Transaction Request Editor
The request editor is a tool that will help you to manage the dynamic parameters in your performance and full-page transactions.
There are six columns in the request editor - param, value, type, prefix/format, suffix/offset and encode.
PARAM:
The "param" column shows the name of the parameter. For example if you have an url http://www.websitepulse.com/?site=websitepulse, the name of the parameter is "site".
In some advanced web forms there are cases in which the name of the parameters changes dynamically depending on sessions or other variables. In those cases you can use the keyword "DYNAMIC" + pattern from the name in the name of the parameter.
VALUE:
In the given example above, the value of the parameter is "websitepulse". This means that the parameter will be passed to the respective page exactly as it is given in the value column (e.g. site=websitepulse).
TYPE:
- VALUE: This is a regular value with no dynamic content (e.g. site=websitepulse).
- DYNAMIC: If the type of the parameter is marked as "DYNAMIC", then the monitoring agent will look for an "< input >" field in the previous step of the transaction and will pass the respective value to the current step. Note: the first step cannot have any DYNAMIC parameter values.
- DATETIME: This type indicates that the value of the parameter is a date and/or time that is relevant to the moment of performing the test. There are several predefined formats of the values which can be found in the next column - "Prefix/Format", and a different time offset which can be selected in the "Suffix/Offset" column.
- RANDOM: The type indicates that the value of the parameter is a random number between 0 and 1 with 15 digits after the decimal point (for example - 0%2E641726288777649. Note that the parameter is url-encoded and that is why the decimal point is represented with "%2E").
PREFIX/FORMAT: The value varies depending on the type of the parameter. When used with DATETIME type, the column indicates the format of the DATETIME parameter. When used with RANDOM type, the column indicates the prefix that should be sent before the Random number. This cannot be used for DYNAMIC or VALUE parameters.
SUFFIX/OFFSET: The value varies depending on the type of the parameter. When used with DATETIME type, the column indicates the offset in time of the DATETIME parameter. When used with RANDOM type, the column indicates the suffix that should be sent right after the Random number. This cannot be used for DYNAMIC or VALUE parameters.
ENCODE: The encode column show whether the value of the parameter should be URL-Encoded or not. The typical example for this is the __VIEWSTATE parameter used in many ASP web-based applications. The __VIEWSTATE should always be encoded when passed along.
Example:
We have a two steps transaction. On the first steps there's the following web form:
< form method="POST" action="myLogin.asp?session=7jh364hjdjs7f8&do=login" > Username:
< input type="text" name="user7jh364hjdjs7f8" value="wsp" />
Password:
< input type="password" name="pass7jh364hjdjs7f8" value="wsp" / >
< input type="hidden" name="logintimestamp" value="1228228444" / >
< input type="hidden" name="randomstring" value="MY0%2E641726288777649NUMB" / >
< input type="submit" name="smb" value="Login" / >
< /form >
Let's suppose that the "7jh364hjdjs7f8" is a session string that is different on each generation of the form, the value of the "logintimestamp" parameter is the current unix timestamp, and the "randomstring" is a random string that should start with "MY" and end with "NUMB".
The second step of the given transaction should have the following configuration:
Request Page: myLogin.asp?session=DYNAMIC&do=login
Request Editor:
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