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31 May 2012

watir-webdriver tests at TestingBot

by Željko Filipin

Random photo: Varaždin, Croatia.

To make it explicit: I am not affiliated with TestingBot or Sauce Labs.

A few days ago I wrote about how to run watir-webdriver tests at Sauce Labs OnDemand. I have also noticed that watir-webdriver tests are pretty slow at Sauce Labs OnDemand.

Jari Bakken suggested to use net-http-persistent gem to speed things up. Jochen Delabie suggested I should try TestingBot. So, I have decided to try both.

TestingBot is pretty much the same service as Sauce Labs OnDemand. There is also 200 minutes of free trial, and the prices are a bit lower than Sauce Labs OnDemand. If you have used Sauce Labs OnDemand, TestingBot will look familiar. If you have not used Sauce Labs OnDemand, read the last couple of articles I have wrote here.

So, what you need to do to run your tests at TestingBot?

If you already run tests at Sauce Labs OnDemand:

require "watir-webdriver"
caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.firefox
caps.version = "11"
caps.platform = :LINUX
caps[:name] = "testing this cloud thing"
browser = Watir::Browser.new(
  :remote,
  :url => "http://username:api-key@ondemand.saucelabs.com:80/wd/hub",
  :desired_capabilities => caps)

you only have to change caps.version and :url. Depending on the platform and browser, check if you have to change other settings too. (Supported operating systems: Sauce Labs OnDemand, TestingBot.)

require "watir-webdriver"
caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.firefox
caps.version = 11
caps.platform = :LINUX
caps[:name] = "testing this cloud thing"
browser = Watir::Browser.new(
  :remote,
  :url => "http://key:secret@hub.testingbot.com:80/wd/hub",
  :desired_capabilities => caps)

Of course, replace key and secret with your credentials.

I have run pretty much the same script as in the previous post. The script opens the browser, goes to 9 sites and closes the browser. Actually, it does that with and without using net-http-persistent gem, on a local browser, at Sauce Labs OnDemand and at TestingBot.

watir-webdriver tests at TestingBot : local, sauce labs, testingbot

location os browser net- http- persistent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 average median deviation min max average net-http-persistent improvement (%) slower than local (times)
local mac 10.7 firefox 12 FALSE 20 18 20 22 18 15 16 17 17 16 18 18 2 15 22    
local mac 10.7 firefox 12 TRUE 14 16 16 16 21 15 18 16 15 15 16 16 1 14 21 9  
sauce windows 7 firefox 11 FALSE 75 59 56 57 65 56 96 62 64   66 62 9 56 96   3.7
sauce windows 7 firefox 11 TRUE 63 50 50   84 60 54 50 82 51 60 54 11 50 84 8 3.7
testingbot Windows 2008 firefox 11 FALSE 31 35 31 33 30 33 31 32 31 33 32 32 1 30 35   1.8
testingbot Windows 2008 firefox 11 TRUE 30 33 31 31 30 30 30 31 31 31 31 31 1 30 33 4 1.9

(I could not figure out how to make the last two columns display rounded numbers.)

What do the numbers say?

net-http-persistent gem this time helped to reduce test run time up to 10%, but other tests showed up to 15% shorter times.

TestingBot is still about 2 times slower than running a local browser, but Sauce Labs OnDemand is about 4 times slower. So, running tests at TestingBot is about 2 times faster than at Sauce Labs OnDemand.

tags: code - ruby