Customizing the Workload

Contents

Login VSI Pro enables users to add their own “Custom” actions to the workloads. These actions will be executed during the benchmark. There are a few things to keep in mind when using custom actions:

Same execution time - every time
Repeatable

When these requirements are met every file that can be executed can be used as a custom script in the workload. This allows you to use your favorite scripting / programming language.

1. Preparation

Install all components of the Login VSI version according to the manual before adding customizations. It is recommended to perform a test run to make sure the environment is performing appropriately. By default Login VSI installer will run locally. It is possible to change the installation location to a network drive; when doing this make sure the network infrastructure is not creating a bottleneck because this will influence the test results.

2. Adding custom scripts to the benchmark

Login VSI Pro supports adding custom scripts to the workload; this can be done by editing the configuration in the Login VSI Management Console. The log function of Login VSI will automatically log the execution time of your custom script.

Start the Login VSI Management Console
Browse to the “Workload Configuration” tab and scroll down to the “Custom Scripts” section
Expand the “Custom Scripts” Section and click “Add Entry” to add a new entry.
Use “Table A” and “Table B” to define settings required to include customizations

The following tables show which options are available to set in the vsi.ini file. Table “A” shows the options for all file types except BAT, COM, or PIF. To use options with files of that extension review Table “B”.

Table A
Filename	The name of the file to run (EXE, .txt, .lnk, etc).
Workingdir*	Any parameters for the program. Blank ("") uses none.
Verb*	The "verb" to use, common verbs include: Open = (default) Opens the file specified. The file can be an executable file, a document file, or a folder Edit = Launches an editor and opens the document for editing. If "filename" is not a document file, the function will fail Print = Prints the document file specified. If "filename" is not a document file, the function will fail
ShowFlag*	The "show" flag of the executed program: @SW_HIDE = Hidden window @SW_MINIMIZE = Minimized window @SW_MAXIMIZE = Maximized window

Table B
Filename	The name of the executable (EXE, BAT, COM, or PIF) to run.
Workingdir*	The working directory. Blank uses the current working directory.

* = optional

3. Custom script example

Example custom script (AutoIT), the purpose of this script is to open calculator, determine if it is in standard or scientific and after that switch it to the other mode and exit calculator. This example shows how to start an application, detect a window, find a button in that window and perform an action based on that by emulating key presses.

Run(“calc.exe”)                                            ;Start calculator
Winwait(“Calculator”)                         ;Wait for calculator to start

If ControlGetText(“Calculator”, “Hex”, 306)=”Hex”Then 
  Send(“{altdown}vt{altup}”)                        ;If the HEX button can be found press ALT+VT
Else
  Send(“{altdown}vs{altup}”)                        ; otherwise press ALT+VS
Endif

Sleep(2000)
Winclose(“Calculator”)    ; Close calculator

4. Logging of custom actions (PRO only)

When custom actions are added to the workload the Login VSI Pro framework will automatically start to log the execution times of custom scripts. For each custom action a corresponding Log folder will be created in the VSIShare. When using Login VSI Pro three extra timers will be written to the fileshare by default: Login Script timer, Userloop timer, ZipTimer.

5. Analyzing custom actions

Because logfiles generated by Login VSI Pro custom actions are in the same format as the default logfiles, the Login VSI analyzer can be used to process data in these logfiles. To analyze custom logfiles point the analyzer to the custom folder of choice instead of the root of the test. The rest of the process is identical to analyzing default Login VSI logs.