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Load Testing Blog

AngularJs domain name filter

Until now, we used default names such as 'Untitled VU' for virtual users created in octoperf, our load testing tool. That's not very relevant. So we changed it to the domain name of the tested website.

The load tester selects a URL to test, and we need to extract the domain name from it.

A nice trick is to create an hyperlink element <a href="..."/>. Then we can retrieve the hostname, parsed by the browser. So instead of relying on a regex we use the browser built-in URI parsing capabilities. It's easier and safer.

TypeScript using WebStorm

We use AngularJs at OctoPerf.com, for the frontend of our load testing tool. As AngularJs V2 quick start guide uses TypeScript, I think it's a good motivation to give it a try.

Prerequisite

Node.js and npm must be installed to run this sample. WebStorm is used to automatically transpile our .ts files (compile them to .js ones).

We can also use the command line transpiler:

  • npm install -g typescript to install it.
  • tsc --watch -m commonjs greeter.ts to transpile it.

Base tools for bloggers

To follow up on my article about creating blog based on Jekyll, Bootstrap4, Grunt, Bower and hosted on GitHub pages, I'm adding ways of measuring and increasing the number of visitors.

This article is a quick tutorial to do the same, starting from the blog template:

  • Get to know how many visitors are caught in your blog using Google Analytics,
  • Generate a Sitemap.xml using Jekyll and feed it to Google,
  • Embed Twitter buttons,
  • And use Disqus to handle your articles comments.

Load Testing Reports Exporting

This short post describes the modifications made to OctoPerf for its last update, and how they can help you save time while load testing.

Our goal is, and has always been, to ease the work of load testers. Creating test reports using Word / Excel can take a lot of time.

Exporting the report

That's why we automated this process in OctoPerf, our load testing solution. Even as your performance bench is running, you can edit the generated report:

  • List errors to check that your virtual users are properly configured,
  • Add various charts to identify performance bottleneck,
  • Insert text to explain what could be donne to improve response times,
  • Give your conclusions to the stakeholders.

You can have a complete test report, ready to be delivered, as soon as the bench ends. And now, you can directly export it from OctoPerf into a PDF file.

How can you tell that a web developer is working?

You can hear him Grunting!

The problem

I want my blog (the one your’re reading) to be statically and freely served, using my own domain name. I want it to be maintainable and easy to update. And first of all, I really do not have much time for this, so it must be up and running in a few hours.

The solution

Bye bye WordPress, Welcome Jekyll. I can handle a couple lines of PHP but it's not my cup of tea. And WP breaks the static rule, so as the maintainable one. I previously used Jekyll to create the OctoPerf website. And as you may ask yourself why the bad joke about Grunt: I used it with Bower to create the frontend of our load testing solution.

Jekyll is a really handy tool. The kind of tool that you can use even without first reading the documentation (my preferred kind!). And when you face a problem, the solution is placed in the first 3 results of Google. The first one often being their manual that you didn't read.
But Jekyll doesn't come with dependencies management, and the couple Grunt/Bower is to JavaScript what Maven or Ant/Ivy is to Java: a nice build solution.