Task Reference
PureTest 5.2 January 2015	http://www.pureload.com support@pureload.com

• Introduction
• System Tasks - Basic and Web
  • Basic Tasks
  • Web (HTTP) Tasks
  • Extract Tasks
• System Tasks - Enterprise
  • Asynchronous HTTP Tasks
  • Database (JDBC) Tasks
  • Mail Tasks
  • File Transfer Program (FTP) Tasks
  • Network Utility Tasks
  • Directory Server (LDAP) Tasks
  • Telnet Tasks
  • SSH Tasks
  • IP Pool Tasks
• Custom Tasks

Introduction

The system tasks supplied with the applications enables out of the box testing of the major Internet protocols. The  node System Tasks in the Task Types tab of the scenario editor lists all tasks that are supplied. Using the Task Types tab you can see overall (short information) about tasks using the bottom Task Information tab as well as information about the parameters using the Task Parameters tab:

The set of system tasks in PureLoad depends on the license being used. If Enterprise Edition is used the following task groups are included:

and if Web Edition is used:

The following will give an overview of the task groups provided. For details on parameters, use the tool tip help in the scenario editor (move the mouse to the parameter you want information on and hold it for a second).

System Tasks - Basic and Web

The system tasks supplied with PureTest and PureLoad Web enables out of the box testing of web applications as well as various utility tasks.

The following will give an overview of the tasks groups provided with PureTest and PureLoad Web Edition. For details on parameters, use the tool tip help in the scenario editor (move the mouse to the parameter you want information on and hold it for a second).

Basic Tasks

This task group includes various useful utility tasks:

• DescriptionTask
  Used for documentation purposes to place description/documentation text as a task in a Scenario.
• SleepTask
  Sleeps for specified time and can be used to add a delay. Typically used to simulate "think times".
• RandomSleepTask
  Similar to SleepTask, but sleeps for a random amount of time.
• SetVariableTask
  Sets/initializes a list of scenario variables.
• CheckValueTask
  Performs a check to assert that two values are equal (deprecated).
  
• VerifyTask
  Verify data and/or variable values. Using this task is preferred over the CheckValueTask this it allows combination of conditions.
  
• ScriptTask
  Write custom tasks on the fly using Java (Beanshell).
  
• RuntimeSettingsTask
  Sets/updates runtime settings.
  
• CommandTask
  Executes an OS command.
  
• NullTask
  Does not do anything. Normally used for test purposes.
  
• ErrorTask
  Generates an error and does nothing else. Normally used for test purposes.
  

Web (HTTP) Tasks

• HttpInitTask
  Initializes common HTTP parameters used by  subsequent HTTP tasks.
• HttpGetTask
  Sends an HTTP GET request.
• HttpPostTask
  Sends an HTTP POST request.
• HttpPostFileTask
  Sends HTTP POST request with multipart/form-data
• HttpPostContentTask
  Sends HTTP POST with specified MIME type content, for example XML.
• HttpPostBinaryContentTask
  Sends HTTP POST with binary coded text.
• HttpHeaderTask
  Sets HTTP header values used by subsequent tasks.
• HttpVerifyResponseTask
  Verifies previous HTTP response.
• HttpExtractTask
  Extracts values from previous HTTP response.
• HttpCookieTask
  Sets an HTTP cookie.
• GetHTMLPageTask
  Sends an HTTP GET requests for all resources on previous HTML page.
• HttpGetAndWaitTask
  Sends an HTTP GET request repeatedly until the desired result is found.
• HttpPostSOAPTask
  Sends an HTTP POST request with SOAP message.
• HttpPutTask
  Sends an HTTP PUT request.
• HttpPutFileTask
  Sends an HTTP PUT request where content is read from a file.
• HttpDeleteTask
  Sends an HTTP DELETE request.
• HttpSSLClientCertificateTask
  Defines an SSL Client Certificate used by subsequent tasks.
• HttpSetLocalAddress
  Sets the local IP address/host to use for subsequent HTTP tasks.
• HttpProgressiveDownloadTask
  Used to send HTTP GET requests to download a resource using progressive download. Typically used to download video files.
• HttpUserAgentProfileTask
  Set HTTP headers based on device to be simulated.
• HttpPostChunkedTask
  Used to send HTTP POST/PUT/DELETE requests to a HTTP server using chunked transfer encoding.
• HttpCloseTask
  Used to close existing HTTP connections.

Extract Tasks

Extract tasks operate on textual results from previous tasks. The extracted value is stored in a variable which can be used in subsequent tasks. Most of the HTTP tasks (and many of the other tasks as well) store text data so that it can be extracted from. A good approach is to execute the text producing task in the debugger and analyze the result there.

• ExtractTask
  Extracts from any text using start and end patterns and (optionally) regluar expressions.
  
• XmlXPathExtractTask
  Extracts from XML using XPATH expressions.
• PropertyExtractTask
  Extracts a property from text interpreted as Java properties.
• HTMLExtractLinkTask
  Extracts HREF link from HTML by the name of the link.
• HtmlXpathExtractTask
  Extract from HTML, using XPath. Uses a "relaxed" XML parser to allow extract using XPath even if XML/HTML isn't well formed.
• RegexTask
  Matches a regular expression against the current string data in the scenario. Each capturing group can be stored in a variable.
• JsonExtractTask
  Extract variables from JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) using an XPath like syntax.
  

System Tasks - Enterprise

Note: The Enterprise tasks are only available in the Enterprise Edition of PureLoad.

Asynchronous HTTP Tasks

The Asynchronous HTTP Tasks may be used to simulate browsers sending asynchronous HTTP requests using AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technologies. Examples are long polling and HTTP streaming.

All asynchronous HTTP Tasks that send a request creates an HTTP Exchange that represents the HTTP request and corresponding response. The exchange information is returned as task result by all tasks, including the AsynchHttpGetResponseTask.

The task blocks until the request is sent to a web server. The response must then be checked by using the AsynchHttpGetResponseTask.

A common HTTP client is used internally by all tasks and threads (when used by PureLoad). This means that:

• the client uses it's own threads to process the exchange. I.e Worker threads are not used for the internal sending requests or receiving responses
• Many connections can be handled by a few threads (by using PureLoad multi threading feature)
• the client must use the same Proxy and authentication information (if defined by AsynchHttpInitTask) for all scenarios used

• AsynchHttpInitTask
  Task used to initiate the Asynchronous HTTP client and common parameters used by other Asynchronous HTTP tasks in the same scenario.
  
• AsynchHttpHeaderTask
  Task used to set HTTP headers used by other Asynchronous HTTP tasks in the same scenario.
  
• AsynchHttpGetTask
  Task used to send an Asynchronous HTTP GET Request. The task will not block until full response has been returned, instead a request is sent ssynchronously and response must be retreived using AsynchHttpGetResponseTask.
  
• AsynchHttpPostTask
  Task used to send an Asynchronous HTTP POST Request. The task will not block until full response has been returned, instead a request is sent ssynchronously and response must be retreived using AsynchHttpGetResponseTask.
  
• AsynchHttpPostContentTask
  Task used to send an Asynchronous HTTP POST Request with specified content. The task will not block until full response has been returned, instead a request is sent ssynchronously and response must be retreived using AsynchHttpGetResponseTask.
  
• AsynchHttpGetResponseTask
  Task used to get response from the last executed Asynchrounous HTTP task. HTTP Request and response data is reported and in addition a variable is used to report the state for the current asynchronous HTTP exchange. The reported exchange state can be one of:
  0. if no response received
  1. if response status and respnse headers received
  2. if received any content data
  3. if received complete response

Database (JDBC) Tasks

The JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) tasks are used to access a relational database. These tasks require a JDBC driver for the database. Sun hosts a list of JDBC drivers at http://industry.java.sun.com/products/jdbc/drivers. The JDBC driver must be placed in the INSTALL_HOME/extensions directory.

• JDBCConnectTask
  Connects to a database and stores connection for subsequent tasks.
• JDBCSelectTask
  Executes an SQL SELECT query.
• JDBCExecuteTask
  Executes an SQL INSERT or UPDATE.
• JDBCDisconnectTask
  Disconnects from database and removes connection scenario attribute.

Mail Tasks

• MailConnectTask
  Connects to a mail server and stores connection for subsequent tasks.
• MailSendTask
  Sends a mail message using SMTP.
• MailReadTask
  Reads a mail message using IMAP or POP3 protocol.
• MailDeleteTask
  Deletes a mail message.
• MailListTask
  Lists mails in a mail box/folder.
• SMTPCheckTask
  Connects to an SMTP server and checks that it is functional.
  

File Transfer Program (FTP) Tasks

• FtpConnectTask
  Connects to an FTP server and store connection for subsequent tasks.
• FtpChangeDirTask
  Changes FTP remote directory.
• FtpListTask
  Lists content of current FTP remote directory.
• FtpGetFileTask
  Gets a file from a remote system to local file system.
• FtpPutFileTask
  Puts a file from local file system to remote system.
• FtpDisconnectTask
  Disconnects from FTP server and removes connection scenario attribute.
  

Network Utility Tasks

• EchoTask
  Sends and receives an echo request using Echo protocol (RFC 862) to the specified host. Can use either TCP (default) or UDP protocol.
• TimeTask
  Sends and receives a time request using the Time protocol (RFC 868) to the specified host. Can use either TCP (default) or UDP protocol.
• PingTask
  Uses an OS command to send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST datagram packages (pings) to a server. Reported execution time is average time per ping.
• CheckTcpServiceTask
  Checks that a connection can be made to a TCP port and then closes the connection. Optionally, it can also check for an expected string of text to be returned.
• DNSLookupTask
  Performs a DNS lookup on the specified name.

Directory Server (LDAP) Tasks

• LDAPConnectTask
  Connects to a directory server using LDAP and stores the connection for subsequent tasks.
• LDAPAddTask
  Adds an entry specified in LDIF format.
• LDAPReadTask
  Performs a directory read operation.
  
• LDAPSearchTask
  Performs a directory search operation.
• LDAPModifyTask
  Modifies an entry according to LDIF format.
• LDAPRenameTask
  Renames an entry in a directory.
• LDAPDeleteTask
  Deletes an entry in a directory.
• LDAPDisconnectTask
  Disconnects from directory server and removes connection scenario attribute.

LDAP tasks (LDAPAddTask and LDAPModifyTask) use the LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) to represent LDAP entries in text form. Read more about the version of LDIF used.

Telnet Tasks

Telnet tasks are used to access remote hosts using the telnet protocol.

• TelnetConnectTask
  Connects to a remote hosts on a specified port and stores the connection for subsequenet tasks.
• TelnetLoginTask
  Performs a login on the remote host.
• TelnetOperationTask
  Sends/receives strings to/from a remote host.
• TelnetDisconnectTask
  Disconnects from remote host and removes connection scenario attribute.
  

SSH Tasks

Secure shell (SSH) tasks are used to access remote hosts over a secure connection.

• SSHConnectTask
  Connects to a remote host on a specified port and stores the connection for subsequent tasks.
• SSHExecTask
  Execute a remote command over SSH.
• SCPGetTask
  Download a file from the remote server to a local directory.
  
• SCPPutTask
  Upload a file to the remote server and directory.
  
• SSHShellTask
  Sends/receives strings to/from a remote host over SSH. Functionality similar to TelnetOperationTask
• SSHDisconnectTask
  Disconnects from remote host and removes connection scenario attribute.

IP Pool Tasks

Tasks used to manage a pool of IP-addresses. This is typically use when you want to simulate access from many different client ip-addresses.

Note that the pool tasks only manage a set IP-addresses, per worker, that must already exist on the worker machines.

• IPPoolInitTask
  Init/define pool of IP addresses for a worker.
  
• PoolGetTask
  Get next available value from pool and assign to a variable.
  
• PoolReturnTask
  Return value to pool.
• PoolInitTask
  To initialize a new (empty) pool.
• PoolPutTask
  To add new value(s) to a pool.
  
• SnatInitTask
  Task to initialize SNAT (Source Network Address Translation) kernel module.
  See the PureSNAT Linux SNAT Kernel Module document for details.
  

Read more about virtual IP addresses and IP Pool tasks the Virtual IP Address Reference document.

Custom Tasks

Custom tasks are tasks that are designed and implemented specifically for a protocol or application. Custom task may be implemented by a customer or by PureLoad Software Group. See Task Programmers Guide for detailes.

Note: Custom Tasks support is only available in the Enterprise Edition of PureLoad.