Navigate
This Web Automation object allows you to perform navigation operations, such as going backwards or forward in the navigation history or refreshing the current webpage. It can also be used to call a specific URL.
Properties
Navigation Command Decide if the current webpage should be refreshed. Use this to go backwards or forwards in the browsing history or if you want to load a specific URL.
Navigate to this URL If you have selected Specify a URL to navigate to under Navigation Command, then enter the URL to be loaded here.
Inbound Variables
Navigate to this URL If you have selected Specify a URL to navigate to under Navigation Command, then enter the URL to be loaded here.
Outbound Variables
The Action Step Navigate possesses no outbound variables.
Please note:
When calling a specific page using the Navigate Action Step, it is important to note that the initial page build may take longer than the execution of the Action Step itself. The page request often loads only a very small, initial HTML page. Therefore, while the page is being loaded for the user, the NavigateTo has long been completed.
The only help here is an appropriate anchor point. This can be done in WebAutomation, using a Check Element that waits until the elements appear in the completely displayed page. A PatternSearch could also be used at this juncture. You can use this anchor point as a stable starting point for subsequent actions.
Example
Measurement of the initial page load is particularly relevant in connection with APM/TA. This is only possible if you can enclose the transaction in a stopwatch clause. Since this is not possible directly in a web session, the web session is often opened with a neutral page (about:blank). Within the block, you might now expect that a stopwatch and the NavigateTo it contains will return the requested value from the page to be measured. This is usually not the case, however, because the page request often only load a very small, initial HTML page. In turn, this page loads further page content asynchronously, which then creates the actual visual page. Therefore, while the page is being loaded for the user, the NavigateTo has long been completed, which means the measured time does not correspond to the time actually required by the page.
The only help here is an appropriate anchor point. This can be done in WebAutomation, using a Check Element that waits until the elements appear in the completely displayed page. A PatternSearch could also be used at this juncture.