WebAii Test web page that produces non-html content (CSV, JSON, XML…)

Question

I use WebAii to test an ASP.Net application. This application has an "Export to CSV" feature, and I would like to test that it works correctly with WebAii. Is there a way to access the exact source that was generated for a page?

I tried using ActiveBrowser.ViewSourceString, but it appears to work only for HTML. (it contains the HTML of the page that called the "Export to CSV" instead of the CSV content)

It may seem strange to use WebAii to test plain text content, when I could bypass WebAii and the browser and use HttpRequest to directly call the page. The reason why I need to do it this way is that the Export to CSV gets its parameters (a series of search filters) on the query string, and I need to make sure the calling code (an ASP.Net web page) is correctly passing the right parameters.

Answer 1

I work in Telerik's technical support department for WebAii. I'll try to assist. I need to know what happens when you click this "Export to CSV" button/link. Normally such a button causes the webserver to create a file and send it to the browser for downloading. You then save it as a file on your local machine. Is this what is happening or is the browser simply displaying the CSV content in its window?

ActiveBrowser.ViewSourceString is the right approach for getting at the HTML loaded in the browser window. It is possible that HTML contained in the framework is out of sync with what's actually in the browser. We cache the DOM for performance reasons. You can use:

ActiveBrowser.RefreshDomTree();

This forces the framework to resync it's copy of the DOM with what's actually contained in the browser. See if ActiveBrowser.ViewSourceString is now different after clicking on your "Export to CSV" button/link.

Feel free to post questions like this on our Telerik Testing Framework forum. http://www.telerik.com/automated-testing-tools/community/forums/webui-test-studio-developer-edition/webaii-automation-framework.aspx . This is where I hang out daily.

Cody