What's New

Renaming of Rational® Test products

The following Rational® Test products have new names starting from 11.0.0:

Support for JSONPath in data correlation rules

Support for Citrix Workspace App 23.03

Rational Performance Tester now supports Citrix Workspace App 23.03. Recording a Citrix test

Support to control test runs for error handling

A new error condition Test Verdict Failed is added to Error handling to manage the test when the overall verdict of the test is failed. The error condition can control the behavior of the test and can contribute to the health of the test. See Error conditions.

Support to delete any row or all rows in datasets

You can now use new two methods to delete rows in a dataset. When you use IDatasetController in a custom code, you can use the following two methods to delete rows:

IDatasetController.deleteRows(fromIndex, toIndex) - You can use this method to specify a range of rows to delete. The index starts at 1.

IDatasetController.deleteAllRows() - You can use this method to delete all the rows in the dataset.

See Deleting rows in a dataset.

Customizing names of exported statistical reports

You can now specify a pattern that defines the file names of the exported statistical reports when you run tests from the command line. See Command-line parameters

Support to run tests or resources as a GitHub Action

You can now run tests or resources that are contained in your project in Rational Performance Tester as a GitHub Action from a Git repository. See Configuration of test runs as a GitHub Actions Workflow.

Error reports for dropped connections

Previously, during test runs or schedules, the system under test occasionally dropped the connection, however, the error was reported as a server timeout. Rational Performance Tester now reports the error condition for a dropped connection separately. See Error conditions.

Support to view the type of correlation for Test References

Changed the assets.xml to assets.yaml

Rational Performance Tester now writes details of the assets to the assets.yaml file, which was previously written to the assets.xml file. You can view the assets.xml file is deleted and new assets.yaml file is added. You can now easily check in and merge the assets.yaml file when there is a conflict.

You can now integrate Instana with Rational Performance Tester to enhance data collection in performance tests. When you select the Enable Instana option, Rational Performance Tester filters the HTTP headers and adds them to the request in tests to collate data about the pages and transactions.

Enhancement to an IF condition comparison

Rational Performance Tester is now enhanced to perform a digit comparison when you apply an IF condition to a test or a schedule. If the digit comparison in the IF condition is successful, the result is displayed as true. Otherwise, it is displayed as false. See Adding conditional logic.

Enhancement to the command line option

Previously, to run all the test assets from the specified folder path, you created a batch file and ran the test from the command line. The command line option is now enhanced so that you can run multiple test assets at a time by using the wildcard character * enclosed in quotes. You can use * in different combinations to specify any or all test assets that are in a folder. See Running multiple tests from the command line.

Support for TLS 1.3

Rational Performance Tester now supports TLS 1.3. You can record websites that support TLS 1.3 and play back the recorded test.

Removed option to discard time measurements for unhealthy transactions from preferences

Previously, you were able to select the option to discard time measurements for unhealthy transactions in the Test Execution Preferences (Windows > Preferences > Preferences > Test > Test Execution). You can now select the option in the Details tab of a schedule. See Schedule properties.

Enhancements to address the reporting of failed requests

Previously, Rational Performance Tester did not include the response times in the performance reports when the primary requests failed, and this might have caused the reports to be misinterpreted. Rational Performance Tester is now enhanced as follows:

• The response codes are included in the response code verification points as the default option. You can disable the default option from the preferences, if you want the response codes to be ignored.
• The option to discard the response times for the pages that fail is now provided for a schedule. Rational Performance Tester reports the response time for unhealthy pages as the default option.
• The Performance report summary displays the healthy pages recorded as a percentage.

Enhancements to the Jenkins plugin

You can now define the build parameters during the configuration of either Freestyle or Pipeline projects in Jenkins. You can then use those build parameters to run the Jenkins job. See Build parameters for Jenkins.

Support to show or hide SAP GUI during the test runtime

You can now change the behavior of the display of SAP GUI during the test run time irrespective of preferences that you configured in GUI on execution section. See Changing preferences for SAP test generation.

Support to modify regular expressions for SAP Object Identifier

You can now modify the identifier of an SAP script object by updating the regular expression in the SAP GUI Object Information section. See SAP set details.

You can now copy the contents of the table, which is in the HTML format, from the web analytics reports by using the Copy icon . See HTTP performance test reports.

Support for the Application Performance Management (APM) in a schedule

You can now use AppDynamics application with Rational Performance Tester to enhance the data collection by adding filters based on HTTP headers that you used in tests. See Using Application Performance Management in a schedule.

Enhancements to integration plugins

The following table lists the parameters added in Rational Performance Tester 10.2.3 with the checkmark icon for each of the integration plugins:

Parameters	Integration plugins
	Azure DevOps	IBM UrbanCode™ Deploy	MicroFocus ALM	Ant	Jenkins
Duration
Exportlog
Publish
Publish_for
Publishreports
Rate
History
Exportstatsformat
Labels
Exportstatshtml
Exportstatreportlist
Exportstats
Overwrite
Configfile
Results
Usercomments
Users

The following topics provide more information about parameters for each of the integration plugins:

• Running tests from Azure DevOps as a Pipeline job

• Configuring the process in UrbanCode Deploy

• Configuring test scripts in Micro Focus ALM

• Running tests by using Ant

• Configuring the Freestyle project in Jenkins

Viewing test run results on the Azure Test Plans dashboard

See Running tests from Azure DevOps as a Pipeline job.

Support to auto-save the load test profile details of test assets

Rational Performance Tester now automatically saves the load test profile details of tests, compound tests, vu schedules, and rate schedules.

Support to run tests from the Jenkins pipeline projects

You can now use the Rational Performance Tester Jenkins plugin to run the test assets from the Jenkins Pipeline projects. See Integration with Jenkins.

Support to add labels from Jenkins

You can now add labels to test results when you run test assets from Jenkins by specifying a value in the Labels field. See Configuring the Freestyle project or Creating a pipeline script from Jenkins.

Support to add labels from Ant

You can now add labels to test results when you run test assets from Ant by specifying a value for the labels parameter. See Running tests by using Ant.

Access to properties of a dataset through a custom code

You can now get the properties of the dataset through custom code. When a test asset is associated with a dataset by using a custom code, you can write the properties of the dataset to the test logs. See Getting the properties of a dataset.

Based on the JSON Path expression that you entered in the Regular Expression field, you can now extract the Reference value. See Selecting a Reference in a response.

The Errors page of the performance report now displays a graph to show errors against the time that occurred during the playback of the test or schedule. See Performance reports.

You can now provide a name for individual HTTP requests from the HTTP Requests Details pane to use the short or meaningful name for requests. You can view the same name from the Page Elements Performance Report and thus you can sort or trace Requests efficiently. See HTTP request details.

If the test includes requests with various response codes, you can now view those response codes from the Statistics Session Viewer window. You can right-click the test result and select Open With > Statistics Session Viewer > Run > HTTP Detailed Status Code to access response codes.

If you use Rational Integration Tester extension to run integration tests from Rational Performance Tester, then the INTEGRATION_TESTER_HOME and INTEGRATION_TESTER_AGENT_HOME environment variables are now automatically created when you install Rational Integration Tester 10.2.2 or later.

Support to add labels from the command-line interface

You can now add labels by using a new parameter called -labels to test results when you run test assets from the command-line interface. See Running a test or schedule from a command line.

The execution agent is now renamed as the UI Test Agent

The execution agent that was delivered along with Rational Performance Tester Agent 10.2.0 is now renamed as the UI Test Agent. Previously, you started the execution agent manually in 10.2.0. Now, the UI Test Agent is started automatically after the installation of Rational Performance Tester Agent.

Introducing the new execution agent as part of Rational Performance Tester Agent installation

You can now install an execution agent as part of Rational Performance Tester Agent installation process. You can now perform the automation testing of Windows-based desktop applications, mobile web, hybrid applications on iOS and Android mobiles by using the execution agent. See Installing DevOps Test Performance Agent.

Support for application performance management tools

You can now use the Dynatrace application with Rational Performance Tester to enhance the data collection by adding filters based on HTTP headers that you used in tests. See Using Application Performance Management in a schedule.

Using a JSON notation in a reference for an HTTP test

If a request or a response contains the JSON data, then the test editor displays a value in a more readable JSON format. If you create a reference in the JSON data, you can now use the JSON notation instead of a regular expression to locate the JSON value at run time. See Creating a Reference or a Field Reference.

You can now record and play back tests of SAP applications built with the SAP GUI client 7.7.

Sorting the HTTP pages in a performance report

In a performance report, you can now sort the order of the HTTP pages that are captured in a test or schedule either by alphabetical order or order of execution of the HTTP pages. See HTTP performance test reports.

Documentation

You can now quickly add your comments to provide your feedback about the documentation for Rational Performance Tester by posting to a product forum. To add your comments as feedback, you must first register at IBM Support. Your login information along with your comments are governed by the privacy policy of IBM. By commenting, you accept the terms of use of IBM.

Exporting test results to JSON

When you want to analyze test results in a text format, you can now export all test results or a specific test result that you captured during a test run to a JSON file. See Methods to export test results into a JSON file.

Importing a CSV file with a separator character

You can now import a CSV file that has a separator character into the dataset and configure the required separator values in the CSV Editor. See Editing datasets.

Adding a Verification point to an SAP object

You can now add a verification point to an SAP object in the SAP GUI Grid View to verify the state of the SAP object after the SAP recording is complete. See Adding a verification point to an SAP GUI Grid View object.

You can now record certain SAP transactions from a running SAP GUI session to create a test that contains some specific part of an SAP session. See Recording a specific SAP transaction from a running SAP session.

You can now choose SAP extension when you install Rational Performance Tester on Windows 64-bit operating systems.

• The title of the page in a performance report is now updated with the filter value that you specified in the View Settings pane. See Filtering data in test results.

• In a Transaction report, you can now view the number of transactions that are active during the schedule run and the number of virtual users that execute certain transactions simultaneously. See Transaction report.

• You can now publish large test results from Rational Performance Tester to Rational Test Automation Server. See Publishing test results to the server.

• When you want to analyze the additional counters on a quick view reports, you can now add percentile counters to the counter tree. See Adding additional counters on a separate page.

• You can now define a percentile value as decimal numbers for a counter. See Modifying counters in a graph.

You can now access datasets from a custom code. When a test is associated with a dataset, you can read or write the dataset values from the custom code. See Reading and writing data from a dataset.

When you use the custom code, you can now access the actual name of the schedule in the test log. See Accessing the actual schedule name from the custom code.

HTTP tests now automatically decompress data that were compressed, by using the Brotli encoding format.

Enhancements to Rational Performance Tester integrations

Support for Jaeger traces view

You can now use the Jaeger to view test logs of tests or schedules that you run from the command-line interface to analyze traces of transactions between distributed services. See Integration of Jaeger with the product.

A quick view in reports

You can now add the additional counters on a separate page without editing an existing report to investigate performance issues in detail. See Adding additional counters on a separate page.

Updates to Dataset CSV Editor

The browser-based CSV Editor provides additional options that include Find and Replace, Undo, and Redo to organize your data in the dataset in a better way. See Editing datasets.

Labels for Resource Monitoring sources

In Rational Performance Tester, you can now select the data sources in a schedule based on the labels that you added for the data sources in Rational Test Automation Server. See Enablement of Resource Monitoring services for a schedule.

Environment variables for Jenkins

You can now set environment variables on the Jenkins server as inputs to the text fields that are available for Rational Performance Tester test in a Jenkins build step. See Integration with Jenkins.

Enhancements to Microsoft Azure DevOps integration

You can now integrate Rational Performance Tester with Azure DevOps to run tests as tasks in Azure DevOps pipelines by using the IBM Rational Test Workbench extension that is available in the Visual Studio Marketplace portal. See Integration with Azure DevOps.

Enhancement to performance reports

Enhancements to SAP GUI

Most of the steps are automated now when you record SAP tests by using an SAP batch input test recording wizard. See Recording a SAP batch input test.

Properties Verification Points in Service Test

You can now add verification points for the properties in a test response when you record a service test or after you record the service test. See Adding properties verification points to a test response.

Support for Text message in WebSphere MQ protocol configuration

After you create a WebSphere MQ protocol configuration, now you can change the message format by selecting the Text Message check box in the Message Structure. See Creating a WebSphere MQ protocol configuration.