Running PowerShell using PsExec

PsExec is used to run commands remotely on a machine.
I was trying to execute a PowerShell file remote using PsExec but the command would just hang.
Below is the command:

PsExec.exe \\MachineName powershell -File "FileName.ps1"

The fix was to run the command in an interactive mode by passing -i agrument to PsExec.
Here it is:

PsExec.exe -i \\MachineName powershell -File "FileName.ps1"

Sweet, the command ran fine this time!

VS 2010 - No Test Settings Available

I ran into an issue where I openend an exisitng test project which had multiple testsettings file but when I when to Test->Select Active Test Settings, it showed the below:

It turned out that the testsettings file were under a folder which was under "Solution Items". I moved the testsettings file one level up so that they are directly under "Solution Items" folder and it fixed the problem.
 

WaitN and HTTPWatch – Latency Measurements using Automated UI Testing

I wanted the measure the latency of a website from different geo locations. Some of the calls were made by JavaScript and hence UI actions were required instead of a simple playback of HTTP requests.

So there were two major goals

1. Automating the UI actions
2. Capturing the HTTP traces for these actions

There are a lot of options available for UI automation but it was important that the framework I chose is compatible with the toll I use to capture the HTTP traces.

 

So the first task was to determine which tool to be used for capturing the traces. The tool needed to have the ability of starting the trace. Stopping the trace and saving the trace in an automated fashion. HTTPWatch comes to rescue here. The basic edition is available for free but you will need to buy a license for advanced operations. See http://www.httpwatch.com/

 

Now, I had to determine an UI automation framework which works seamlessly with HTTPWatch. WaitN (pronounced as What-In) can be used with HTTPWatch. There is a sample available on the HTTPWatch site, see http://blog.httpwatch.com/2008/10/30/using-httpwatch-with-watin/

 

I wrote a console app using WatiN and HTTPWatch and could run it from different geo locations to collect the results. Sweet!

SQL / SSRS - Selecting 95% and 99% (percentile) values

I was trying to generate a SSRS report where I wanted to display the 95% and 99% (percentile) values to remove the outliers.
Unfortunately there isn't a percentile function in SSRS unlike excel.

So I had to use SQL to derive these values.

To derive 95% value, select top 5% by ordering the counters of the instance in desc order. Now order these 5% in ascending order and select top 1
Select @95P = (select top 1 t.coulmnname from (select top 5 percent coulmnname from tablename order by columnname desc)t order by t.coulmnname asc)

To derive 99% value, select top 1% by ordering the counters of the instance in desc order. Now order these 1% in ascending order and select top 1
Select @99P = (select top 1 t.coulmnname from (select top 1 percent coulmnname from tablename order by columnname desc)t order by t.coulmnname asc)

Fiddler - Simulate Modem Speeds

There is an easy trick in Fiddler to simulate modem speeds. You can go to Rules->Performance->Simulate Modem Speeds to enable it.

It can also be customized by going to Rules->Customize Rules

This will open CustomRules.js where you will find

if (m_SimulateModem) {

            // Delay sends by 300ms per KB uploaded.

            oSession["request-trickle-delay"] = "300";

            // Delay receives by 150ms per KB downloaded.

            oSession["response-trickle-delay"] = "150";

        }

The values for request-trickle-delay and response-trickle-delay can be modified as per your need.

Now make a request in browser to experience the delay

VS 2010 Test Controller / SQL Server 2012 - Could not find stored procedure 'sp_dboption'

While configuring VS 2010 Test Controller with SQL Server 2012 as Load Test Repository, I was getting an error:

Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.ConfigCore.TestControllerHelper.CreateAndUpgradeLoadTestSchemaIfRequired(String loadTestConnectionString, String directoryContainingSchemaFile)
E, 2012/11/26, 09:35:41.787, Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebStress.LoadTestException: An error occurred while attempting to create the load test results repository schema: Could not find stored procedure 'sp_dboption'.
Could not find stored procedure 'sp_dboption'.

Found the same issue when I tried to create the Load Test Repository manually by executing the script C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\loadtestresultsrepository.sql

Then I looked for the corresponding VS 2012 script on a different machine at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\loadtestresultsrepository.sql which worked.

Looking at the difference, the fix was to replace exec sp_dboption with ALTER DATABASE

Example:

Replace exec sp_dboption N'LoadTest2010', N'autoclose', N'false' with ALTER DATABASE [LoadTest2010] SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF

Selenium - Automating UI Testing for Websites using Visual Studio Unit Tests

Selenium is a well-known open source tool for UI automation of websites across a range of browsers. To know more, please refer http://seleniumhq.org/

A huge benefit of using Selenium is that you don’t need an interactive desktop session to run the automated UI tests.

Here we will discuss about integrating Selenium with Visual Studio Unit Tests written in C#

Test

·         Open Bing http://www.bing.com

·         Search for James Bond

·         Verify the results contain a Wikipedia link for James Bond

Steps

·         Download the IE Driver (needed only for running tests in IE) and the C# Client Drivers from http://seleniumhq.org/download/

·         Create a Unit Test Project in Visual Studio using File-New-Project->Test->Test Project

·         Add a folder called Dependencies and add the following files with Copy Always to Output:

o   WebDriver.dll

o   IEDriverServer.exe

o   Ionic.Zip.dll

o   Newtonsoft.Json.dll

·         Add a Reference to WebDriver.dll

·         Make sure Enable Deployment is checked in the Test Settings File, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms182475(v=vs.90).aspx

·         Import the following namespaces

using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;

using OpenQA.Selenium;

using OpenQA.Selenium.IE;

using System.Drawing.Imaging;

·         Create a Test Class with DeploymentItem Attribute   

[TestClass]
[DeploymentItem("Dependencies\\IEDriverServer.exe")]

public class IETests

·         Create a web driver in Class Initialize and Quit in Class Cleanup

private static InternetExplorerDriver _webDriver;       

[ClassInitialize()]

public static void MyClassInitialize(TestContext testContext)

{

            _webDriver = new InternetExplorerDriver(new InternetExplorerOptions() {IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings = true});

       }

 

[ClassCleanup()]

public static void MyClassCleanup()

       {

            _webDriver.Quit();

       }

 

       private TestContext testContextInstance;    

       public TestContext TestContext

       {

            get

            {

                return testContextInstance;

            }

            set

            {

                testContextInstance = value;

            }

       } 

·         Create a Test Method

[TestMethod]

       public void TestBing()

       {

            // Test Case Steps

            _webDriver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.bing.com");

            IWebElement search = _webDriver.FindElement(By.Name("q"));

            IWebElement go = _webDriver.FindElement(By.Name("go")); 

            search.SendKeys("james bond");

            go.Click(); 

            // Save screenshot if required

            Screenshot screenshot = _webDriver.GetScreenshot();

            screenshot.SaveAsFile("Result.png", ImageFormat.Png); 

            // Verfication

            IWebElement msWebsite =

                _webDriver.FindElement(

                    By.XPath(

                        "//a[@href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond']")); 

            Assert.IsNotNull(msWebsite, "Could not find wikipedia link for James Bond");

       } 

·         To test with Firefox, we can similarly create a Firefox web driver

private static FirefoxDriver _webDriver;

 Troubleshooting

If you see the error Class Initialization method Selenium.IETests.MyClassInitialize threw exception. System.InvalidOperationException: System.InvalidOperationException: Unexpected error launching Internet Explorer. Protected Mode settings are not the same for all zones. Enable Protected Mode must be set to the same value (enabled or disabled) for all zones. (NoSuchDriver).

This could be if you instantiated the IE Driver using new InternetExplorerDriver()
The fix is to either use new InternetExplorerDriver(new InternetExplorerOptions() IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings = true})

Or enable Protected Mode setting for all zones. Go to Tools->Internet Option->Security and check “Enable Protected Mode” for all zones.