In Preview: User Acceptance Testing with the Page Scripting Tool (2024 release wave 1)

Overview

The video introduces the Page Scripting Tool, which lets customers and consultants record user acceptance tests in the Business Central web client and play them back. It walks through permissions, the recording interface, validation steps, saving scripts, playback controls, and sharing through a self-contained link.

It then covers conditional step branches, optional pages, collapsing nested structures, the page scripting clipboard, session information, Power FX expressions and wait steps. Scripts are stored in YAML, where parameters and script suites with the include command can be edited. The video closes with best practices, preview status and known limitations.

Key points

• The tool is in preview in 2024 release wave 1. A warning appears if you play recorded scripts in a production environment.
• Recording and playback need separate permissions. Playback can insert or change data in the environment.
• Scripts must be played in an environment similar to the one where they were recorded, with similar pages, objects and functionality.
• Right-click a control during recording to add a validation step, with operators such as equal to, greater than or less than.
• Single-step playback has next and previous buttons. Previous redoes steps and does not undo them. Run to step is available from a step’s context menu.
• Parameters and script suites (the include command) can only be edited in YAML. Included scripts must use parameters, and script order matters.
• Scripts can only run in the client for now. Pipeline execution is under development.

Features

AL objects mentioned

As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

• page “Page Inspector” at 2:53
• page 48 “Sales Orders” at 8:14
• page “Customer” at 4:10
• page “Page Scripting pane” at 18:18
• other “properties pane” at 19:30

Not found in BC28-30: page “Page Inspector”, page “Customer”, page “Page Scripting pane”.

Quotes

• 1:13 “we are introducing a new tool allowing customers and consultant buttons to exactly do that easily record and play user acceptance tests”
• 1:44 “we released this tool as a preview in 2024 release way one”
• 5:01 “testing is to verify an expected outcome of performing a given set of steps”
• 9:52 “it’s important to understand that when you go back or the previous action there’s no undo in that you’re just basically redoing it”
• 13:33 “you can actually decide only to run to a certain step right so if you go to the context menu on the step you”
• 14:35 “there is an opportunity to to share copy a link um and that link is self-contained it basically includes um the full recording”
• 15:34 “the page scripting tool has its own uh clipboard and uh this can be used to store results that you get back during recording”
• 17:17 “sometimes a set of Step s only apply on a given uh condition right so imagine that you open a list uh page uh”
• 21:30 “you can actually also write an expression for very simple calculations and we’re using power effect as the expression language”
• 23:42 “the scripts are really stored in the yaml format um and that’s like um you know metad driven format for for clients here and”
• 25:22 “you can actually parameterize scripts so that’s basically the equivalent of setting some variables that you can then use throughout the script to to”
• 27:17 “you can bundle multiple scripts uh there and the way it works is that um you use a the include command in the script”
• 29:50 “the tool is in preview now um please give us feedback on yamama and uh on ideas on this”
• 30:10 “a lot of support for during recording to to change the steps right that hey i want to delete these two and”
• 31:11 “it’s not yet supported to run that you can only run them in the client at this point”
• 32:32 “this is not an HTML automation tool right so we cannot automate uh control edings like charts or any embedded uh content like powerbi”

Disclaimers in the video

• 1:44 preview: we released this tool as a preview in 2024 release way one
• 2:36 preview: we will warn if you’re trying to play scripts recorded scripts in a production environment
• 25:02 subject-to-change: there are a couple of scenarios powerful scenarios that we currently only support in yaml so you have to go to edit them in the yaml H they are supported when you then play them in the client but there isn’t a uh page in uh s page is scripting user experience in the client
• 29:50 preview: the tool is in preview now um please give us feedback
• 30:10 not-in-this-release: there isn’t a lot of support for during recording to to change the steps
• 30:30 not-in-this-release: you can only build Suites in yaml not in the client
• 30:51 coming-later: we’re working on but uh we and um it’s not yet supported to run that you can only run them in the client at this point

Presenters (as heard): H Peter Boring.