How to: Delay the Start Time of a Scenario Using the Load Test Editor

This topic applies to:

Visual Studio Ultimate	Visual Studio Premium	Visual Studio Professional	Visual Studio Express

After you create your load test by using the New Load Test Wizard, you can use the Load Test Editor to change the scenarios properties to meet your testing needs and goals. For more information, see How to: Create a New Load Test Using the New Load Test Wizard.

You can specify a delay before the start of a scenario in a load test by using the Load Test Editor to change the Delay Start Time property in the Properties window.

An example of an instance when you might want to use the Delay Start Time property is when you need one scenario to start producing items that another scenario consumes. You can delay the consuming scenario to enable the producing scenario to populate some data.

Another example is that you might have one scenario that is run only at a certain time of day. Therefore, you want to delay the start of the scenario to simulate this.

To specify the delay start time for a scenario

1. Open a load test.

   The Load Test Editor appears. The load test tree is displayed.

2. In the load test trees Scenarios folder, click the scenario node for which you want to specify the delay start time.

3. On the View menu, select Properties Window.

   The categories and properties of the scenario are displayed in the Properties window.

4. In the text box for the Delay Start Time property, type a time value that indicates the time to wait after the load test starts before starting the scenario when the load test is run.

   Note

   If the value for the Disable During Warmup property for the scenario is set to True, then the Delay Start Time properties time value will be applied after the warm-up period. You can control which scenarios are included in warm-up by using the Disable During Warmup scenario property. For more information, see How to: Enable or Disable Whether a Scenario Runs During the Warm-Up Period.

5. After you change the property, click Save on the File menu. You can then run your load test by using the new Delay Start Time value.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create a Scenario Used to Model User Activities, Tests, Browsers and Networks Using the New Load Test Wizard

How to: Run a Load Test Using Test Controllers and Test Agents Specified in a Test Setting

Concepts

Load Test Scenario Properties

Other Resources

Editing Load Test Scenarios Using the Load Test Editor

Creating Load Tests Using the New Load Test Wizard

Distributing Load Tests Across Multiple Test Machines Using Test Controllers and Test Agents