WatirGrid allows running Watir tests in parallel across multiple browsers by distributing the tests across remote "providers". It was created in 2007 and packaged as a Ruby gem in 2009. WatirGrid takes the advantages of Watir and multiplies its use in a distributed, parallel, and coordinated way by running "1 test case across many browsers". It is built on standard Ruby libraries and allows controlling Watir objects remotely.
2. About
In 2007, WatirGrid was created by Dane Avilla (brilliant!)
In 2009, I packaged it as a gem , gave it a domain
watirgid.com and have since maintained it …
Tim Koopmans
@90kts
taking the FUD out of performance and test automation...
5. WatirGrid
Takes all the advantages of Watir …
//todo
And multiplies its use in a distributed,
parallel and coordinated fashion…
In other words “1 test case, many browsers”
6. WatirGrid is Distributed
Built with standard DRb packages.
Completely written in Ruby using core
libraries.
Lets you control Watir objects remotely with
transmission passed by reference.
I, [2011-03-24 13:45:06 #1057] INFO -- :
DRb server started on : druby://192.168.1.6:50600
I, [2011-03-24 13:45:06 #1057] INFO -- :
Ring server started on: druby://192.168.1.6:7647
7. WatirGrid is Parallel
WatirGrid uses Threads to execute Watir test
cases in parallel (sort of). Threads execute on
remote Watir objects, offloading any
processing overheads …
threads = []
grid.browsers.each_with_index do |browser, index|
threads << Thread.new do
...
end
end
threads.each {|thread| thread.join}
8. WatirGrid is Coordinated
Based on Rinda, the Ruby version of Linda
…
Linda is a model of coordination and communication
among several parallel processes operating upon objects
stored in and retrieved from shared, virtual, associative
memory. [1]
[1] Markoff, John (January 19, 1992). "David Gelernter's Romance With Linda". The New York Times.
9. WatirGrid is Free
Uses the BSD license[1]
[1] https://github.com/90kts/watirgrid/raw/master/LICENSE
10. Key Terminology
Controllers implements a repository of tuples (tuple
space) that can be accessed concurrently. The controller
hosts the ring server which advertises these tuples across
a grid network. Typically you will host one controller on a
central machine.
Providers make remote Watir objects available to the
tuple space hosted by the ring server. Typically you will
host one or many providers on your grid network, for
example, each PC may become a single provider of a
Watir tuple in the form of an Internet Explorer, Firefox or
Safari browser object.
12. = the Grid
A loosely coupled, distributed workforce …
13. A Canned Example # 1
If you haven‟t already …
gem install watirgrid
Something simple …
require 'watirgrid'
# Start a Controller
controller = Controller.new
controller.start
# Start a Provider with SafariWatir
provider = Provider.new(:browser_type => 'safari')
provider.start
# Create a Grid
grid = Watir::Grid.new
grid.start(:take_all => true)
14. What Just Happened?
Started a Controller
DRb server was started on a random port
A Rinda Ring Server was started on port 7647
INFO -- : DRb server started on : druby://192.168.1.6:51163
INFO -- : Ring server started on: druby://192.168.1.6:7647
Started 1 Provider (using SafariWatir)
DRb server started on a random port
The Ring Server was found on port 7647
A browser “tuple” was registed on the Ring Server
INFO -- : DRb server started on : druby://192.168.1.6:51164
INFO -- : Ring server found on : druby://192.168.1.6:7647
INFO -- : New tuple registered : druby://192.168.1.6:7647
15. What Just Happened?
Created a Grid
We can see the previously registered tuple
represented as a hash. We‟ll be using the „front
object‟ provided …
>> pp grid.browsers.first
{:uuid=>"235fa1f0-37fd-012e-5bac-78ca394083a0",
:browser_type=>"safari",
:class=>:WatirProvider,
:hostname=>"air.local",
:object=>#<Watir::Provider:0x10166a240 @browser=Watir::Safari>,
:name=>:WatirGrid,
:architecture=>"universal-darwin10.0",
:description=>"A watir provider"}
16. Let‟s Use the Grid!
Take the first (and only) browser on the grid
and execute some Watir …
# Take the first browser on the grid and execute some Watir
b = grid.browsers.first[:object].new_browser
b.goto "http://altentee.com"
b.close
17. A Canned Example # 2
Let‟s try with 2 providers …
require 'watirgrid'
# Start a Controller using defaults
controller = Controller.new
controller.start
# Start 2 Providers with WebDriver
2.times do
provider = Provider.new(:browser_type => 'webdriver')
provider.start
End
# Start another Grid
grid = Watir::Grid.new
grid.start(:take_all => true)
18. Let‟s Use the Grid!
Take all browsers on the grid in parallel using
Threads …
browser_types = [:firefox, :chrome]
threads = []
grid.browsers.each_with_index do |browser, index|
threads << Thread.new do
b = browser[:object].new_browser(browser_types[index])
b.goto "http://altentee.com"
sleep 5
b.close
end
end
threads.each {|thread| thread.join}
19. Let‟s all Try .. 1
I‟ll start a new Controller on port 12358
require 'watirgrid'
# Start a Controller on port 12358
controller = Controller.new(:ring_server_port => 12358)
controller.start
20. Let‟s all Try .. 2
You start a Provider and register on my
Controller
require 'watirgrid'
provider = Provider.new(
browser_type => ‟firefox', # or ie, safari ...
:ring_server_port => 12358)
provider.start
21. Let‟s all Try .. 3!
See if I can control the grid …
require 'watirgrid'
# Start another Grid
grid = Watir::Grid.new
grid.start(:take_all => true)
threads = []
grid.browsers.each do |browser|
threads << Thread.new do
b = browser[:object].new_browser
b.goto("http://www.google.com")
b.text_field(:name, 'q').set("watirgrid")
b.button(:name, "btnI").click
b.close
end
end
threads.each {|thread| thread.join}
22. Security Considerations
$SAFE = 1
- poor man‟s paranoia
- on latest branch
ACLs
# Start a Controller with Access Control Lists
controller -a deny,all,allow,127.0.0.1 -H 127.0.0.1 -h 127.0.0.1
HTTPS
- not yet implemented
23. Performance
Considerations
Yes, but does it scale? 50..n
Ruby threads 1.8 vs. native threads 1.9, truly parallel?
Garbage collection cleaning up referenced objects!
Memory footprint of Controller? 100 Providers = 20MB
24. What‟$ Next?
GRIDinit.com => a commercial
implementation of WatirGrid on
different cloud providers.
Private alpha April – May,
Public beta June
support@gridinit.com
to participate …
The standard Ruby library ships with a package known as DRb. You will sometimes see this package referred to as dRuby. No matter what you call the package, they both mean the same thing, Distributed Ruby. DRb is an incredibly easy package to learn and use. It has the benefits of being written completely in Ruby and using core libraries. It also offers advantages such as automatic selection of object transmission (either pass by value or pass by reference), reasonable speed, and the ability to run on any operat- ing system that runs Ruby (see Figure 1-1). DRb also allows you to write applications without a defined interface, which can make for faster development time.
When reviewing all of our DRb applications, you will notice, for a start, that we hardcoded IP addresses and ports into both our servers and clients. This type of tight coupling of applications can be problematic in both production and development. It can make fault tolerance difficult to code for. And what do you do if you need to start the service on a different machine that has a different IP address? We could also cre- ate and attempt to maintain complex configurations, but in the modern world of cloud computing IP addresses fluctuate every time you launch an instance. So, keep- ing those configuration files up to date would be extremely complicated and prone to error. That is certainly not an option.
require 'watirgrid'require 'pp'# Start a Controllercontroller = Controller.newcontroller.start# Start a Provider with SafariWatirprovider = Provider.new(:browser_type => 'safari')provider.startgrid = Watir::Grid.newgrid.start(:take_all => true)# Look at the Gridpp grid.browsers.first# Take the first browser on the grid and execute some Watirb = grid.browsers.first[:object].new_browserb.goto "http://altentee.com"b.close
require 'watirgrid'# Start a Controller using defaultscontroller = Controller.newcontroller.start# Start 2 Providers with WebDriver2.times do provider = Provider.new(:browser_type => 'webdriver') provider.startend# Start another Gridgrid = Watir::Grid.newgrid.start(:take_all => true)browser_types = [:firefox, :chrome]threads = [] grid.browsers.each_with_index do |browser, index| threads << Thread.new do b = browser[:object].new_browser(browser_types[index]) b.goto "http://altentee.com" sleep 5 b.close end endthreads.each {|thread| thread.join}
require 'watirgrid'# Start a Controller using defaultscontroller = Controller.newcontroller.start# Start 2 Providers with WebDriver2.times do provider = Provider.new(:browser_type => 'webdriver') provider.startend# Start another Gridgrid = Watir::Grid.newgrid.start(:take_all => true)browser_types = [:firefox, :chrome]threads = [] grid.browsers.each_with_index do |browser, index| threads << Thread.new do b = browser[:object].new_browser(browser_types[index]) b.goto "http://altentee.com" sleep 5 b.close end endthreads.each {|thread| thread.join}
require 'watirgrid'# Start a Controller using defaultscontroller = Controller.newcontroller.start# Start 2 Providers with WebDriver2.times do provider = Provider.new(:browser_type => 'webdriver') provider.startend# Start another Gridgrid = Watir::Grid.newgrid.start(:take_all => true)browser_types = [:firefox, :chrome]threads = [] grid.browsers.each_with_index do |browser, index| threads << Thread.new do b = browser[:object].new_browser(browser_types[index]) b.goto "http://altentee.com" sleep 5 b.close end endthreads.each {|thread| thread.join}
require 'watirgrid'# Start another Gridgrid = Watir::Grid.newgrid.start(:take_all => true)threads = [] grid.browsers.each do |browser| threads << Thread.new do b = browser[:object].new_browser b.goto("http://www.google.com") b.text_field(:name, 'q').set("watirgrid") b.button(:name, "btnI").click b.close end endthreads.each {|thread| thread.join}
$SAFE=1The environment variables RUBYLIB and RUBYOPT are not processed, and the current directory is not added to the path.The command-line options -e, -i, -I, -r, -s, -S, and -x are not allowed.Can't start processes from $PATH if any directory in it is world-writable.Can't manipulate or chroot to a directory whose name is a tainted string.Can't glob tainted strings.Can't eval tainted strings.Can't load or require a file whose name is a tainted string.Can't manipulate or query the status of a file or pipe whose name is a tainted string.Can't execute a system command or exec a program from a tainted string.Can't pass trap a tainted string.ACLsThis will bind the controller to the localhost (127.0.0.1) and deny all access to the controller by default, whilst allowing access from localhost only. The ACL constructor takes an array of strings. The first string of a pair is always “allow” or “deny”, and it’s followed by the address or addresses to allow or deny access.SSLusing Rinda over SSL has one small draw- back: we lose the ability for Rinda to dynamically bind to any available port. This affects only the server code. The client still is completely unaware of where the serv- ice is and uses the RingServer to find the service’s location.
The default ID converter, DRb::DRbIdConv, has one downside. If you’re not careful, referenced objects on the server can become garbage-collected and are no longer avail- able when the client tries to reference them. Although the client has a pointer to the local DRb::DRbObject it got from the server, the server itself may no longer have a pointer to the object that is referenced from the client. In that case it becomes eligible for garbage collection. One solution to this problem is to use the DRb::TimerIdConv class. A better approach to solve the garbage-collection problem lies in your architec- ture. Don’t take an object from the server and hold onto it in the client for any longer than you absolutely need to. Retrieve the object from the server, use it, and then get rid of it. If you want to make sure you have access to that same referenced object min- utes, hours, or days later, you should consider writing your own custom ID converter that stores your objects in something other than the ObjectSpace.
