UI Test Recorder

At design time

During recording

The test recorder consists of two parts. The left side displays your test, individual test steps and events. The right side is an embedded web browser, where you record actions against your web application, and where you watch it during the test playback.

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A UI test consists of steps, which consist of events. Steps usually correspond to individual web pages in an application, and events correspond to user actions such as link clicks or keyboard input (see below).

LoadNinja records a new step when the URL in the browser address bar is changed. To insert a new step manually, click Add > Step. This is especially helpful when recording tests for single-page applications (SPA) where the URL does not change.

LoadNinja records the following event types:

• Mouse movements
• Clicks of the left mouse button (clicks on links and buttons, or anywhere on a page)
• Clicks of the right mouse button
• Scrolling events
• Keyboard input events (including keystrokes of navigation keys and keyboard shortcuts, see below)
• File upload events (see Upload Files)
• “Think Time” events (they indicate pauses between user actions)

Notes:

• For click events, LoadNinja records the text of the link or button you clicked. This text serves as an event label and helps you navigate through events in your test. You can change it later, if needed. See below.

• LoadNinja records right-click events if they cause some further action like opening a page or popping up a dialog box. Right-clicks that open the context menu of a browser are not recorded.

• The recorder detects pressing some navigation keys and keyboard shortcuts, provided that your web application supports them (both on Windows and on macOS):

  A list of supported keys and keyboard shortcuts

  A list of supported keys and keyboard shortcutsA list of supported keys and keyboard shortcuts

  • Home
  • End
  • Delete
  • Backspace
  • Space
  • Return
  • Tab
  • Ctrl+C
  • Ctrl+V
  • Ctrl+A
  • Arrow keys

For information on editing event parameters, see below.

Watch this video:

To record more actions and append them to the test:

1. Locate the baseline item in the list on the Steps tab.

   You can record actions and add them to test after or before:

   • existing steps,
   • Click events,
   • Keyboard input events.

2. Click and select Record new steps (or Record new actions) from the drop-down menu:

   

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3. In the subsequent dialog, choose whether you want to record a new action before or after the baseline item:

   

   You cannot add a step before the first step.

4. Click Record and Add.

5. LoadNinja will replay the UI test from the beginning until the playback reaches the required point.

6. Record the needed actions as usual.

7. Click  Playback to run the modified UI test and see if it works correctly.

8. Select File > Save on the toolbar to save your changes.

To view event parameters, simply expand the event item. Some events provide read-only access to their parameters. Some others support editing.

Think Time and Keyboard Input events

Click events – Change target

Click events – Change label

Synthetic steps

There are cases when you need to group actions within your UI test logically. For example, the website you test might show a dialog window with a form. To logically separate the actions you perform while filling in the form from other actions, create a synthetic step — a logical block that combines the actions you perform with the form.

Note:

It is also possible to create synthetic steps while recording a test, for example, to mark the difference between pages while testing against single-page applications. To learn more about this feature, see Test Single-Page Applications.

To create a synthetic step during recording

1. Select Add > Step on the toolbar of the UI test editor:

   

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2. In the subsequent dialog, name the step as you like:

   

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   Another way to create synthetic steps is to group recorded events and actions. To learn more about this functionality, see below.

All synthetic steps are marked with the icon in the step list.

To group existing actions and events into a synthetic step

1. Locate one of the events you want to include in the synthetic steps, in the step list.

2. Select  > Group into step:

   

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3. LoadNinja will enable the grouping check boxes. Select the ones near the events you want to group into step:

   

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4. Click Group.

5. (Optional) To rename the step, select  > Edit step name, specify a new name in the edit box, then press Enter.

Note:

All actions and events within a specific step that you have not explicitly added to a synthetic step, LoadNinja will automatically collect into another synthetic step.

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To rename a synthetic step

• Locate the synthetic step you want to rename.

• Select  > Edit step name.

• Specify a new name in the edit box.

• Press Enter.

To ungroup a synthetic step

By ungrouping, you remove the synthetic step from the step list. This action does not affect the events and actions that the step contains. All of them will be preserved and moved to the step above.

1. Locate the synthetic you want to ungroup, that is, remove from the step list.

2. Select  > Ungroup step.

To learn how to delete a step completely, along with all actions and events it contains, see Delete events or steps.

Delete events or steps

Select  > Delete next to the step or event you want to delete.

Notes:

• Deleting a step deletes all events in it.

• Deleting a keyboard or mouse event also deletes the Think Time command before it.

In LoadNinja, you can upload files to your tested web application during test recording. This may be needed if, for example, your application requires that users upload some files to the application and you want to test this functionality. See Upload Files for more information.

You can command LoadNinja to block requests to certain resources while replaying UI tests in the recorder or during load test runs. These resources may include unwanted advertisement banners, tools you use to gather visitor statistics (such as Google Analytics), and so on.

To provide a list of such unwanted resources, select Add > URLs to block on the recorder’s toolbar. For more information, see Block URLs.

You can find the log at the bottom of the UI test editor. You use it to check how the test engine simulates events during the test playback.

To learn more about the log, see Playback Log.

To rename a UI test

To save a test under another name

To move a test to another project

To delete a test