Best way to capture all user interaction

Targets Web
1

Hi guys!

What’s the best way to capture all user interaction on an web app, so i can reproduce step by step to catch an untraceble bug?

:wink:

Alex

2

Video?

If the user has a Mac, QuickTime Player can record the screen without needing to install third party tools.

3

I think he meant user interaction.

if so, a log table will be helpful. Every time the user clicks, searches, etc… you log what the user did along with session id, time stamps, etc.

I did this with a web app I wrote many years ago… and worked great.

4

[quote=397727:@Rich Hatfield]I think he meant user interaction.

if so, a log table will be helpful. Every time the user clicks, searches, etc… you log what the user did along with session id, time stamps, etc.

I did this with a web app I wrote many years ago… and worked great.[/quote]
FWIW, this has the potential for making the app very slow.

It’s also worth pointing out that by adding all this code, you’ll be changing the conditions of the test. It may not reveal the true nature of the problem.

5

What about using triggers in the application’s database ?

6

[quote=397773:@Greg O’Lone]FWIW, this has the potential for making the app very slow.

It’s also worth pointing out that by adding all this code, you’ll be changing the conditions of the test. It may not reveal the true nature of the problem.[/quote]
Greg’s remarks, bundled with trying to reproduce a bug that no-one else can is why I suggested video. It may have seemed like I was joking, but I was not.

7

[quote=397773:@Greg O’Lone]FWIW, this has the potential for making the app very slow.

It’s also worth pointing out that by adding all this code, you’ll be changing the conditions of the test. It may not reveal the true nature of the problem.[/quote]

Hi Greg,

I didn’t notice lag when using logging. Also, if you are writing a HIPPA app… you need to have logging of what a user did.

8

[quote=397878:@Rich Hatfield]Hi Greg,

I didn’t notice lag when using logging. Also, if you are writing a HIPPA app… you need to have logging of what a user did.[/quote]
Did you time it locally or actually out on the web? The reason I ask is that if you are recording every mouse movement and every keystroke, each of those needs to be sent to the server. While they are tiny packets of data, they do add up quickly… very quickly if there are multiple users.

9

I didn’t record mouse movement or key typed, I record the action after a button was pressed.

for example, user fills out search bar and click search. the Search would log the user, session, etc, and what they searched to the log table. Same when the user would click on the navigation.

10

[quote=397947:@Rich Hatfield]I didn’t record mouse movement or key typed, I record the action after a button was pressed.

for example, user fills out search bar and click search. the Search would log the user, session, etc, and what they searched to the log table. Same when the user would click on the navigation.[/quote]
I was just pointing it out so Alexandre understands that.

11

yes, it is an excellent way to document the steps the user did and can assist in reproducing errors.

12

[quote=397704:@Tim Parnell]Video?

If the user has a Mac, QuickTime Player can record the screen without needing to install third party tools.[/quote]

yes… really, the fastest, easiest way, that I will not have to change “all the code” and that will not change the app’s performance, it is really to record a video

:wink: