- Getting Started
- Recording and Running Tests
- Recording Tests
- Continue Recording
- Drag-and-Drop Actions during Recording
- Mobile Testing
- Test Parameters
- Running Tests: Verification Modes
- Running Tests: Advanced Options
- Detecting UI Changes
- Approving Expected Changes to Baseline
- Ignoring UI Regions and Ignore Rules
- Data Driven Testing
- Instruction: How to Check That a File Was Downloaded
- Editing Tests
- Adding and Deleting Steps
- Copying and Pasting Steps
- Changing the Order of Steps (Drag and Drop)
- Smart Selectors
- Selecting UI Elements with Mouse Hover
- Updating Selectors
- Projects and Test Suites
- Test Scheduling
- Invoking Tests
- Extending Tests
- Timeouts
- Verification On / Off
- Visual Verification Tolerance
- Creating Visual Tests Manually
- Importing and Exporting Tests
- Hand-Coded Tests
- Executing Custom Selenium Code
- API and Integration
- F.A.Q.
F.A.Q.
Q. I opened my URL in Screenster recording popup and see a screenshot. What should I do?
A. You can do what you usually do when visiting this page: click on links, type something in text area fields.
Q. I’ve recorded a test and saw that a wrong element was clicked on a certain step. Should I record my test anew to update the click target?
A. No. It is easy to change the target for your action: just open your test in edit mode (the ‘pencil’ button on the top menu), find a proper step, click on an page element on screenshot that you need to interact with, ensure it is highlighted and click on the small ‘index finger’ button in the menu which appears. You’re done!
Q. I keep clicking on items in my global menu but the dropdowns do not appear. What’s wrong?
A. Probably your menu displays dropdowns when you hover over it, not when you click. In order to send a mouse hover command during recording a Screenster test, just right-click on an item and select the “mouseover” option in a small menu which appears.
Q. I have recorded a test with registration in an online service. It keeps failing during replay. Why?
A. During replay Screenster tries to perform registration with the same credentials as before. It won’t work. Try modifying the credentials before another test execution. In case you need a repeatable registration scenario, click to edit your login step and input the following entry: “${milliseconds}”. Thus Screenster will type a different text each time.
Q. I launched the execution of my test on demo.screenster.io, but it remains in ‘about to start’ stage. What happened?
A. Most likely many people are running their tests at the moment, so the demo’s queue is full. Please wait a few minutes and your test will start.
Q. I started recording a test, took a few steps then got distracted for a few minutes. What happened with my test?
A. Your test was automatically saved after the recording has timed out.
Q. My test worked fine for a while, then one day it got broken. I see an error message on one of the steps. What should I do with it?
A. Test can break if the website against which it was recorded is down or has structurally changed to the point where Screenster can not play back the recorded tests steps. Check the error message, make sure the new screenshot is what you expect and that the target element for the step is present and locatable. If you are unable to resolve an issue on your own, or if it looks like an internal Screenster error, please click the ‘Report a problem’ link (at the top) and send us a report describing the problem. We will look into it; but please be informed that we prioritize requests from our paying customers.
Q. I cannot delete a test / a series of tests. Why?
A. Deletion of a test can be blocked if:
- Test is in progress (of recording or replay);
- Test was added to a Suite – you have to remove it from there first;
- Test was extended or invoked in another test – in this case another test is using this one so you have to remove a corresponding command first.
Q. Help! My page keeps refreshing / I cannot click on a link / I cannot type a text!
A. It is possible that some hidden CSS elements or scripts on your page make it impossible for Selenium service (which Screenster uses) to interact with it. Please send us the error report, it will help us investigate.
In the meantime, you can try creating a test for your page manually. If you open a project page with all tests (you need to click on the ‘Tests’ link in the breadcrumbs), there will be a ‘+’ button in the menu above. Click it and input your starting URL to create a new test. After you execute it once, screenshots will appear and you will be able to add new commands. Sometimes this works better.
Q. Can I run several tests at the same time?
A. Yes. A locally installed Screenster Server, as well as a cloud hosted one, allows multiple concurrent test runs. See our Pricing page for details.
Q. My page is protected by basic HTTP authentication. But Screenster does not display the authentication popup when I open it. What should I do?
A. Screenster does not show the popup for this kind of authentication. However you can use the following URL format when recording a test: http://yourlogin:yourpassword@yourdomain.com.
Q. I’ve recorded a test and executed it again, to create a full-size baseline, as instructed. This run takes more time than the first one. Why?
A. Creating a full-size baseline includes assessing page structure, analyzing your input (with the help of Screenster’s smart logic) and preparing interactive screenshots for each step. Don’t worry, future runs will be completed faster.
Q. If I install Screenster locally, are browsers packaged with it or does it use local ones?
A. Screenster uses its own embedded Chrome and Firefox. You don’t need to have them installed to use Screenster.
Q. Are Screenster’s browsers up-to-date?
A. We are updating them on a regular basis. If you install it locally, you’ll be able to check the browsers’ versions by visiting their folders.
Q. Can I use Screenster for mobile testing?
A. You can select various kinds of mobile resolutions (or setting your custom resolution) before recording a test. The resolution selection dropdown can be found on the recording popup. Or you can just specify a mobile browser client there, for a test in Chrome.
Q. I’ve accidentally run a green test targeting my website which was down at the time. I’ve deleted this last run. Why the test status is still red?
A. With Screenster, you need to rerun a test in order to change its status. If you delete a latest run with errors, it will not be displayed in the main table below FF or Chrome, because another run (which is now the latest one) will be shown there. But the test status will still be red, because the latest result was saved there separately.
Q. I want to approve / ignore some changes in my Chrome run, but when I click to edit the test, it shows me the run in Firefox. What’s the matter?
A. Looks like your last run was in Firefox. Opening test in Edit mode loads its latest run. You need to rerun this test in Chrome in order to proceed.
Q. I’ve just recorded my first test. I am going to add a new step manually. Where is the ‘Invoke’ option?
A. It will appear when there will be any non-draft tests to invoke. You cannot invoke a test inside itself.
Q. I’ve just logged in. Why cannot I import my test? It keeps telling me that the format is incorrect.
A. Make sure you have created a project and opened it before importing tests. The Import button on the home page is for project import – this requires zipped project files, test files won’t do.
Q. Trying to connect to my JIRA from a Screenster test. It says that my credentials are wrong, though I am 100% sure they are correct. Please advise.
A. Probably JIRA wants you to pass captcha during login. Just try to log in to it in the same browser. After you pass the captcha once, you can try logging in from your Screenster test again.
Q. If I acquire a paid plan, will I get my monthly limits and concurrent runs on your Demo server?
A. No, the Demo is for demonstration purposes only, paid users don’t have any advantages there. You’ll be able to use our another cloud server.
Q. I’ve recorded / executed a test on the cloud server. After that I’ve noticed that the number of my remaining local runs for this month was decreased by 3. Why?
A. Yes, this is correct: one run in the cloud equals to 3 local runs. See our Pricing page for details.
Q. I’ve recorded a test. Now I need to run it against different URLs, continuously. Please advise.
A. Extract the test URL as a parameter, then create a dataset specifying any kinds of values for this URL parameter, and then execute this test with this dataset getting a special test run for each URL you’ve specified.
Q. If I install Screenster locally, will my tests be stored in your cloud?
A. No. Everything will be stored on your side. We won’t have any access to your data in this case.
Q. Are you guys planning to add Linux support?
A. Yes, in one of the future releases. Probably later this year, because we have many other features in our scope.