric values can be logged during a load test and will automatically be part of the load test report. This can be any kind of interesting data that changes during a test, such as search index size, queue length, or system states. This makes it easy to map external states onto performance results.

JavaScript execution times during performance testing can now be tracked automatically.

API

The interface NetworkDataManager has been extended to provide an additional method to get a pre-filtered list of collected network data based on certain criteria, such as host or path patterns.

Where to get it

XLT is available free of charge for regression testing and basic performance testing supporting up to five simulated users. Additional virtual users can be purchased at any time. Optional support packages can be purchased. Updates are always freely available for all users. Detailed pricing information is available here.

More information about this release, the Quick Start Guide, and the Manual can be found in the release area. The full XLT package can be downloaded here.