Testing user-initiated read-only operations involving Project Web Access

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Topic Last Modified: 2010-01-19

This article refers to ways of testing read-only operations that users can begin by using the Microsoft Office Project Web Access (PWA) application only, without the involvement of Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 on the client computer. Some of the most frequent operations in this category that you may want to test include the following:

• Access the PWA home page

• Access Project Center views

• Access Resource Center views

• Access the My Tasks page

• Access Data Analysis views

• Access the PWA home page

• Access project workspaces

To simulate these kinds of activity in a lab environment, you can easily create the corresponding Web tests in Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition. The following paragraphs provide specific examples about how to build the tests in Visual Studio 2008 for some of the operations mentioned earlier.

Access the PWA home page

You can use the Web Test Recorder tool available with Visual Studio 2008 to record all the HTTP requests occurring when a user accesses the PWA home page. Once you have recorded the Web test, you must set up the credentials in order to simulate different users in the load scenario, and let Visual Studio randomly select a user from a list for every test run. You can bind user credentials to a data source, which can read data from a database, an XML file, a CSV file or any other possible data source that is more convenient in your scenario. As an example, you can use the Resources.xml file that was discussed earlier as the data source for user credentials. The same approach can be used for all the other tests also.

Access Project Center views

Similar to the PWA home page test, you can use the Web Test Recorder to record all the HTTP requests that occur when a user accesses the Project Center. The Project Center page contains an ActiveX control, used to render the grid view. The Web Test Recorder will record the requests originated by the ActiveX control.

Multiple occurrences of Pwa.asmx requests represent four separate calls to the PWA Web service, all originated from the ActiveX control.

Access Resource Center views

The Resource Center test resembles the Project Center test, because it also contains the Grid ActiveX control.

Access the My Tasks page

Again, the Web Recorder tool in Visual Studio is suitable for building a test for the My Tasks page. The number of occurrences for DatePicker.htc and Blank.gif requests can vary based on the actual data shown for the simulated user. Because the Web test is static, you should record a different Web test for every different data profile that you have so that the correct number of requests is performed. An alternative approach would be to use a coded test to manage the number of occurrences programmatically.

Access the My Timesheets page

The Web Recorder tool in Visual Studio again is sufficient for building a test for the My Timesheets page.

See Also

Concepts

Planning a Project Server 2007 test lab
Key metrics for Project Server 2007 performance
Setting up a Project Server 2007 test environment
Testing user-initiated writer operations involving Project Web Access
Testing user-initiated operations involving Project Professional
Testing Project Server 2007 background operations
Extracting and analyzing lab test data