Bot Window Management

New Technique for bot window management

In order to reduce the memory requirements on the bot during the playback, a new concept has been introduced. SAP GUI windows, once test scripts have been executed, are shut down automatically if there is no “soon to be run” scripts for that same user session. This means that the bot will login the user, run the script, then shut-down the window thus freeing up the memory consumed.

*This also means that when monitoring the playback, you should see very few windows upon the bots that aren’t doing anything.

The problem with constantly closing down the SAP GUI windows is that this impacts performance since the next script that the user runs will need to log back on every time for every script. Thus, a new parameter has been created to optimize the performance of the playback.

The new changes mean that windows will be shut down on a regular basis based upon a new parameter (CLOSE_SES_THRESHOLD). As each script is allocated to a worker thread, this parameter is retrieved and the playback will look N steps ahead to see if the same user session is in those next set of steps. If they aren’t, then the bot/worker thread is instructed that after it completes the script, it should automatically shut down the window/session.

Impact of reducing the windows upon each bot

Bots should remain stable throughout the playback and won’t crash by running out of memory. Less bots are therefore required for a playback. You should not see as many “idle” windows on the bots during the playback. If you have very few bots in your playback, then the value for CLOSE_SES_THRESHOLD should be kept to a minimum (ideally 0). A value of 0 means that all scripts will shut down their windows at the end of each script. It also means that there will need to be a login for every script.

The optimal value for CLOSE_SES_THRESHOLD when many bots are involved in the playback, is somewhere between 1000 and 5000 dependent upon the execution queue size and the number of bots involved. Please liaise with Basis Technologies delivery and support when deciding upon this value for your playback.

!Don’t forget that scripts that have dependencies upon other scripts may only partially run (e.g. run up to step 10 out of 30) and then wait until the dependent script is completed. Thus, you may still see SAP GUI windows open but waiting. Also, if a user opens multiple sessions (e.g. 2+ SAP GUI windows in parallel), then the bot will need to open these additional windows as well which may do nothing until the parallel script is complete.