Intermittent hangs during testing

[David]

While executing tests (Quick and also VS run mechanism) for Silverlight, tests will sometimes hang.  The only solution seems to be to close the browser under test control, close the small command window, and click the Stop Execution button in the WebUI interface.  There does not seem to be any pattern or specific step the test will hang at, and the test will often run to completion without hanging.  I am using the Ultimate Q3 trial version of the WebUI Developer, VS2010, and Silverlight 4 on Windows 7 with IE8.  I do not see any other posts similar to this, so I am wondering if I am the only one having this problem.

Thanks.
-David

[Stoich]

Hi David,
   thank you for choosing to evaluate our product.

First off: we've officially released our fist Service Pack for the Q3 release of WebUI Test Studio (2010.3.1213). I would recommend that you upgrade your current version - the SP contains many fixes and improvements. It's unlikely that the upgrade will have any effect on your current issue but I would still recommended it. You can download it from here.

You're right - we're not familiar with the issue. It might be something in the way your tests are written but I can't say anything definitive. I would like to take a look at a test that exhibits this behavior.
I suggest you record a test with the Silverlight demo applications found here:
http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/

Make sure the test exhibits the issue (i.e. hangs) and send it to me - I will take a look and will try to solve the issue ASAP. Don't use BaseURL or anything like that because I will want to execute the test from our (i.e. Telerik's) domain to try and reproduce the problem.

If you're unable to to record a "problematic" test with the demos then we can do one of two things:
You can send me your actual tests (i.e. the one that tests whatever application you're working on) or if that's not possible for you  - we can do a GoToMeeting so I can check out the problem directly on your machine.
 
Let me know so I can assist with getting you up-and-running as soon as possible!
 
Regards,

Stoich

the Telerik team

[David]

Hello Stoich,

I upgraded the WebUI Test Studio as suggested and rebooted my machine, but Visual Studio hangs when I try to open the old test project.  I created a new project, but Visual Studio hangs when I try to add a new test to the project.  At present, I am unable to perform the test you suggested due to VS hanging.  Please let me know how we should proceed.  You may send me an email directly to let me know how to contact you or to let me know where I can send you my direct telephone number...prefer not to post my # on this thread :)

Thanks.
-David

[Keaegan]

Hello David,

First, I am sending you an invitation to a private dropbox folder I created so that you may provide us any files for the project without having to use this forum. This way we can still discuss the issue on this forum but your data will not be made available.

Zip the project and place it in the provided folder for us to review it and try to reproduce your issues locally.

Also, please let me know the following:

• What error message (if any) do you get, or does it simply hang and not provide further feedback?
• Is the same hang occurring when you try to add ANY test or just a WebAii test?
• Are you able to make a new project/solution and contained test that are not WebAii related (such as a unit test)?

I'll standby for your reply on this. This will be the quickest method we can utilize to not only see the issue but review/reproduce it. If necessary, we can also setup a GoTo Meeting to review this issue with you if we need to see further the feedback you are receiving when launching Visual Studio.

Best wishes,
Keaegan
the Telerik team

[David]

I believe I found the problem why Visual Studio was hanging.  I removed the "Just Mock" and "Just Code" products and re-installed the latest WebUI Test Studio software.  This time, Visual Studio did not hang, so it looks like there is some incompatibility with one of the other products that I removed.  I am now getting a "trial expired..." error message due to my re-installing the WebUI Test software.  As soon as my trial is reactivated, I can proceed with the testing of the original problem.

Thanks.

-David

[David]

Dropbox is apparently not an option in my corporate environment.

[Daniel Levy]

Hello David,

I just sent you a private email with a trial extension key. Hope this helps!

All the best,

Daniel Levy

the Telerik team

[Keaegan]

Hello David,

I can completely understand not being able to provide the data, even in a dropbox. Did the trial re-activate correctly, and are you still experiencing Silverlight instability after uninstalling JustCode and JustMock?

I will be logging a report of this but want to confirm exact data on how to reproduce this as it was not caught during testing. I'll look for your reply on whether the steps taken thus far have resolved this for you.

Greetings,
Keaegan
the Telerik team

[David]

Hello Keaegan,

I was able to reactivate the trial version of WebUI Test Studio, and I was able to add Webaii tests only after uninstalling the JustMock and JustCode products (not sure which one was actually causing the problem since I uninstalled them both before testing).

I am still seeing problems, but now it seems that test execution is aborting with the 12/13 release instead of hanging with the previous release.  The place where the abort occurs is still inconsistent (as the previous hanging problem was).  I used a Telerik demo site as suggested to try to reproduce some instability, and I am attaching a recorded test that also aborts prematurely.

Thank you for your help.

-David

[Keaegan]

Hi David,

The issue is with JustCode. I received the test provided (thank you). I was not able to run it due to not enough steps being added in for waiting (due to this being Silverlight). You state that the test is now aborting, it should be providing a log file for the reason for the test or step failure. 

Looking at the provided test, I do not see any steps contained that specify "Wait for" an element. When using Silverlight to test against, there are a couple things to be more cautious of than normal:

1. Make sure you aren't using the computer while the test runs. While HTML may be able to recover fine when focus changes to a different application, against Silverlight, WebUI will continue providing the commands to whichever application has focus currently (so if you use another application it can cause the test to fail).
2. Make sure you are allowing enough wait time for the page to load. Large Silverlight applications can take 1 or more minutes for the homepage to load. Make sure that there are "wait for" steps inserted whenever you do an action that will cause a new page to load.

Since this is happening sporadically throughout the test, this points to latency/page not loading quick enough and causing a find expression error (since the element being looked for won't exist for a few more moments).

I created a test that navigates the same page (and tries to select the same options). Please try the provided test and let me know if you run into issues running it. This is an example of what a finished test that runs against Silverlight should resemble.

Best wishes,
Keaegan
the Telerik team