6 - Desktop Companion - Editor
Simple request editor.
In the ‘Editor and Proxy Recorder’ tab you’ll be able to perform some basic editing of the requests imported from an HAR file or recorded by the integrated proxy recorder.
For more complex editing please use the HTTP Test Wizard in the RealLoad portal after uploading your test script there.
Overview
The Editor area is split in 3 main parts:
- HTTP Requests: This section shows all HTTP requests imported from an HAR or recorded by the Proxy Recorder. The context menu accessible via a right click allows you to perform some basic editing functions.
- Request Details: When selecting a request some additional details about the HTTP request will appear, like values extracted from HTTP headers, etc…
- Unique Domains: In this section all unique domain names will be listed. Clicking on a domain will select all relevant rows in the requests table.
Delete Requests
You can mark requests in the main editor window by clicking on them. Hold the ctrl key to mark multiple request or use the shift key to mark a range of requests.
Once marked you can delete the requests by right-clicking on a marked request and selecting “Delete selected” from the context menu:
Adding Time Delays
To add a time delay before or after a request, select the relevant context menu item while hovering over a request. The time delay is currently hardcoded to 1 second, but can modified in the HTTP Test Wizard.
Time delays rows appear as requests of type in the main editor window:
Domain Based Selection
In order to bulk select all requests belonging to specific domains select one or more domains (by holding the CTRL key). This will select corresponding requests in the requests list which can then be easily deleted.
It is also possible to directly delete requests belonging to one or multiple domains using the context menu.
7 - Desktop Companion - Proxy Recorder
Run the Proxy Recorder locally on your desktop.
The Desktop Companion allows you to run the RealLoad Proxy Recorder component locally on your desktop. Recorded HTTP(S) requests will then appear in the Editor tab.
There are two main sections in this chapter:
- How to configure your web browser.
- Hot to record a web session.
You’ll have to configure the listening TCP port of the integrated RealLoad Proxy Recorder in your web browser (host: 127.0.0.1, default port: 18080).
We strongly recommend using a web browser that allows you to configure proxy settings independently of the operating system’s proxy settings, for example Firefox (Chrome and Edge do not support this feature).
Import the Proxy Recorder CA Certificate
Security Warning
You should never import the RealLoad Proxy Recorder CA certificate into a web browser that you use for everyday activities such as online banking, etc. Furthermore, you should never import the Proxy Recorder CA certificate into the operating system’s “trust store”.
In case if you ignore this security warning, you must delete the Proxy Recorder CA Certificate in the web browser or in the operating system as soon as possible after recording a web surfing session.
Then reboot the operating system.
For the web browser to trust HTTPS (SSL) web server certificates issued on the fly by the local Proxy Recorder, you’ll need to import the Proxy’s CA certificate as follows:
1: First export the Proxy Recorder CA certificate to a file: In the Desktop Companion’s “Proxy Recorder” tab, click the “Export CA Certificate”. Then select a folder where the certificate is to be stored. It will be stored in a file named RecProxyCert.cer.
2: Then import the Proxy Recorder CA certificate into Firefox: In Firefox call Settings
Click Privacy & Security:
Scroll down to Security - Certificates, and click ‘View Certificates…’
In the Firefox Certificate Manager click first on Authorities and then on ‘Import…’
Select the CA Root Certificate you downloaded before and check the “Trust this CA to identify websites” box. Then click OK
The CA Root Certificate is now imported into Firefox:
In the Firefox “Settings” scroll to the bottom of the page where “Network Settings” are located.
Select “Manual proxy configuration” and configure the Proxy Host to 127.0.0.1 and the Proxy Port to 18080 for both HTTP and HTTPS. Enable the checkbox “Also use this proxy for HTTPS” and click the “OK” button.
Test Browser Configuration
Navigate to any HTTPS page. You shouldn’t see any warnings about untrusted SSL certificates beings used.
If you check the certificate of the site you’re visiting, the issuer should be “Real Load Pty Ltd”, as shown in the below screenshots.
Recording a Web Session
Before starting recording, you should clear the browser cache each time.
Then navigate to the “Editor and Proxy Recorder” tab and expand the “Proxy Recorder Controls” area:
To start the recording click on the “Start Recorder” button:
Then enter the URL in the web browser:
We recommend adding Page Breaks while recording - every time before you click a button in the web browser or submit a form.
Click “Stop Recorder” after recording is completed.
After recording, proceed as follows:
- Restore the original proxy settings in the browser and, if necessary, delete the Proxy Recorder CA certificate in the browser.
- Delete HTTP requests for unwanted domains.
- Upload the recorded web session to the RealLoad portal and post-edit it in the HTTP Test Wizard.
8 - Desktop Companion - AWS Measuring Agents
Launch and terminate AWS based Measuring Agents and manage their registration with the RealLoad portal.
The AWS tab allows you to manage cloud based Measuring Agents by using your own AWS account. This section of the application will be of most use if you configured AWS credentials in the preferences section of the application.
If no AWS credentials are configured, you won’t be able to start and terminate AWS instances.
Listing AMIs
In the left pane you’ll see a list of available AWS AMIs. You can further filter the list of AMIs by selecting a specific version and/or by selecting an AWS region.
My AWS Regions
Note that only the regions you’ve configured in the preferences window as “My regions” will appear in the regions filter.
Type:
- MA = Measuring Agent
- CC = Cluster Controller
Launching an Instance
To launch an new EC2 instance right-click on the relevant AMI and select “Launch”. A screen to confirm the launch will be displayed. Confirm by clicking on the “Launch” button.
When launching an instance in an AWS EC2 region that is not yet part of your “My Regions” list, the region will be automatically added to the list.
Launching a new instance will automatically trigger a refresh of the AWS Measuring Agents list. It might take a few second for the list to update and the new instance to be reflected in it.
A window will appear in which you can check the configuration of the instance and set the instance auto-terminate time period. You can also choose a value of zero for the auto-terminate time period, which means that the instance will continue to run until you stop it.
Important NOTE
For technical reasons, it may happen that a AWS instance was not automatically terminated.
You must therefore double-check at the end of each working day in the AWS Console whether all AWS instances that are no longer needed have actually been terminated.
Follow the instructions at Double-check no longer needed Instances
Listing running EC2 Instances
After launching an instance go to the top right part of the window listing the running instances and right click on “Refresh”. This will retrieve all running EC2 instances from the preferred AWS regions and display them in the table.
Listed instances
Note that only instances running in the regions you’ve configured in the preferences window as “My regions” and tagged with the “REAL_LOAD_AGENT” tag will be listed.
Registering an Instance
To register an AWS instance with the RealLoad wait Portal right-click on the instance and then select the “Register with portal” menu item. The instance ID will be used as the description in the RealLoad Portal.
List registered Instances
In the right bottom part of the window you’ll see the Measuring Agents currently registered on the RealLoad Portal. To update the list right click and select the “Refresh” option.
De-register an Instance
In order to de-register an instance from the RealLoad Portal right click on the instance name and select “De-register”.
Terminate an Instance
To terminate an AWS EC2 instance right click on the instance name.
9 - Release Notes
Desktop Companion change log
0.28 | 5 Mar 2026
0.27 | 14 Nov 2024
- Functionality: Added Monitoring tab to display the Synthetic Monitoring dashboard.
- Functionality: Added the Project Explorer tab, allowing to upload/download/delete project resources.
- Functionality: Added the ability to configure and switch between multiple RealLoad accounts.
- Bug fixes: Various minor bugfixes.
0.26 | 6 Nov 2022
- Bug fix: Fixed an SSL related issue preventing recordings from OS X / iOS.
0.25 | 28 Oct 2022
- Functionality: Updated Desktop Companion to support Portal v4.7.3. Plz update to this version.
0.24 | 21 Mar 2022
- Functionality: Added support for AWS Cluster Controller images.
- Note: Before using Cluster Controller AMIs, using the AWS console remove the Real Load security group. It will be automatically re-created with new settings once you start an AWS instance.
- Functionality: Moved proxy recorder controls to Editor tab. List of recorded requests updated in real time.
- Functionality: Added various new Proxy Recorder related options (auto-page breaks, etc…).
- Functionality: When launching an AWS image you can now specify an auto-shutdown timeout.
0.23 | 25 Jan 2022
- Functionality: Added ability to assign an elastic IP to a running EC2 instance.
- Security: Update to address Log4j Shell CVE-2021-44228
0.22 | 13 Dec 2021
- Usability: Allow adding page breaks as you navigate from page to page while recording.
- Usability: Added a real-time counter of the requests being recorded.
- Usability: Added a button to force the Desktop Companion window on top of others, so it doesn’t get hidden by browser windows.
0.21 | 9 Dec 2021
- Usability: Proxy Recorder log is always deleted when starting a new recording.
- Usability: Added a “Delete” contextual menu to the “Unique Domains” window.
- Packaging: The Windows Installer is now signed with a Code Signing certificate.
0.20 | 3 Dec 2021
- Usability: Added help links to online documentation.
- Usability: Added various configuration checks and related alert dialogs.
- Usability: On exit, added alert in relation to running AWS EC2 instances.
- Usability: List of AWS instances is updated via a background thread, periodically.
- Usability: List of registered Measuring Agents is updated via a background thread, periodically.
- Usability: The AWS region where an EC2 instance is launched is automatically added to “My Regions” list.
- Installer: Created a Windows full installer that includes a JRE.
- Bugfix: Fixed an issue with HAR files containing POST requests with no content type.
- Bugfix: Updated JavaFX to v17
0.10 | 8 Nov 2021
