Release 5.2.0

Release 5.2.0

The Appvance IQ (AIQ) 5.0 release includes a significant leap forward in the world of AI-native automated testing. This release introduces Generative AI V3, a comprehensive update that enhances performance, reporting, visual object recognition, and bug-finding accuracy.

This document contains information on the following functional enhancements and functional changes in the AIQ 5.2.0 release.

Depending on what AIQ release you are upgrading from to AIQ 5.2.0, there may be additional functional enhancements included in this release.

Accessing AIQ 5.2.0

Appvance customers can access the 5.2.0 release page. The release page includes a link to the AIQ 5.2.0 installer, the list of fixes included in the release, information on upgrading from a previous release of AIQ and other implementation considerations.

See the "Upgrading your Controller and Test Nodes" section of the 5.2.0 release page for upgrade information.

See About Appvance for contact information.


Release 5.2.0 Notes

See the 5.2.0 release page for general notes.

Firefox Version 130.0

The recent update of Firefox version 130.0 has removed some functionality that impacts AIQ.

The following features are impacted:

Running AI Script Generation executions
Visual Accessors
Take Snapshot/Take Screenshots
setText()
closeWindow()
grantPermission()

Recommendations:

Use Firefox ESR 45..4.0 / 128.2.0esr
Downgrade to Firefox 127.0
Use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge
Enhancements in AIQ 5.2.0

AIQ 5.2.0 contains the following functional enhancements.

AI Script Generation and Autonomous Testing Enhancements

AIQ 5.2.0 contains improvements to the AI Script Generation process for users as well as under-the-hood improvements to the AI engine.

Upgrade Considerations for AISG

For the new features introduced in AIQ 5.2.0 such as the new Coverage Map types and Visual Accessors you must rerun any existing 5.0.x executions on 5.2.0 to take advantage of these new features. For example, you can open a 5.0.x Blueprint file in AIQ 5.2.0 but the new Coverage Map types will not be available automatically.

See Updating 5.0.x AISG Files to AIQ 5.2.0 for more information.

User Interface and Terminology Changes

The menu option Blueprint Designer (AIQ 5.0.x) has been renamed to AI Script Generation in AIQ release 5.2.x.

In addition to this change, the terms "AI Exploratory Testing" and "AI Blueprinting" are no longer used. Those features/functions are now referred to as "Autonomous Testing" and "AI Script Generation" (AISG). The user interface and documentation will be updated to reflect these changes.

The term Blueprint is still used to refer to the Blueprint (.abpt) file that is created during an AISG execution.

New Coverage Map Types

AIQ 5.2.0 contains significant improvements in the AISG Coverage Maps. You can now select from three different dynamic visualizations of the Coverage Map.

The Coverage Map types available in AIQ 5.2.0 are:

Actual Path - Shows the actual path the AI took while executing on your application.

Extended Potential Path - An expanded version of the original coverage map, which will show you the potential paths to the page states, rather than the shortest version.

Original - Shows the shortest possible path between page states, regardless of the steps it took during the execution. This is the default that was available in the 5.0.x release of AIQ.

You can use these Coverage Map types to effortlessly track the AISG execution's journey through the application being tested, leverage AI hints more effectively, and generate precise DS scripts to replicate issues.

Actual Path Coverage Map

Extended Potential Coverage Map

See Coverage Map Types for more information on each type and how they differ from each other.

Search and Filtering Improvements on the Coverage Map

Improvements have been made in the Coverage Map to allow you to search and filter the results so you can explore the data more easily and efficiently.

Searchable Coverage Map

The Coverage Map is now searchable to allow you to filter through and explore the data more easily and efficiently. You can search the URLs in the Coverage Map. Click on the results to see the page state details.

See Exploring the Coverage Map for more information on interacting with the Coverage Map.

Filtering Out Requests on the Coverage Map

You can now filter out specific requests or errors from the Coverage Map. This action will be saved to the Blueprint (.abp) and the Blueprint Template file (.abpt) file so that the requests will not display when the Blueprint is executed in the future.

To hide a request, right click on it from the list and select Hide URL. The request is filtered out of the list and added to the Hidden Requests list.

You can also view all hidden requests from the Requests page which is linked from the Overview page.

See the "Filtering Requests" section of Exploring the Coverage Map for more information.

Visual Accessor Support Added

AIQ 5.2.0 has significant improvements in element-bounds for visual hints and the addition of Visual Accessors.

Automatically Added Visual Accessors

Visual Accessors must be enabled in the Advanced Setup options in the AI Script Generation configuration for the AI to use them.

Visual Accessors will be automatically captured when elements have fewer than four fallback accessors.

This example shows a situation where only three fallback accessors were identified, so a Visual Accessor was automatically added by the AI.

See Visual Accessors in AISG for more information.

Manually Adding Visual Accessors

In addition to the automatically captured Visual Accessors you have the option to manually create Visual Accessors for any element or created them from scratch if needed.

If the AISG identified at least one accessor, it will give you the option to manually add a Visual Accessor. Click the Add Visual Accessor button to manually add a Visual Accessor.

AI Training Enhancements

Many enhancements have been made to the AISG user interface to allow you to easily add additional resources and data to further train the AI on your applications.

Try All Option added to Custom Actions

The option to Try All has been added to Custom Actions. Custom Action can be created to resolve failed actions that occur during the AISG execution.

See Creating Custom Actions for more information.

Add Additional Resources

You can add additional resources to be used by the AI during the AISG execution. For example, you can add files that are required to be uploaded during the test. You can also upload any files needed for any required SQL processing during the test.

Resource files can be added in the Advanced Setup options in the AI Script Generation configuration for the AI to use them.

See the Advanced Setup options section in the documentation.

Support for Multiple Data Sets

You can add multiple data sets. There is a drop down where you can select the type of DPL you are adding. You can select Hash DPL, JavaScript DPL, Synthetic DPL, Encrypted DPL, or Encrypted Hash DPL.

See Add an Execution for more information.

SmartTag Visual Details

You can now view details about the SmartTags that were found during the AISG execution.

If you click the SmartTags button from the Blueprint Overview, you can see details of the SmartTags within your Blueprint.

Select an element and the Click Thumbnail Image to see Details link will show you a visual representation of where the SmartTag was found.

See Exploring SmartTags for more information.

AWS Instance Test Node

The Add Execution window has a new test node option in AIQ 5.2.0. You can select an AWS instance as your test node

.

When you select AWS Instance you must select a cloud configuration file that contains a link to the Test Node on which to run the blueprint.

Desktop Application Testing

The new Desktop Designer is a new testing interface that takes advantage of AIQ's Mobile Designer technology so that you can test desktop applications across diverse environments, including Citrix. You can use Visual Accessors to create new test scripts using simple as point-and-click. Fallback accessors and self-healing script capabilities are built-in to help make creating robust and resilient test scripts effortless.

Here is a brief introductory video on the features and benefit of Desktop Designer.

Benefits and Highlights

You can your test scripts as a Scenarios and view the results on the Dashboard.

Record a video of the test script execution.

Easy access to all Windows keys and actions.

Point and shoot to record your script or add the logic you need with the use of Javascript commands

Detachable preview mode allows you to work on two monitors. You can view your test script on one monitor and the application on another monitor.

Desktop Designer currently supports Windows applications and mainframe systems. Support for Desktop Testing on other operating systems will be added in future releases of AIQ.

API Designer

API Designer has been revamped with powerful validations, DPL support, and more. This allows you create complex test scenarios in seconds, streamlining your testing workflow and boosting productivity.

Enhancements include:

Enhanced OCR Text Recognition: An advanced feature to get text from an image. This is not available in in Postman.

Support for Data Files: Added data file support (aka DPL) is available in API Designer like it is in the rest of the AIQ Designer suite.

Global Header Section: This helps when the headers are repeated, but only need to be specified once.

Multiple Edit Features added: You can now copy and paste API requests or import API Designer scripts.

Locker Functionality: Allows you to use values in subsequent test cases or iterations.

Basic Certificate Support: Now you can use Certificates for authorization purposes.

New API Building Blocks

As part of the enhancements there are five new API testing building blocks.

New Building Blocks

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Global Parameters

Include

Locker

JavaScript

See API Testing Building Blocks for more information.

Reporting

The Dashboard now shows detailed reports for API scenarios similar to DS and JS scenarios.

Postman Conversion

AIQ introduces the ability to read Postman JSON files and convert them into Service Workbench API (.swapi) files. This allows you to integrate and utilize existing Postman tests within the Service Workbench environment for your automated testing.

Highlights

New interface: New Interface to visualize imported API Scripts

Import Feature to convert from Postman Scripts into SWAPI scripts

Implemented the most common Postman commands. Other commands could be added quickly fast, in the rare case they are needed.

Playback of SWAPI files to execute them. get them executed.

Support for Scenarios, which means that you can add the SWAPI files into Scenarios and save results in the Dashboard

Converting Postman Files

Opening a Postman file from Services Workbench initiates the conversion process. The conversion process handles all key elements, including:

HTTP methods

Headers

Body parameters

URL parameters

Authentication details

Test scripts

One the Postman file is converted, you can edit the generated .swapi files within Services Workbench. From there you can execute the generated .swapi files individually or as part of larger test scenarios.

Mobile Testing

There are major changes and enhancements to the user interface for creating, maintaining and executing mobile tests in the 5.2.0 release of AIQ.

New Mobile Designer Interface

The new Mobil Designer interface aligns perfectly with modern editor capabilities offering a more flexible and intuitive user experience that makes testing tasks easier and more efficient. The new Mobile Designer user interface is similar to the new Web Designer user interface that was introduced in AIQ release 5.0.0.

See an introductory video showing the new Mobile Designer interface in use.

You will see this new user interface available in the AIQ menus.

Mobile Designer (the new interface)

Mobile Designer (Classic) (was known as Mobile Designer in previous AIQ releases)

Going forward the Mobile Designer (Classic) user interface is frozen. All new features and functionality will only be implemented in the new Mobile Designer interface. Mobile Designer (Classic) will be depreciated and removed from AIQ in a future release.

See Mobile Designer - New User Interface Overview for the related documentation on the new interface.

Geo Location

You can now Geo Location for iOS and Android phones with Browser Stack, SauceLabs, and OnPremise, testing. The Geo Location format is latitude and longitude in decimal format.

See Geo Location for more information.

Image Injection

The Set Camera Image function allows you to set an image to be used when triggering the camera during a test. For example, you could use this to inject a QR code into your test script.

See Image Injection for information on compatibility, configuration and supported APIs.

Landscape Mode

The new Landscape testing mode allows you to test using tablet/iPads.

Functional Changes

These are the various small changes to functionality that were made in the 5.2.0 release of AIQ.

CICD Git Dashboard Housekeeping

Implemented a parameter to determine the maximum number of days that builds are retained. The parameter is maxDays and is shown in the below code snippet.

Copy
<taskdef name="historyManager" classname="com.appvance.ci.git.HistoryManager">
            <classpath refid="RestClientLibPath" />
        </taskdef>
        <historyManager 
            folder="${localEmptyFolder}"            
            product="${product}" 
            environment="${environment}"
            executionType="scenarios"
            maxDays="10" <<<<< days to keep entries
            buildVersion="${buildVersion}" 
        />
Removed Support for SoapUI

Support for SoapUI was removed in the 5.2.0 release of AIQ.

AISG - Creating Custom Actions

When you click on an unknown input on the actionable elements list from a state page, a custom action with the selected element will be created.

User Management - Teams

An enhancement has been made to user management so that you can now assign users to teams.

This function is only available to the Owner (appvance user).

Navigate to Global Options > Admin Options > Teams (tab).

Available functions:

Add a team
Delete a team
Assign users to teams
Remove users from teams
Export teams
Import teams

The import CSV file must contain the following five column: User Name, Role, Team, Password, Confirm Password

Delete Execution Reports

From the Reports screen you can now delete an execution report that you decide is not relevant. This improves the ability to identify relevant reports more easily by removing irrelevant reports. Deleting an execution report will remove all information and related reports for the execution.

Some situations where this could be useful is to delete empty reports that clutter up the database. Empty reports are created when a scenario fails are one such cause of empty reports. For example, sometimes during the process of setting up a scenario, the scenario may play a number of times which generates a new report. However, when you open the report, an error occurs because the scenario failed to run to completion.

API Testing Reporting

The Dashboard now shows detailed reports for API scenarios similar to DS and JS scenarios.

Time Stamp Displays

The Star Session time stamp is now in human readable format. Also, a note was added to clarify that the time stamps displayed in the text log should not be used to calculate step durations.

Iteration Summary Reports Optional

A new CICD parameter controls whether the Iteration Summary Report is generated and attached to the report.html CICD Dashboard page.

This option allows users who are only interested in the Functional Reports of their pipelines to decrease the time it take for the pipeline reports to be generated and reduce the stress on the results database. This can be a significant saving of time and resources for scenarios with multiple iterations.

The parameters is includeSummaryReports. The default value is true, which means the reports will be included. If it is set to false, the iteration summary reports will not be attached to and attached to the report.html CICD Dashboard page.


The following functional changes in the Scenario Editor were added in AIQ release 5.2.0:

Added option for API tests in the Script Type for Bulk Performance tests.

DataDog APM Integration

When setting up integration with DataDog the parameter live=true must be replaced with live=false otherwise DataDog will only show the last 10 minutes.

See Integration with Datadog (APM) for more information on the integration,

Fixes

See the 5.2.0 release page for a list of fixes contained in AIQ 5.2.0.

 

Last updated: April 01, 2025

If you have any feedback on this topic, please contact us at documentation@appvance.ai