This topic explains how to determine which browser is used to play previously-recorded scenarios. This allows you to setup cross-browser testing. For information on how to playback/execute recorded browser tests, see Executing Functional Tests.

About Browser Playback Options

By default, the browser used for recording the web scenario is also the browser used for playback, but you can configure the scenario to use a different browser or all available browsers. Test or run configurations (in SOAtest and Virtualize, respectively), also allow you to specify which browser to use for playback "on the fly" so that your scenario plays back in the browser you recorded in by default, as well as play it back in a different browser (or all browsers) by simply running the appropriate configuration.

If you want to ensure that a scenario is played only in the browser with which it was recorded (e.g., because the web page structure is significantly different on other browsers and the scenario would need to be constructed differently on another browser), you can configure the scenario to be played only in the specified browser.

Modifying Browser Playback Settings

To modify the scenario’s browser playback settings (the settings used during playback unless another option is explicitly selected as described in Specifying the Browser at the Time of Playback below):

  1. Open the scenario’s configuration panel (double-click its node).
  2. Open the Browser Playback Options tab.
  3. At the top of the tab, specify the engine you want to use for web scenario playback. Selenium is required for Safari, Edge, and HTML 5 support.
  4. At the top of the tab, specify the browser you want the scenario played in.
    • If you want to ensure that this scenario is never played in an alternate browser (e.g., because the web page structure is significantly different on other browsers and the scenario would need to be constructed differently on another browser), select Browsers specified here only.
    • With Any browser selected, each web scenario could have a different browser playback setting, and each scenario could run in a different browser depending on its settings. This allows you to have your scenario played back in the browser you recorded in by default, as well as play it back in a different browser or all  browsers by simply running the appropriate test or run configuration.

Specifying the Browser at the Time of Playback 

You can override the scenario’s browser playback settings at the time of execution if the scenario does not have Run in specified browser only enabled by configuring your Run Configuration to use the desired browser (via Execution tab settings), then running the action suite with that Run Configuration.

  1. Select the web scenario’s Test Case Explorer node.
  2. Choose the desired Test Configuration from  Parasoft> Test Using> Built-In> Functional Testing
    • Run Web Functional Tests in All Browsers: Executes each test in all available browsers.
    • Run Web Functional Tests in Browser Specified by Tests: Executes each test using the browser playback settings configured in the test scenario’s Browser Playback Options tab. If you have multiple scenarios, each with different browser playback settings, this Test Configuration would run all the scenarios in the designated browser(s).
    • Run Web Functional Tests in Chrome: Executes each test in Chrome. If a test was configured to run only in Internet Explorer and/or Firefox, no testing will be performed.
    • Run Web Functional Tests in Edge: Executes each test in Microsoft Edge. If a test was configured to run only in Internet Explorer and/or Chrome, no testing will be performed.
    • Run Web Functional Tests in Firefox: Executes each test in Firefox. If a test was configured to run only in Internet Explorer and/or Chrome, no testing will be performed.
    • Run Web Functional Tests in Internet Explorer: Executes each test in Internet Explorer. If a test was configured to run only in Firefox and/or Chrome, no testing will be performed.



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