Adobe Flex Performance Testing
Written by meena on June 4, 2007 – 3:31 pmWhat is Macromedia Flex?
Macromedia Flex is a commercial presentation layer server that produces Rich Internet Applications. The Flash plug-in (available on most browsers) is the runtime environment for Flex applications.
Developers use two core languages to create Flex applications. The first core language is MXML, the Macromedia Flex Markup Language, which includes a rich set of XML tags that allows developers to layout user interfaces. Some MXML constructs allow you to call remote objects, store data returned in a model, and customize your own look and feel to MXML components.
The second core language for Flex development is ActionScript 2.0, which is similar to JavaScript. ActionScript elements are coded inside MXML pages, has robust event handling capabilities to allow the application to respond to dynamic user interactions. Unlike JavaScript, since ActionScript runs inside the Flash plug-in there is no need to rewrite several versions of the same code to support different browsers.
The Flex server is responsible for translating the MXML and ActionScript components into Flash bytecode in the form of .SWF files. The SWF file is executed on the client in the Flash runtime environment. The Flex
server provides other services such as caching, concurrency, and handling remote object requests.
Remote Objects (Action Message Format, AMF)
Automated Test Tool vendors Segue(Silk Performer), Mercury(LoadRunner), and IBM Rational(Performance Tester) offer capable performance testing tools, allowing you to performance-test the applications that use web services, XML, or HTTP connections. Mercury and Segue also goes the extra mile to provide AMF (Action Message Format) support in their performance testing tool. But the problem we have now is that the AMF has moved from AMF0 to AMF3.
Now the existing AMF add-ins of these tools does not support the AMF3 protocol. Flex applications now use what is called Remote Objects in ActionScript which are not handled by existing performance testing tools.
What now?
Looks like we have to wait for something to come up that can performance test these applications. And now along comes Silverlight from Microsoft… hmmm?
Tags: AMF, Flex, Loadrunner
Posted in Performance Testing |
June 27th, 2007 at 4:26 am
Do you have other opinion? I will test the AMF3, but I could not find a tool
June 27th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Most of the commercial tools would be coming up with the AMF3 testing capabilities by end of 2007 or early 2008. Right now there are no tools available to test AMF3 Flex.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:59 am
Mercury Loadrunner will support AMF3-format in LoadRunner 9 Feature Pack 1.
The date for LoadRunner 9 was/is end of July… The date for Feature Pack 1, though, is yet to be defined…
July 11th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Small error in previous comment: it was end of June… and it’s available now, but withouth AMF3 support. That’s still in FP1.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Thanks for the update Gdzilla. We would definitely need it soon at my workplace since many applications that I currently test are adopting the Flex trend.
July 25th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Try the iMacros PRO Edition (http://www.iopus.com/imacros/ ). It costs only US$ 199 and can test all kinds of applets! We use the Scripting Edition and automated our complete Flash/Flex web testing/monitoring with it.
Sam
July 25th, 2007 at 8:49 am
I will definitely download the iMacros trial version and give it a go. Thanks Sam for the information.
Meena
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I tried the iMacros trial recently for very simple application (a button hiding/showing a label) and it doesn’t work. The recording doesn’t record anything when I press the button (on iMacros browser).
Would you mind to share an example macro script ?
December 11th, 2007 at 4:22 am
Hi guys, if you are interested in automated GUI testing you might also want to have a look at the upcoming RIATest tool specifically designed for Flex at http://riatest.com
Disclosure: I am the guy who is developing the product
December 11th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I have not had much success with iMacros either.