SilkPerformer^® 2008 Release Notes

This file contains important information that may not appear in SilkPerformer Online Help. Read this file in its entirety.

For information about installation, deployment, and licensing issues (including the evaluation version of SilkPerformer), see the SilkPerformer Installation Guide.

For an overview of the new features in the current release, see the What's New section below.

What's New

Following are the significant enhancements and changes that were made to SilkPerformer 2008.

Enhanced Multibyte Character Set Support

Oracle Forms Multibyte Support

The SilkPerformer Recorder is now able to convert the UTF-8 strings of Oracle Forms to the system code page, and the replay engine converts them back to UTF-8, thus enabling multibyte support for Oracle Forms applications. This includes viewing and customizing multibyte scripts with Silk TrueLog Explorer.

Citrix Multibyte Support

Same as for Oracle Forms, SilkPerformer now supports record and replay of multibyte strings with Citrix. This includes viewing and customizing multibyte scripts with Silk TrueLog Explorer.

Note: Optical character recognition (OCR) for multibyte characters is currently not supported.

Multibyte Enabled Project Packages

Project packages containing filenames with multibyte characters can now be uploaded to and downloaded from SilkCentral Test Manager. The allowed file name length restriction of about 40 Japanese characters has also been removed.

Enhanced AJAX Support

SilkPerformer now recognizes AJAX requests that come in the form of XML or JSON, both of which can now be pretty-formatted both in the script and in TrueLog Explorer. This allows for a much better readability of such requests. Additionally, AJAX requests can be visually customized and verified in TrueLog Explorer.

FLEX/AMF3 Support

SilkPerformer now supports FLEX applications based on the new AMF3 protocol. The non-readable AMF3 data is converted to a readable format within the script, which also enables visual customization and verification via TrueLog Explorer.

Remedy Web ARS Support

SilkPerformer now supports Remedy Web ARS versions 6.3, 7.0, 7.0.1, and 7.1. The proprietary data format of Remedy is translated into an XML-based representation that makes scripts easier to understand and customizable.

Remedy support is licensed under the Premium Virtual User type.

Importing External Monitoring Data Into Silk Performance Explorer

SilkPerformer offers a command line tool (csv2tsd.exe) that enables you to convert CSV (Comma Separated Values) files into TSD (Time Series Data) files. This is useful when you are monitoring external Windows data that, for security reasons, can not be monitored by SilkPerformer. By converting CSV data to TSD format, external data can be analyzed alongside internal SilkPerformer monitoring data within Performance Explorer.

Technology Updates

SAPGUI
The SAPGUI for Windows 7.10 client is now supported.

Oracle Applications 12
Oracle Applications 12, which is based on Oracle Application Server 10g, is now supported.

System Requirements

Each computer that is to be used in a load test must meet the minimum hardware and software requirements listed below.

For details about SilkPerformer performance and scalability, please see the Performance and Scalability Matrix below.

Hardware Requirements

To install agent software, or both controller and agent software, and use the full potential of SilkPerformer to run heavy load-tests, your system must meet the following minimum requirements:

Load Testing

Recording, Monitoring, and Scripting

To use SilkPerformer functionality only for traffic recording purposes, monitoring and scripting, the following minimum system requirements are sufficient:

Software Requirements

To install and use SilkPerformer, your system requires a minimum set of software components.

Supported Operating Systems

• Windows Vista
• Windows 2003
• Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or higher recommended)
• Windows XP 64bit
• Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4)

SilkPerformer cannot be installed on computers running Windows 95, 98, or ME. Windows NT is not supported.

Other Required Software Components

The specific components that are required vary based on installation type. For example, to run SilkPerformer Java Explorer, your system must be equipped with a Java 2 SDK. All required components are included on the SilkPerformer Installation CD. Components can also be downloaded from their respective vendors' Web sites. See the SilkPerformer Installation Guide for full details.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.0.2919 or higher)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader (to view documentation)
• PowerPoint Viewer (to view documentation)
• .NET Runtime Environment
• Citrix ICA client
• Java Development Kit
• WAP2 Add-On

Performance and Scalability Matrix

Note:
Web Business App uses Page-based Browser-level API (HTML/HTTP)
Web low level uses Browser-level API (HTTP)
Numbers are based on Intel CPUs.

We recommend using single processor agent computers, as they provide the best cost/performance ratio.

Test Parameters:

The numbers of the table above have been determined using a realistic workload with the following characteristics:

The page structure of all requested Web pages corresponds to very popular public Web pages.
The average think-times of all virtual users were about 32 seconds between each subsequent page view, which is a realistic value.
A single virtual user was emulated with 4 concurrent connections, which is a realistic Web browser emulation.
This means that the number of virtual user simulated corresponds to a realistic number of concurrent users accessing a popular Web site resulting in:

Avg. Hits/page: 39
Avg. page size: 130 kByte
Avg. think time between pages: 32 sec

Formula:

Look up the virtual user value from the "User vs CPU" and the "User vs RAM" graph that match the configuration of your agent machines.
From both virtual user values you have received take the minimum value in order to find out how many virtual users your agent machine supports (Web Business App).

Ex: 1xPIII, 1 GHz, 512MB RAM

1) User vs CPU = 2000 vuser
2) User vs RAM = 850 vuser
Min (1, 2) = 850 vuser

-> Agent machines support max. about 850 vuser

Resolved Issues

The following are resolved defects in SilkPerformer 2008.

Known Issues

This section contains lists of known issues and provides workarounds where available:

Topics:

• General
• Performance Explorer
• TrueLog Explorer
• SAPGUI Support
• Citrix Support
• Oracle Forms Support
• .NET Support
• Java Support
• Web Support
• Database Support
• ADO/COM Support
• Streaming Support
• GUI-Level Testing Support
• Workbench
• Monitoring
• Recorder
• Licensing
• Setup
• SilkCentral Test Manager Integration
• SilkPerformer Source Code Control Integration

General:

Issue: Optical character recognition (OCR) does not work for multibyte characters. (38042)
Workaround: None.

Issue: The "What's This" Help does not work on Windows Vista. (30163)
Workaround: The Windows Help program WinHlp32.exe is no longer included with Windows Vista. A download for 32-bit .hlp files is available from the Microsoft Download Center. For more information, see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607

Performance Explorer:

Issue: Compiling a MIB file does not work. (32039)
Workaround: MIB files without an IMPORTS statement can not be compiled with Performance Explorer. Use the pre-compiled MIB files of Performance Explorer, or use MIB files with an IMPORTS statement.

Issue: When an overview report is saved as MHT, images do not display when viewing the report with Internet Explorer 7. (32927)
Workaround: View the report with Internet Explorer 6 or another browser.

Issue: JMX Monitoring does not work on Windows 2003 systems that have Terminal Server installed. (31679)
Workaround: None. The error has been reported to Eclipse; see bug #171413 on https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/ for more information.

Issue: When monitoring performance counters on Windows 2003 or Windows XP systems, the "Browse NT Performance Counters" dialog sometimes displays the wrong host. (30163)
Workaround: None. Since this is only a display error, you can still monitor performance counters on the target host.

Issue: When using "Absolute" start time in the workload definition, the Overview Report will display data from the moment the test was set up rather than when it was started. (4988)
Workaround: None.

TrueLog Explorer:

Issue: Oracle Forms TrueLog crashes after some transactions. (34040)
Workaround: De-select the "Applet execution" setting in Settings -> Options -> Display -> HTML rendering.

Issue: The rendered view of terminal emulation applications using non-ascii characters may display strange characters. (33416)
Workaround: Change the default GUI font of the Workbench (Settings -> System -> Layout -> Font & Colors) to a font that better supports your character set. Restart TrueLog Explorer after changing the font to apply the settings to TrueLog Explorer.

Issue: On-access virus scanner software may cause the TrueLog Explorer to crash. (32943)
Workaround: Turn off the on-access scan functionality of your virus scanner software, or open a TrueLog in TrueLog Explorer after the test run has finished.

Issue: TrueLog Explorer's Post Data and Form Data tabs may show incomplete form data if parameter types that require data type conversion (casting) are used for customization. (17060)
Workaround: It is recommended to use parameters of data type "string" only for form data customization.

Issue: TrueLog Explorer is unable to handle form submissions containing form fields with equal names.
Tooltips in the Post Data tab may show incorrect data, value customization may result in customizing a wrong form field. (16807)
Workaround: None.

Issue: TrueLog Explorer crashes if more than 65k characters are selected in the Rendered tab. (17775)
Workaround: None.

Issue: Visual Script Modifications fail if the related transaction is in an include file. (10367, 16239, 19992)
Workaround: Do not move transactions to bdh files.

Issue: When the JavaScript execution is enabled, certain JavaScript statements inside the HTML contained in a TrueLog may lead to unexpected behavior in the TrueLog Explorer. For example, the JavaScript may close or resize the rendered HTML view in TrueLog Explorer. (4181, 5624)
Workaround: Disable JavaScript execution (Settings / Options / Script execution).

Issue: Certain non-ASCII characters may cause problems when customizing a script with TrueLog Explorer. For example, the HTML token "€" is rendered to the Euro symbol, €. When selecting a text containing such non-ASCII characters and trying to insert a parsing or verification function, the TrueLog Explorer will respond with a message stating that the selected text is not contained in the visible part of the page's HTML code. (6482, 8085)
Workaround: If you encounter this behavior, try to exclude such non-ASCII characters from the selection, and try again.

Issue: TrueLog Explorer may crash if it is closed during an animated TryScript run, which may cause a memory access violation. This behavior only occurs with Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5.00.3315.1000.
Workaround: Install a newer version of MS Internet Explorer.

Issue: Visual User Data Customization does not work for browser-level scripts.
This behavior is by design as TrueLog Explorer only considers forms submitted by WebPageSubmit calls (Page-based Browser-level API), because the HTML form names are required to match HTML and BDL forms.
Workaround: If you want to customize your script using TrueLog Explorer's Visual User Data Customization feature, you have to have a page-based browser-level API script.

Issue: Using the context menu (right mouse button) of the TrueLog Explorer you can view the Statistics reports of the TrueLog in the Web browser instead of in the TrueLog Explorer. However, the links in the Url column of the Page drill down section will not work in this case. This is by design, because the referenced HTML page is created on demand by the TrueLog Explorer. (7742)
Workaround: Use the TrueLog Explorer to view the Statistics pages if you want to navigate between the different statistics pages via the links.

SAPGUI Support:

Issue: Replay a script fails with IDispatch error #619. This problem only occurs when you open a second session in SAP (recording "SapGuiCreateSession();", which results in an error on the following "SapGuiSetActiveWindow": "SapGui: 88 - An error occured while setting the new active session., IDispatch error #619". SAP replay then hangs. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming patch. (38458)
Workaround: Do not use the function SapGuiCreateSession and do not open a new session when recording.

Issue: Recording SAPGUI actions on Windows XP 64-bit does not work. (37406)
Workaround: None. 64-bit hooking is currently not supported.

Issue: Errors occurr with SAPGUI client 640 when replaying scripts that use the picture control. (32431)
Workaround: None. This control does not work in SAPGUI client 640.

Issue: SilkPerformer's SAP eCATT integration can be installed via SilkPerformer setup only after a SAPGUI client has been installed on the host machine. eCATT integration requires that some SilkPerformer files be copied to the SAPGUI client installation directory. If a SAPGUI client is not installed before SilkPerformer setup, the files cannot be copied. (23587)
Workaround: Install SAPGUI client before installing SilkPerformer.

Issue: Difference between Record and Replay TrueLog for SapGuiSelectTopNode calls:
It is possible that a SapGuiSelectTopNode call during Replay occurs under the next Roundtrip node in the TrueLog compared to the Record Log.
Workaround: None.

Issue: SapGuiTreeChangeCheckBox is recorded incorrectly. Parameter sItemName is not scripted and parameter bChecked might not be recorded correctly.
Workaround: Record the script with Log-Level Debug. Open the recorded log file and search for the SapGuiTreeChangeCheckBox call. Right above this call the 3 parameters for the call are listed. Copy the value for the 2nd parameter and use this value for the sItemName parameter. If bChecked is recorded incorrectly - change the parameter to true (if you have selected the checkbox) - otherwise change it to false.

Issue: In rare cases control position information cannot be retrieved correctly from SAP. Therefore TrueLog Explorer might not be able to display the selected control rectangle at the correct position on the screenshot.
Workaround: Use the control tree instead the screenshot.

Citrix Support:

Issue: Customizing CitrixKeyString input using multibyte characters sends corrupted input to the server. (37106)
Workaround: When customizing input of CitrixKeyString functions, keep in mind that you are in fact simulating keyboard input. For multibyte characters, you have to enter the phonetic transcription of the desired character. There is no sense in entering a multibyte character directly, although the compiler will allow it if the codepage is set correctly.

Issue: An invalid CitrixKey function is recorded for [hankaku/zenkaku] key. (37773)
Workaround: Assign a different shortcut for switching between input modes or use mouse instead of keyboard shortcut. See Microsoft IME Advanced settings for details.

Issue: On different operating system versions the text-conversion of an identical image may produce different results. (15982)
Workaround: Use the identical OS on all agent computers.

Issue: Screen synchronization/verification fails, if using an agent computer with a different color-depth than used on the controller machine during recording (Independent of the color-depth setting used for the Citrix session).
Workaround: Apply the identical color-depth setting to all used computers.

Issue: If the Citrix agent is used for the first time, a popup window prompts for the desired "ICA Client File Security". This is especially a problem when remote agents are used.
Workaround: Log in to all used agents and confirm the dialog. Specify "Never ask me again for any application".

Issue: If Caps Lock is pressed during a Citrix replay all virtual users send their keystrokes as if the Shift key is pressed.
Workaround: Be sure that Caps Lock is not pressed.

Issue: Using Windows XP or 2003, aborting a load-test may let the Citrix ICA clients (wfica32.exe) hang.
Workaround: Manually terminate all hanging wfica32.exe or use Windows 2000 instead.

Issue: If during recording more than one Citrix sessions are established using different screen resolutions, a script with more than one CitrixInit functions is recorded. This may lead to replay problems, because the CitrixInit function is executed just once per load-test.
Workaround: One specific virtual user should only use one screen-resolution throughout its Citrix sessions.

Issue: Connecting to an existing session during Citrix recording will result in not working scripts, because the Citrix client will not recognize any windows and therefore no synchronization functions will be scripted.
Workaround: Always record a new session.

Oracle Forms Support:

Issue: JDK version prior to 1.4 do not provide the necessary functionality for replaying and recording Oracle Forms.
Workaround: Use the latest JDK. At least version 1.4.

Issue: Hooking into the main Oracle Forms Applet classes might cause the JInitiator to be unable loading additional jar files that rely on the main classes.
Workaround: When recording Oracle Forms 6i or Oracle Applications 11i define the following Java Runtime Options in the JInitiator Properties Dialog:
"-noverify -mx128m"
NoVerify will prevent these loading issues.
Additionally the default Virtual Memory Size of JInitiator 1.1.7.x is between 16 and 64 MB. The option -mx128m will increase the virtual memory size to 128MB. This additional memory is needed as there is some extra memory overhead caused by recording. If you run into a OutOfMemory error you can further increase this value.

Issue: When recording Oracle Forms 6i, on either HTTP or Sockets, the jitting library of the Java Virtual Machine (symcjit.dll) may crash your browser.
Workaround: Disable the JInitiator JIT (Just In Time Compiler) Option. Review the Oracle Forms Tutorial or the Advanced Concepts Book about how to accomplish this.

.NET Support:

Issue: A .NET Framework project will not execute successfully if the two depending DLL's (perfdotnetfw.dll and dnlogging.dll) are not in the data file section of the project or not in the project directory. When creating a .NET Framework project – either with .NET Explorer or with Visual Studio .NET Project Wizard – these two files are copied to the project directory but are not added to the data file section. When exporting the project or uploading it to SilkCentral Performance Manager, these two files will be missing during executing and you will receive an error that a depending DLL could not be found. (25472)
Workaround: Add the two depending .NET Framework DLL's perfdotnetfw.dll and dnlogging.dll to the data file section of your project before you export or upload the project.

Issue: Accessing a WSDL file from a secure web site (https) might throw an error if the Web Service is hosted on IIS 6.0. The error message that will be displayed is “Could not establish trust relationship with remote server“. (24546)
Workaround: Download the WSDL file with your browser and save it to your file system. Then load the WSDL file from the stored file instead of the URL.

Issue: Running multiple instances of Visual Studio .NET with the SilkPerformer .NET Add-In might cause Visual Studio .NET (devenv.exe) to crash.
Workaround: Run only one instance of Visual Studio .NET

Issue: If additional .NET languages (C#, VB.NET, C++) are added to Visual Studio .NET, the SilkPerformer .NET Add-In Wizards do not work properly anymore.
Workaround: Re-install the SilkPerformer .NET Add-In.

Issue: When creating an Individual String random variable with SilkPerformer's Visual Studio .NET Add-In in a VB.NET Project, the generated RndInd declaration is not compilable and will also prevent the Add-In from creating further random variables.
Workaround: Replace backslashes ('\') with a quote (") in the generated RndInd declaration.

Issue: If SilkPerformer .NET Explorer calls a WebService method and passes parameters via call by reference, the generated .NET code misses the ref keyword in the function that calls the Web service method. (8173)
Workaround: Specify the ref keyword for the parameters that are passed by reference.

Issue: Random Variable Wizard in Visual Studio .NET can only be used for C# and VB.NET Projects.
Workaround: For Managed C++ applications, random variable definitions have to be coded manually by applying the random variable custom attributes to the virtual user class.

Issue: Outgoing parameters in .NET test driver methods do not return their parameter when called from BDL.
Workaround: Do not call .NET methods that use outgoing parameters from BDL.

Issue: The Web Settings dialog (Visual Studio .NET Add-On) - that allows to change the base class of web proxies in order to route the HTTP traffic over SilkPerformer's Web Engine - cannot be used for managed C++ projects. (12472)
Workaround: You have to change the base class of the web service proxy manually to "System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol" if you do not want to route the traffic, or to "SilkPerformer.SPSoapHttpClientProtocol" to route it over SilkPerformer's Web Engine in order to get a TrueLog for every Web Service call and to be able to use the features like Modem Simulation, IP Multiplexing, ...

Java Support:

Issue: Weblogic 8.x monitor does not work with JDK 1.5. (28863)
Workaround: Use JDK 1.4.

Issue: Axis 1.2.1 and Axis 1.3 treat some datatypes like String[] differently. While Axis 1.2.1 generates an ArrayOfString helper class, Axis 1.3 directly works with String[]. Thus, existing Java Explorer projects using these problematic datatypes cannot switch Axis version. (29343)
Workaround: Create a new project for each version.

Issue: Java Recording of IBM Java VM: "automatic" doesn't work.
Workaround: The startup script of the client application must be manually edited to allow recording.

Issue: Java Explorer: Loading jar files may take a long time. All jar files from the class path must be loaded and examined by Java Explorer at this time. This process cannot be interrupted. (11280)
Workaround: None.

Issue: Java Explorer: Adding a directory to the class path by double-clicking the directory within the file browser will add a wrong classpath. (11862)
Workaround: Click the directory once and use the "Open" button.

Issue: Java Explorer: A low invocation delay between method calls may cause an exception stack trace in the log file. The exception relates to the fact that the GUI cannot update as fast as needed. However, this doesn't cause any further problems. (12359)
Workaround: None.

Issue: Java Explorer: A standalone console application cannot be compiled when JDK 1.2.x is used as current runtime version. This issue is related to a JDK 1.2.x limitation. (12484)
Workaround: Use a JDK >= 1.3.x.

Issue: Due to a bug in the MS .NetFramework 1.0 some WebServices using custom SOAP headers cannot be tested with Java Explorer. (12209)
Workaround: Upgrade the server to .NetFramework 1.1.

Issue: Java Explorer does not recognize, if the project directory was changed in SilkPerformer GUI. If Java Explorer is opened with an invalid project directory setting, an exception occurs. (12070, 13006)
Workaround: None.

Issue: If JRE 1.5 Plugin for Internet Explorer is used, a java.security.AccessControlException may occur. E.g. the ProductManager sample reports an ´Exception in thread "Thread-5" java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.lang.RuntimePermission modifyThread)
Reason: Security permissions have changed between JRE 1.4 and JRE 1.5. (17539)
Workaround: Add the following grants to the .java.policy file:

        grant { 

          permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "modifyThread"; 
          }; 
        grant { 
          permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "modifyThreadGroup"; 
          }; 

Note: The .java.policy file ususally can be found under: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\.java.policy

Web Support:

Issue: Hooking of Firefox is not possible, if Firefox is open before recording. (25843)
Workaround: Close all firefox browsers before starting recording.

Issue: Recording form submissions of HTML forms with multiple identical named form fields, which’s values are changed, may result in a script, which sends a slightly different form (than sent at recording) at replay. (8744, 9947)
Workaround: Manual scripting may be necessary.

Issue: If STRING_COMPLETE is specified as 3rd parameter of the WebFormExpand function, the form is appended to the provided string (the string parameter is not cleared anymore). (12508)
Workaround: Provide an empty string as out-parameter to the WebFormExpand function.

Issue: When using Internet Explorer with the Recorder, a Security Alert Dialog may be shown for every embedded object (image) on the Web site. This can be very annoying when the Web site contains a lot of embedded objects.
Workaround: Open the "Internet Options" in the Control Panel or from the "Tools / Internet Options" menu in Internet Explorer. In the "Advanced" tab uncheck the option "Warn about invalid site certificates", and click OK.

Issue: Certain non-default Internet Explorer configuration options can result in the Recorder not being able to record Internet Explorer traffic. Because these options can only be changed by editing registry values, such problems occur only very rarely. (9779)
Workaround: Re-configure the two Internet Explorer registry settings listed below. Both registry entries must have the value "yes." Otherwise separate iexplore.exe processes won't be created when starting Internet Explorer, and Internet Explorer will be hosted by the explorer.exe process:
1) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\BrowseNewProcess\BrowseNewProcess
2) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\BrowseNewProcess\BrowseNewProcess

Database Support:

Issue: If the last SQL statement in the dclsql section of the script is not followed by a blank or line break, then an error occurs during replay showing a misleading error message. (11881, 8224, 8555)
Workaround: Add a blank or line break behind the last SQL statement in the dclsql section of the script at the end of the script.

Issue: The Recorder generates a non-compilable script, if an SQL statement has been recorded that contains the character sequence /* not using it as open comment notation. In this case, the BDL compiler nevertheless interprets this as the beginning of a comment and misses the closing of the comment which leads to a compile error. (10726)
Workaround:
1. Remove the SQL comment or add an escape i.e /\**
2. Record the script again, but with unchecked option to generate SQL comments (Profile Settings / Record / Script / Protocols / SQL comment). This does not generate the SQL statement comments.
3. Check if the character sequence /*can be removed from the SQL statement without changing the semantic of the statement.

Issue: When recording an OCI 8 application that writes LOB data into the database, the Recorder generates files into the project directory that store these data in order to have these data available during replay. These files are named like the following name pattern: LOB_xxxxxxxx.dat. When recording a COM/ADO application that passes binary content (byte arrays) to an interface method, SilkPerformer is recording the new methods ComSetBinaryFromFile/AdoParamSetBinaryFromFile. The binary content will be stored in a file in the project directory that has the following name pattern: BINARY_xxxxxxxx.dat. But the files will not be available during replay on a remote agent and therefore cause a replay error unless the files will be added to the Data Files section of the project. (11860, 13408)
Workaround: Manually add the generated .dat files to the Data Files section of the project in order to run the script on remote agents.

Issue: For some cases, the ODBC Recorder generates a wrong parameter for the type of placeholder in the OdbcBind function if the prepared statement is a stored procedure. As a result, the TrueLog Explorer may show the corresponding data in the IN or OUT data table even if it is not an IN or OUT parameter. (12445)
Workaround: Check the type of the placeholder depending on the type of direction of the parameter of the stored procedure.

Issue: An Access violation error in the client application may occur during recording the function SQLPutData of an ODBC client application if the profile setting “Record / Results / Hook logging / Function parameters” is turned ON. The setting is turned OFF by default. The access violation is caused by a bug in logging the second function parameter of SQLPutData and does not take effect if the previous setting is turned OFF. (12444)
Workaround: Turn OFF the setting “Record / Results / Hook logging / Function parameters” in case your ODBC application to be recorded gets an Access violation during recording the function SQLPutData.

Issue: The TrueLog Explorer may show the OUT data columns of an OdbcFetch call whose result set was generated from an OdbcProcedureColumns call in a different order for the Record and the Replay TrueLog if the define calls were not made in ascending order of the position indices. In this case, the Replay TrueLog will show the OUT data columns in ascending order whereas the Record TrueLog will show the OUT data columns in the order as the corresponding define calls have been made. As a result of this, the TrueLog Explorer will most probably show a difference in the OUT data also if there may not be a real difference in the fetched data. (12446)
Workaround: Manually check for possible differences in the OUT data table in the above described situation.

Issue: If an SQL statement contains a comment in notation starting with “--" then the OCI replay engine generates an error showing a misleading error message. This is caused because the Recorder removes line breaks from the SQL statement string if the profile setting “Record / Script / Protocols / Trim SQL” is turned ON. (10790, 14985)
Workaround: Either find the end of the comment text and insert a line break there in the statement string of the dclsql section of the script or turn OFF the above described profile setting and record the application again.

ADO/COM Support:

Issue: If the recorded client application is using the IEnumVARIANT and the default Recordset interface methods to navigate through ADO recordsets - the ADO recorder will script an AdoFetch method and afterwards the IEnumVARIANT calls. Those calls will fail as AdoFetch is fetching all the recordsets first and the IEnumVARIANT method would operate on a non valid row in the recordset as AdoFetch will move the rowset cursor to EOF. (12465)
Workaround: Either comment the AdoFetch or the calls on the IEnumVARIANT.

Issue: If your client application is accessing the individual Field interfaces of a recordset and is freeing the interface for the Fields collection before freeing the individual Field interfaces, it might happen that the call to query for the Fields interface won't be scripted. (12472)
Workaround: Add a ComGetInterface(hRecordsetItf, "get:Fields", hFieldsItf, "Fields") prior to the functions that access the individual Field interfaces.

Streaming Support:

Issue: If the bandwidth of the server is restricted and the Media Streaming client has a higher bandwidth, then the Media Streaming engine (and also the perfrun.exe) hangs. (8298)
Workaround: None.

Issue: Real streaming does not work with RealPlayer 10.x or higher. (17080)
Workaround: Use a previous version of RealPlayer.

GUI-Level Testing Support:

Issue: GUI-level testing does not support the new Open Agent of SilkTest. (38332)
Workaround: Since the Open Agent currently only supports the testing of Flex applications, use SilkPerformer's AMF3/Flex testing support instead.

Issue: When too many terminal sessions run, or memory is too low, the agent computer gets very slow. (27876)
Workaround: Add more memory and/or run less parallel sessions.

Issue: Connection try times out when invalid login credentials are provided, without returning an error message providing directions. (29154)
Workaround: None. Valid login credentials must be provided.

Workbench:

Issue: Generating the font database in the Citrix settings crashes the Workbench on Windows 2003. (37658)
Workaround: None.

Issue: Script modifications made with the Parameter Wizard or the SilkPerformer Unicode Text/HEX Editor cannot be undone using the Workbench Editor's Undo functionality. (15782, 15875)
Workaround: None.

Issue: After importing a project it may happen that baseline results are not recognized in the "Workflow - Calculate the Virtual Users" dialog, even if baseline results have been generated and accepted before importing the project. (14787)
Workaround: Re-compiling all scripts will resolve the issue. The "Workflow - Calculate the Virtual Users" dialog will then recognize the existing baseline results.

Issue: When mailing a project from SilkPerformer ("File / Email Project") with Lotus Notes, the "To" (recipient) field may be empty even if you supplied a valid e-mail address in the Email Project dialog. (5358)
Workaround: Either insert the e-mail address manually into the "To" field, or use another e-mail client. You can set your default e-mail client in the Internet Explorer options (Tools / Internet Options / Programs).

Issue: The Email Project functionality may not work due to configuration problems. (6490)
Situation 1:
There is no MAPI configured on the Windows system (no mapi32.dll is available in directory C:\WINNT\system32\). When clicking on the OK button of the EMail Project dialog the error message "Cannot open your email client, because MAPI32.dll couldn't be loaded. ..." occurs.
Situation 2:
Netscape Messenger is registered as mail program in the Internet Options dialog of the Internet Explorer, but Netscape Messenger is not configured correctly and is not your default mail client. When clicking on the OK button of the EMail Project dialog the error message "Your email address has not been specified. ..." occurs.
Workaround:
Situation 1:
Execute the fixmapi.exe application in the WINNT\system32 directory and try again. Then the Email Project functionality should work.
Situation 2:
Select the email client that you want to use for sending e-mails as defined in the Programs tab of the Internet Options dialog of the Internet Explorer. The Email Project functionality should then work.

Issue: When you start an automated load test using the command line interface and open a menu from the menu bar while the simulation is running, then SilkPerformer will crash at the end of the simulation unless you do close the menu before the simulation is finished. (2782)
Workaround: Do not open any menu from the menu bar, or if you do ensure you close it again before your load test is finished.

Issue: The System Configuration Manager is not able to correctly display the amount of memory of a machine with more than 4 GB RAM. (16882)
Workaround: None.

Monitoring:

Issue: Monitoring of perfmon counters does not work on Windows Vista. (34587)
Workaround: To monitor Vista's perfmon counters, the remote registry service must be running. On Vista this must be done manually (via Service Control Manager).

Recorder:

Issue: A faulty SQL statement may be generated in the recorded script if multibyte characters are involved. (36466, SF 00185435)
Workaround: Manually adjust the SQL statement in the script.

Issue: The Recorder is not able to record any traffic, though it may have previously worked.
Under certain circumstances the file PerfShk77.dll.install still exists in the directory \WINNT\System32, even though it should have been deleted. This file is temporarily copied into the directory and should be removed when you close the Recorder.
Workaround: Manually delete the file PerfShk77.dll.install from the directory \WINNT\System32. You may have to reboot the computer in order for this to take effect.

Licensing:

Issue: If you are running different versions of SilkPerformer on the same machine, they must use the same SilkMeter License Server.
Workaround: None. As designed.

Setup:

Issue: SilkPerformer Remote Setup will not work on a computer on which SilkPerformer is installed on a mapped drive. Since Remote Setup cannot detect the mapped drive, the checks for installed products will fail and a new SilkPerformer Installation will begin because an update was not allowed.
Workaround: None.

Issue: If the default project directory is changed, some SilkEssentials may not work due to broken links. (12955)
Workaround: Use the default project directory.

Issue: At the beginning of the Setup following error might occur: "Error -1607: Unable to install InstallShield Scripting Runtime".
Workaround: For more information please refer to
http://support.installshield.com/kb/view.asp?articleid=q107070
or
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3ben-us%3b324906

SilkCentral Test Manager Integration:

Issue: Upload Project or Results to TM with insufficient permissions results in a "server returned 500" error. (22072)
Workaround: None.

Issue: If the IE option "Advanced Internet Options / Do not save encrypted pages to disk" is checked and you are using a secure connection (HTTPS), it is not possible to open the command file, downloaded through the links to "Open Project" and "Analyze Results". (21240)
Workaround: Uncheck this IE option.

Issue: If a project is opened via the "Open Project from TM" feature, the workload configured in TM is not taken over by the SilkPerformer workbench. Instead the default workload configured in the actual SilkPerformer project is taken. (21329)
Workaround: Use "Import Project" or "Run Attended" if you attend to execute the project.

Issue: Uploading a project to a wrong URL does not report an error. This occurs if e.g.: http://localhost:19120/upload is specified as upload URL instead of http://localhost:19120/project_upload
Workaround: Specify the correct upload URL.

Issue: If a SilkPerformer project is opened from SilkCentral TestManager the wrong workload may be active.
Workaround: Activate the correct workload via the SilkPerformer Workbench.

SilkPerformer Source Code Control Integration:

Issue: When adding a project (or single project files) to source control using StarTeam as source code control provider an informational message box may appear stating: "A server entry in your starteam-servers.xml file named <specified starteam host> does not exist.". The following sequence of upcoming message boxes and dialogs may be confusing.
Workaround: If the mentioned informational message box appears:

• Select "Yes" on the next message box prompting whether to select a different existing server, project, or view.
• Log on to the server you've specified to act as your StarTeam host on the following "Open Existing StarTeam Project" dialog.
• In the "Project" list, select the StarTeam project you've specified to put your files into.
• Click "OK" to close the dialog.

Issue: The option "Apply to all items" does not work if multiple files are involved in a Source Code operation. The user will be prompted for each of the files. (23118)
Workaround: None.

Issue: When SilkPerformer projects and/or files are linked to a defined SCC directory, and the directory is changed via the SCC client, SilkPerformer does not reconnect to the new directory.
Workaround: Remove the existing source control linkage and add the affected projects/files to the new directory.
Note: It is generally not recommended to use SCC client functionality for maintaining linked SilkPerformer projects.

Issue: MS VSS 8.0 introduced a security setting that, when activated, requests the user to enter their username and password each time they check in or check out a file from VSS. This request also appears in SilkPerformer when performing file operations with VSS.
Workaround: To disable MS VSS manual login:
1. Open SourceSafe Administrator.
2. Open the database where your SilkPerformer projects are saved.
3. Select the Options command from the Tools menu (Tools/Options).
4. Select the General tab.
5. Check the Use network name for automatic user login checkbox.

Note: This procedure only works if the username in VSS is identical to the network username.

Issue: Checking out a file followed by a immediate check in may cause an error caused by the Source Control provider that says that the file is currently not checked out. Despite the error message and the remaining "Checked-out" Source Control state of the file, the operation succeeded and the file was checked in. It will not be possible to check out this file again since Workbench assumes the file already to be checked out.
Workaround: Select the "Synchronize" command from menu "File / Source Control" after waiting for about 60 seconds. This will update the Source Control state of all the files of your project.

Tested Software

This section describes the software with which SilkPerformer 2008 was tested.

Virtual User Types

The available Virtual User Types (VUser Types) Web, Standard, and Premium include the following SilkPerformer application types:

Getting Help

If you have questions about Borland products or want to contact Borland Technical Support, visit the Borland Technical Support Web site

Installation Instructions

For information about installation, deployment, and licensing issues (including the evaluation version of SilkPerformer), see the SilkPerformer Installation Guide.

SilkPerformer Results Repository: The SilkPerformer Results Repository has been deprecated. We recommend using SilkCentral Test Manager for storing and analyzing load test results. If you still wish to use the Results Repository, you can download it from the SilkPerformer Customer Downloads page. For further questions, please contact Borland's technical support.

Licensing Information

SilkPerformer 2008 needs a new 7.7 license. Due to the change to a more versatile licensing model, SilkPerformer licenses are no longer backward compatible. If you want to run Silkperformer version 2006 or older during the upgrade process to version 2008, you may keep your old licenses for a period of 90 days.