Step types

Step type reference table

Step Type	Description	How To Add Step
Check	Verify content (text or html element) on the page.	Click to an element or selected text on your page with mouse.
Click	Single mouse click to a page html element.	Click your page with mouse.
File Upload	Upload a Usetrace preselected file (png, jpg, txt, zip pdf) to your app.	Select the desired file after dialog opens in the Virtual Browser, after clicking <input type="file">
Reload Page	Equivalent of pressing browser's reload button.	Click Virtual Browser's reload button.
Type Text	Type string to a html element.	Click to a field on your page and type text with your keyboard.
Type URL	Change browsers http address.	Click on the address bar on the Virtual Browser, type the wanted URL and press enter.
Back	Equivalent of pressing browser's back button.	Click Virtual Browser's back button.
Forward	Equivalent of pressing browser's forward button.	Click Virtual Browser's forward button.
Hover	Move mouse over a specific html element.	Click over the area on your page where you want the mouse to be moved. Menus using hover might need multiple hover steps.
JavaScript	Run JavaScript on the browser.
E-mail	Open Usetrace's webmail client serving <string>@mail.usetrace.com addresses.	Type the string for the mailbox you want to open (<string>@mail.usetrace.com) and click add on the pointer. Virtual Browser's opens the mailbox.
Wait	Wait for n seconds before continuing to the next step.	Set the time in seconds via the scroll bar and click add.
Routine	Use a routine in a trace.	Select a routine and click the the 'Add' button.

Step type descriptions

Check

Verify content (text or html element) on the page.

Use check to make sure you are on the correct page, or the specific content wanted is on the current page. For example check after login that you are logged in by adding a check to your profile name or logout link.

In Editor, change mode to add check from the cursor after your last step by clicking the symbol. Now one check can be added by clicking the element or selecting text on your app.

Created check appears on the action list like steps.

Check randomly created text

For example can be used to check a random text from a random input comment post to a forum.

Add a check and select the randomly generated text or paragraph.

On runtime, the randomized string will be the same for all places the format is used. So text input containing foo+random@example string will be checked with the same value.

Record

Any action you perform on the virtual browser.

A click, a keypress, reloading the page, navigating to url etc. All these actions create a step on the trace.

Type Text

Type text or random text to html fields. Use type text to fill fields with static or unique data. For example a user registration trace where a new email is randomized every time the trace is run, so your db doesn’t need to be reset before running this trace.

Pointer in Record mode, point mouse to a field in Virtual Browser and type text. A new step is created while typing.

Random text

In Editor, fill a text field in your app by adding string ‘random’. When the trace runs, the string random willbe replaced by runtime generated value.

random890e -> 4822575890e

random00@example.com -> 32952092600@example.com

foo+random@example.com -> foo+4284572@example.com

my random message -> my 343531232 message

Hover

Move the mouse cursor over the give element on the page.

Use hover to move the mouse cursor over some content that is displayed only when hovered.

In Editor, change mode to hover from the cursor after your last step by clicking the symbol. Now a hover can be added by clicking the element on the page.

Created hover appears on the action list like steps.

Script

Execute JavaScript in the virtual browser.

JavaScript steps can be used to create more advanced actions, like picking the current date from a datepicker, or other actions that require some kind of dynamic interaction with the page.

In Editor, change mode to JavaScript from the cursor after your last step by clicking the symbol. Now a script can be added to the opening modal window. Click the Test button to execute the current script in the virtual browser. This is helpful when developing the script.

Created JavaScript step appears on the action list like steps.

Reusing the same javascript step in multiple traces: see Reusability.

E-mail

Open webmail with the given address.

You can open any e-mail address that ends with ‘@mail.usetrace.com’ to check the last unread email. Use this step in conjunction with a randomly generated e-mail address for each trace.

In Editor, change mode to e-mail from the cursor after your last step by clicking the symbol. If you’ve written a suitable e-mail address in the trace before this step, the address will be automatically populated.

Created e-mail step appears on the action list like steps.

Wait

Wait and do nothing.

In most cases, waiting isn’t needed as Usetrace automatically detects when a page has loaded and will wait for dynamically added elements for the time that’s set in each step.

In Editor, change mode to wait from the cursor after your last step by clicking the symbol. Add a wait of n seconds.

Created wait appears on the action list like steps.

Routine

Use a routine.

See Reusability for more information about the routine step usage.