Playback Settings for a Visual Test

You can use the following playback settings to configure the playback behavior of a visual test:

Application Ready Timeout

Specifies the number of milliseconds to wait for a newly launched application to become ready. If the application is not ready within the specified timeout, Silk Test Workbench raises an exception.

Buttons to close windows

Specifies the buttons used to close windows with the CloseSynchron method.

Buttons to confirm dialogs

Specifies the buttons used to close confirmation dialog boxes that appear when closing windows with the CloseSynchron method.

Close unresponsive applications

Specifies whether unresponsive applications are closed. An application is unresponsive if communication between the Agent and the application fails, e.g. times out.

Close window timeout

Specifies the number of milliseconds to wait before the next close strategy is tried. The Agent executes four close attempts before failing, so the total time before a close fails is four times the value you specify.

Control capture
Enables Silk Test Workbench to capture controls and their properties during playback. If the control capture setting in the Record Options is set to No, this option is overridden and controls are captured during playback.
Note: If the Screen capture setting is set to None for recording, you must set Control capture to Yes and the playback Screen capture setting to a value other than None to capture controls for playback.
Ensure object is active

Ensures that the target object is active.

Highlight object during playback

Specifies whether the current object is highlighted during playback.

Keyboard event delay

Sets the delay in milliseconds between playback of keyboard strokes.

Be aware that the optimal number you select can vary, depending on the application that you are testing. For example, if you are testing a Web application, a setting of 1 millisecond radically slows down the browser. However, setting this to 0 (zero) may cause basic application testing to fail.

Keys to close dialogs

Specifies the keystroke sequence to close dialog boxes that open after trying to close a window with the CloseSynchron method. Examples include: <ESC>, <Alt+F4>.

Menu items to close windows

Specifies the menu items used to close windows with the CloseSynchron method. Examples include: "File/Exit*", "File/Quit*".

Mouse event delay

Specifies the delay in milliseconds used before each mouse event.

Object enabled timeout
Specifies the time in milliseconds to wait for an object to be enabled during playback. As soon as the object is enabled, Silk Test Workbench can interact with it. For example, if the object is a button, Silk Test Workbench can click it when it is enabled.
Object resolve timeout

Specifies the time in milliseconds to wait for an object to be resolved during playback. As soon as the object is resolved, Silk Test Workbench can recognize it.

Playback mode

Defines how controls are replayed. Use low level to replay each control using the mouse and keyboard. Use high level to use the API to replay each control. All controls have a default playback mode assigned. When the default replay mode is selected, each control uses its default playback mode. The default mode delivers the most reliable results. Selecting low or high level playback overrides the playback mode of all controls with the playback mode selected.

Result pass criteria (percentage)

Sets the overall criteria to define the success of future runs. For example, a result pass criteria of 90% means that at least 9 out of 10 verifications must pass for the result of the playback to pass.

Save all information

Specifies whether all information for a visual test is saved after playback finishes.

Screen capture

Determines how Silk Test Workbench captures test application screens during playback.

Select from the following options:
  • Same as Recorded – Use the same setting as the Screen capture setting that existed in the Record options when the visual test was recorded.
  • Active Window – Capture only the test application's active window during recording.
  • Application – Capture the test application and any windows within the test application.
  • Desktop – Capture screens of all applications, including the test application, that are visible in the desktop during recording.
  • None – Captures no screens during recording.
    Note: When this setting is set to None, no controls or screens are captured in the Results window, regardless of the values specified in the Control capture and Screen capture (test steps) settings.
Screen capture (test steps)

Determines whether Silk Test Workbench captures individual screens for the test application during recording. This enables you to view the actions that occur on individual screens in Screen Preview in conjunction with individual test steps in the Test Steps pane. Additionally, you can compare the screens that are recorded during playback against the screens captured when the visual test was first recorded if test step screens were captured during recording also.

Select from the following options:
  • Same as Recorded – Use the same setting as the Screen capture (test steps) setting that existed in the Record options when the visual test was recorded.
  • Yes – Capture screens during recording. Use the Screen capture setting to determine how the screens are captured.
  • No – Captures no individual test steps during playback. If the Screen capture setting is set to anything other than None, the group screen associated with the individual test step is displayed in Screen Preview.
Screenshot delay

Specifies the number of milliseconds to wait once focus has been set to a new window before taking a screen shot of the window.

Synchronization exclude list

Specifies the URL for the service or Web page that you want to exclude during page synchronization. Some AJAX frameworks or browser applications use special HTTP requests, which are permanently open in order to retrieve asynchronous data from the server. These requests may let the synchronization hang until the specified synchronization timeout expires. To prevent this situation, either use the HTML synchronization mode or specify the URL of the problematic request in the Synchronization exclude list setting.

Separate multiple URLs with a comma. Type the entire URL or a fragment of the URL, such as http://test.com/timeService or timeService.

Synchronization mode

Configures the supported synchronization mode for HTML or AJAX. Using the HTML mode ensures that all HTML documents are in an interactive state. With this mode, you can test simple Web pages. If more complex scenarios with Java script are used, it might be necessary to manually script synchronization functions. Using the AJAX mode eliminates the need to manually script synchronization functions.

Synchronization timeout

Specifies the maximum time in milliseconds for an object to be ready.

Unresponsive application timeout

Specifies the timeout in milliseconds for canceling pending playback actions.