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Browser based replay

Browser based replay

BBR replay rules

To enable the highest fidelity replay without impacting the origin server or servers of your web application, you can configure and deploy replay rules.

A replay rule is a modification to the session data during replay so that the replay looks as close as possible to the original experience of your web application's visitor. For example:

  • The captured session data can contain references to a server that is not available from where Tealeaf users are replaying the session. So, you must configure a replay rule to modify URLs pointing to the origin server to point to a different server.
  • If the session is from an application that requires authentication, an unauthenticated Tealeaf user can generate a significant number of Status Code 401 - Access Denied errors during replay. Using a replay rule, you can instruct BBR to ignore or remove these pages during replay.
  • The session can reference an external JavaScript™ file, which you may or may not want to reference during replay. You can configure replay rules to suppress the JavaScript file or to modify it so that it works effectively during session replay.

There are many more uses for replay rules. In the sections below, you can review the replay rules that can be configured through the Replay Server to be applied to all Browser Based Replay sessions.

Note: Replay rules do not change the stored session data. They are applied only during replay by the Replay Server to the data that is passed to Browser Based Replay for display to the Tealeaf user.
Note: The quality of session replay is dependent upon the nature of the web application. Websites that employ sophisticated display technologies or rely on client user interaction events can require significant customization of the common replay profile and replay rules.

Ways to access and work with replay rules

Replay rules that apply to BBR can be configured in the following locations:

  • Replay Server

    Through the Portal Management page, you can select the master Replay Server and configure replay rules through the GUI. Changes to the replay rules from the master Replay Server are automatically forwarded to any slave Replay Servers, so that all servers are using the same set of rules.

  • Browser-Based Replay

    When you have a session that is loaded into BBR, you can use the context menus to create replay rules that are based on specific, highlighted data in the currently loaded session.

  • CX RealiTea Viewer

    If you must configure replay rules that are not supported through the BBR or Replay Server interfaces, you can download and install the CX RealiTea Viewer desktop application, which can be used to search and replay sessions from your local desktop. When changes are made to replay rules through RTV, they can be synchronized with the BBR replay rule set.

  • Configuration File

    For Tealeaf users who are comfortable working with XML, you can configure replay rules in the native XML format by accessing the configuration file on the master Replay Server.

    Note: Tealeaf does not recommend configuring replay rules through the XML file, as no data validation is completed on the edited file. Where possible, use the user interface methods for configuring replay rules.

To create or modify replay rules for BBR, you must have access to the Portal Management page. For more information, contact your Tealeaf administrator.

You must have command-line write permissions on the server that hosts the Replay Server.

BBR replay rules and RTV

In many cases, the original replay rule was developed for use with the CX RealiTea Viewer.

Replay rule types

Tealeaf supports the following types of replay rules.

In the table below, you can determine whether the rule is supported for configuration through the Replay Server, BBR, or RTV.

Table 1. Replay Rule Types
Rule Name XML Node Description
Popup Page PopupURL PopupURL marks pages as popup, so they are not used for highlighting.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Remove this page from Replay   You can create a regular expression to match URLs that you do not wish to display in the Navigable Pages List or during replay.
HighlightonlyURL HighlightOnlyUrl For AJAX-based pages, you can configure a page to apply highlighting only to the content retained from the previous page. In this manner, you can simulate the application and the capture of UI events.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Ignore ReqVar for URL Match IgnoreReqVarForURLMatch During replay, the replay client attempts to match requests to responses in the session data. In some cases, you can improve matching by providing a URL pattern, which is used to remove request variables, such as timestamp information, from the set that is used to match the request to the response.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
ResponseMod ResponseModify ResponseModify rules are used to complete special modifications to the response to enhance the replay that is displayed to the Tealeaf user. For example, you can configure a ResponseModify rule to disable JavaScript used to break their pages out of frames.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
RequestMod RequestModify

The Request Modify rule is useful for fixing anomalies in data or fixing custom content not handled by Replay. For example, you can use the Request Modify rule to modify the URL of a page or make corrections to incorrect data in the JSON UISDK. The Replay server can then load the modified data and perform its task.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor. Here are the parameters defined:
URL
This is a regular expression defining which URLs this rule is to be applied to.
Reqvar(optional)
The name portion of a name/value pair in the request to evaluate.
Value
A regular expressions. If the expression matches the value for reqvar the rule is applied.
Pattern
A regular expression used to match the text in the request to be replaced.
Replacement
This is a literal string that will replace the text matched by the pattern. Meta-characters (such as \r, \n, \t) are converted to the corresponding characters prior to replacement.
Occurrences
Replace either the first occurrence or all occurrences.
External File Modification ExternFileModify ExternFileModify rules can be configured to complete additional processing to external files that can interfere with replay.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Dynamic Response Modification Rules DynResponseMod When replaying a session that includes data that is delivered from a third party, the contents from the third party must be associated with a specific request. If the third-party content is required to accurately represent the customer's experience, a dynamic response modification rule must be configured to acquire the content at replay time.
Dynamic External File Modification Rules DynExternalFileMod If the main page loaded into RTV references a separate file that is not part of the session, the file may require modification before it is loaded into RTV. For example, if a JavaScript file referenced by a page in a session contains a domain reference, that reference can result in a JavaScript error during replay. You can design dynamic external file modification rules to apply to the referenced JavaScript file that modify the file before it is loaded into RTV.
Remove this page from Replay IgnoreURL IgnoreURL removes pages that should not be replayable from the Viewable Pages list.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Host Remap RemapHost RemapHost remaps the host that is named in the HostProfile node to some other host. For example, you can use this mapping to replay session data from a backup server, instead of the origin server, which can impact usage metrics.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Portal Remap RemapPort RemapPort remaps the port number of the host that is named in the HostProfile node to some other port number.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
URL Remapping RemapURL You can use the RemapURL rule to redirect static content retrieval. This is needed when the external content is not available or accessible from the live web site, and a copy is saved on another server where it can be reached.
Host Protocol Protocol Protocol forces the protocol to a specific value: auto, http, https.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Frame Rule FrameRule FrameRule is used to force a URL to alway load into particular frame
BlockedURL BlockRemoteURL If needed, you can specify a URL or set of URLs that are prevented from reaching out to the origin server. If the replay client is unable to locate the response in the session data, no effort is made to reach the origin server for the missing content.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
New Host HostProfile Add a host to monitor. The name of the host must be the full domain name of it (for example, www.example.com. Each host has its own set of profile rules, so you must add or copy rules from any existing host to the new one.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Whitelist Rule whitelistName By default, the Replay Server operates in Blacklist mode, in which all URLs are permitted to contact the origin server. In many environments, this ability to touch the origin server during replay is not desirable or even permitted. In Whitelist mode, you can configure URL patterns that are permitted to contact the origin server, and all other URLs are blocked.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Custom UI Event Highlighting UIElementCustomHighlight Replay Rule for UI Events: For the selected UI event, you can add or modify custom highlighting rules. These rules can be used when the element being highlighted needs special handling, such as calling a javascript function for some custom control. They can also be used for debugging or alerting purposes when specific user actions or values is displayed in a session.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
Ignoring UI Elements during Replay Replay Rule for UI Events Replay Rule for UI Events: You can choose to ignore selected UI elements during session replay. When this option is selected, the UI Event Element Ignore dialog is displayed with the regular expression pattern to identify the UI element.
Keystroke Breakouts Replay Rule for UI Events Replay Rule for UI Events: UI Capture supports the capture of Intellisense keystrokes as UI events. Keystrokes applied with UI elements, such as textboxes and form fields, are bundled together into a single UI event for capture. To support appropriate replay of the visitor experience, RTV can be configured to break out these aggregated keystroke events into individual UI events for each keystroke. When keystrokes are broken out in RTV, you can see the characters that are displayed in the order that the visitor entered them.
Remap URL   You can use the remapping URL feature to remap the URL of content external to the captured pages of a session to a new destination. Remapping URLs is commonly used in situations where the external content is not available or accessible from the original site, and a copy is made on another server to which you can remap the URL.
PatchResponseWithPostValue PatchResponseWith PostValue This rule allows you to set up patterns in the request, from which values are grabbed. These values are patched in the response. This work is handled by the plug-ins, since the type of the data can vary, and each plug-in best knows its data type.

This rule has several attributes.

requestValue - Use this attribute for query string values, or values where the plug-in parses and 'flattens' the request into name-value pairs. This is a simple string match, not a regex. Use this attribute or requestPattern, not both.

requestPattern - Use this attribute for request body values. This is a regex pattern, which is used on the raw request body as a whole. Use this attribute or requestValue, not both. When responsePattern is empty, this pattern is used as the response replacement pattern.

responsePattern (optional) - Use this attribute when the response replacement pattern needs to differ from requestPattern.

You can also use this rule when a value in a query string needs to be patched into a jsonp response. The responsePattern attribute is used to specify what to replace in the response.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.
MobileMod Rule MobileMod MobileMod Rule corrects the dimensions of mobile devices that are based on user agent information during Replay.

This rule is available in the BBR Rule Profile Editor.

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