Testing Browser Response to Active Client Pages

We have acquired the knowledge that will enable us to assess the response of browsers to the new technology of Active Client Pages. It is time to take the bull by the horns. In this part of the series we see to what extent the major browsers respond to ACP. We shall use the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6, Mozilla Firefox 2, Netscape 8, Opera 9 and Safari 3. I use these browsers at their default settings, with the exception of enabling popups.

The Descending Chain

I am an innovator of ACP. Descending Chain is one of the expressions I use (a term I created) in ACP. To understand what I mean by the expression, consider the tree below:

Fig 4.1

In the above tree, the roots have been given numbers. If a node exists alone in a level it is given one number, which is the level number. If there is more than one node in a level, then each node at that level is identified by two numbers. The first number is the level number and the second number is the position number in the row, viewed from left to right. These numbers should be separated by underscores. For example, you should have 2_0 instead of 20; 3_2 instead of 32; 12_13 instead of 1213. N0 means Node 0; N3 means Node3; N12_14 means Node 12_14; and so on.

This method of identification is also my innovation. In fact, the use of a tree and everything I tell you here is my innovation. The node numbers are in red in the diagram.

So what is the Descending Chain? In the diagram, the chain made up of N0, N1 and N2_0 is a descending chain; likewise, the chain made up of N1, N2_1 and N3_1 is a descending chain. A descending chain is a chain that starts from somewhere in the tree and descends and ends somewhere in the tree. There is no upward turn in a descending chain.

For each of the browsers, we shall open the descending chains N0, N1, N2_0 and N3_0; and also N1, N2_1 N3_1, N3_2 and N4. These are two descending chains.

There are three tests in the assessment. The first test for each browser is to open the window or document that is a node in each of these two descending chains. Doing this will cover the opening processes of each window or document.

The second test is to see if the Back and Forward buttons are enabled in the document phase. This will be done alongside the opening of the windows of the chain, N1, N2_1 N3_1, N3_2 and N4 during the first test.

The third test is to click the buttons that will display the values of the variables residing in pages other than the current. There are three of these buttons.