Session data captured by Tealeaf is composed of the requests submitted by the visitor's browser to a web application and the responses served by the web server. These messages are usually in the form of HTTP GET requests or HTTP POST requests to the server and the response returned to the requestor.

Historically, the request data in the POST requests has been in name=value pairs and is URL-encoded; the POST data resembles a URL query string. This type of data is also referred to as form data and is by far the most common mechanism for submitting HTML forms.

With the emergence of rich internet applications, requests and responses have become more complicated, using a wider range of optional technologies. In addition to the form data, rich internet applications are now using hierarchical forms of data, such as XML and JSON, and even binary forms to communicate between client and server.

RIAs can also make use of plug-in platforms. Such applications have the option to use proprietary data formats offered by the respective plug-in vendors.

These data forms can be captured by the PCA and forwarded into the Tealeaf system. During replay, the RTV and Browser-Based Replay clients need to know how to manage these data forms. In particular, for a given request happening at replay time, the captured request/response pair with which to associate the request may not be immediately identifiable.

For example, some requests may include a timestamp or a client-generated GUID parameter. The timestamp (or GUID) that is stored in a Tealeaf session corresponds to the time when the session was captured. During replay, a different timestamp (or GUID) corresponding to the time of the replay is generated as part of the request, which results in a replay request that does not exactly match any captured request.

Depending on the data format in use, this variable parameter could also be in the form of a name/value pair, such as timestamp=14325453, or an XML node, such as the following:

<timestamp>14325453</timestamp>

JSON properties may also be used:

{"timestamp": 14325453}

Ignoring a specific subset of variables in order to get the best matching request requires detailed knowledge about the underlying data format in which the content is represented.

Through the POST Data Matching Plugin framework, the RTV and BBR clients can access a set of plugins that help to identify the appropriate response with which to match the request. Using the content type indicated in the request, the replay client can locate the appropriate plugin to use to match requests of these content types to their responses in the session.

As the area of rich internet applications continues to expand, new plugin types can be developed and deployed to your Tealeaf environment, enabling replay to keep pace with emerging technologies. Additionally, you can configure priorities for applying the plugins, so that hybrid technologies can be managed by a suite of plugins.