Here is a brief summary of the main features of the most-commonly used capture/replay systems for UNIX platforms. This information is gathered from sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty applies here.
| Product Name Supplier | TrueTime Mode
Records exactly what the user types and how the mouse was moved and clicked. | Object Mode
Helps make a test recording survive minor changes in the underlying GUI, e.g. button placement, etc. | Additional Comments
Some suggestions about how the products compare. Estimated 1-seat Price Multiplier |
| CAPBAK/X SR/Inc. TestWorks | Based on use of Xtrap/XTestExtension1 (selected automatically).
Reverts to TrueTime mode automatically during recording Automatic Output Synchronization (AOS) assures robust playback in pure TrueTime recording | ObjectMode is based in instrumented Xt toolkit
used in Motif applications
~98% of all UNIX window apps use Motif. | The built-in Optical Character Recognition
(OCR) Engine gives font-independent extraction
("screen scraping") of ASCII information.
CAPBAK's goal/bias is to produced a recording in any circumstance that has a high likelihood of playing back successfully. A recording successfully made is expressed in C and can be edited easily if needed. Price Multiplier 1.0 |
| Xrunner Mercury | TrueTime mode exists but as a option.
Uses Xtrap. No AOS capability | Object mode through instrumentation of Xt toolkit.
MI has partial support for several other older toolkits e.g. XVT and iLog Views that are not fully Motif/Xt compliant. | MI emphasizes human programming of the playback files (called "scripting").
Recordings may or may not play back on the first try and may require editing to be reliable. Price Multiplier ~ 2.2 |
| QAPartner Segue | TrueTime Mode exists only as a default (some doubt there is any truetime mode at all). | Object Mode available via instrumented Xt toolkit. | Emphasis appears to be on "scripting".
Recordings may or may not play back on the first try and may require editing to be reliable. Price Multiplier ~ 1.5 |
| preVueX Rational (Originally | Based on use of recordings from the X protocol communication between Xdisplay and application. | Object mode is not possible with this technology. | This product is excellent for generating load
information because one can replay a recorded
session multiple times to simulate multiple users.
Price Multiplier > 2.5 |
| QCReplay CenterLine, Inc. | TrueTime mode is an option, but no AOS capability. | Object Mode based on instrumented Xt toolkit. |
Recordings may or may not play back on the first try and may require editing to be reliable.
There are some signs (c. 1998) is that this product is being discontinued. Price Multiplier ~ 1.8 |