WebPagetest/Automation Registry Keys

Life's too short for slow pages

The following registry keys control the operation of iewatch (usually set by the controlling automation software):

The following data values are stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\America Online\SOM

IEWatchLog (required) REG_SZ value that contains the fully qualified path and file name for the log files. Two log files will be generated by appending _IEWPG.txt for the page-level log data and _IEWTR.txt for the transaction/object-level log data.

ABM (optional) DWORD value that enables Activity-Based Measurement (AKA web 2.0). A value of 0 or missing will default to disabling ABM. Any other value will turn it on. As of build 53 a value of 1 is explicitly required to force "web 2.0" mode and a value of 2 will put it in automatic mode.

EventName (optional) REG_SZ value that contains the event name that will be written to the log files for any activity measured. IEWatch will not start a new measurement with the same event name as the previous measurement in the same browser session in order to prevent page reloads and similar activity from accidentally generating sessions so be sure to name each event uniquely. If the value is not present then the event name will be the url that the browser navigates to.

Descriptor (optional) REG_SZ value that will be passed through to the log files in the descriptor field. The intention on the analysis side is for this to be used to describe the action that took place (like "Launch" or "Sign-on"). If the value is not present then an empty field will be written to the log files.

URL (optional) REG_SZ value that will be passed through to the log files in the "Event URL" field. This does not necessarily need to be the actual url that was loaded (but in the case of static urls should be). If the value is not present then an empty field will be written to the log files.

LabID (optional) DWORD value that is passed through to the Lab ID field in the log files. It is supposed to be a unique identifier assigned to each physical location testing is done from. If there is no value in the registry, -1 will be the default written to the log files.

DialerID (optional) DWORD value that is passed through to the Dialer ID field in the log files. It is supposed to be a unique identifier for the dialer within the lab it is running in. If there is no value in the registry, -1 will be the default written to the log files.

ConnectionType (optional) DWORD value that is passed through to the "Connection Type" field in the log files. The enumeration of values is not specified by IEWatch and is to be coordinated between the lab and analysis. If there is no value in the registry, -1 will be the default written to the log files.

Cached (optional) DWORD value that is passed through to the cached field in the log files. 1 is supposed to indicate a cached test and 0 an uncached test (though since it is an arbitrary DWORD, other values can be used later for things like different caching technologies). If there is no value in the registry, -1 will be the default written to the log files.

Experimental (optional) DWORD value that is passed through to the experimental field in the log files. 0 is supposed to indicate a production test that can be used for analysis and any other value is to indicate an internal test or data validation procedure. If there is no value in the registry, -1 will be the default written to the log files.

Include Object Data (optional) DWORD value that controls if we log object data or not. A value of 1 (or if the key is not present) indicates to write out object data and a value of 0 indicates not to.

DOM Element ID (optional - Added in build 46) REG_SZ value that specifies a DOM attribute on the page that we should record the time for. The page will not be marked as complete until the DOM element is available and the page will error out with a 99996 error code if it never shows up. The time when the element shows up is included in the page-level results. The format for the string is attribute'value where attribute is what to look for (id, className, etc) and the value is the value to match.

Save Everything (optional - Added in build 51) REG_DWORD value that tells IEWatch to save out the optimization report and load report using the same prefix as the log file with _optimization.txt and _report.txt appended respectively. A value of 0 (or if the key is not present) indicates to not write the files out. Any other value and the files will be written. If files with the same name exist they will be overwritten.

The following data values are stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AOL\ieWatch

URL (optional) REG_SZ value that indicates the URL that ieWatch should navigate to. 1/2 a second after about:blank is loaded, ieiWatch will tell the browser to navigate to the provided URL. The registry value will be deleted after each use so it must be populated each time before launching the browser. This should only be used if you want IEWatch to do the navigation automation.

Block All Popups (optional) DWORD value that tells ieWatch to prevent child windows from opening (popups). If the value is 0 or missing then popups will be allowed (or controlled by the built-in pop-up blocker in IE). Any other value will cause ieWatch to not allow the window to be opened

Timeout (optional) DWORD value that sets the page timeout time (in seconds). 0 or missing will provide no timeout, any other value will cause ieWatch to force the measurement to stop after the timeout value.

Use Address (optional) REG_SZ value that provides a local IP address in dotted quad notation ("192.168.0.1") that the browser should be bound to. IEWatch will force the browser requests to originate from the provided IP address (must be a valid address assigned to the machine).

Window Left (optional) DWORD value that provides the left edge of where the browser window should be placed. This is only to be used if you want ieWatch to position the browser in a specific location on the screen. If the height or width are either missing or 0 then the browser window will not be moved. The position is deleted immediately after being read so it will need to be written every time the browser is launched. The browser window will be positioned immediately after the about:blank page is loaded.

Window Top (optional) DWORD value that provides the top edge of where the browser window should be placed. This is only to be used if you want ieWatch to position the browser in a specific location on the screen. If the height or width are either missing or 0 then the browser window will not be moved. The position is deleted immediately after being read so it will need to be written every time the browser is launched. The browser window will be positioned immediately after the about:blank page is loaded.

Window Width (optional) DWORD value that provides the desired width of the browser window. This is only to be used if you want ieWatch to position the browser in a specific location on the screen. If the height or width are either missing or 0 then the browser window will not be moved. The position is deleted immediately after being read so it will need to be written every time the browser is launched. The browser window will be positioned immediately after the about:blank page is loaded.

Window Height (optional) DWORD value that provides the desired height of the browser window. This is only to be used if you want ieWatch to position the browser in a specific location on the screen. If the height or width are either missing or 0 then the browser window will not be moved. The position is deleted immediately after being read so it will need to be written every time the browser is launched. The browser window will be positioned immediately after the about:blank page is loaded.

Result (OUT) DWORD value that contains the result (error code) of the page load.

The following data values are stored under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\AOL\ieWatch

Include Header (optional) DWORD value that will force a header row to be inserted at the top of the log files identifying each row. 0 or missing disables the header row, any other value enables it.