Legacy | The personas

Defining the real-world user environment is a challenge.

Perfecto has created the Persona concept, which reflects a typical user definition. Each Persona contains a set of properties that together simulate a real end-user. By setting a persona for your test, all its pre-defined properties are configured for the execution. It is possible to use the Perfecto-provided profiles and also to create custom profiles.

The capabilities that define a persona include:

Network conditions: Type of network, speed
Location: Geographic location
Background applications: A set of additional applications running in the background that typify the persona
Device selection: The device characteristics that typify the user, for example an Apple iPhone running the latest version or an Android device from Samsung

The device selection only serves as a property of the persona. It is not a setting that can actually configure anything about the execution environment. You still need to select the device or devices via independent capabilities in your automation tests. For more information on specifying devices in your tests, see Use capabilities to select a device.
Device orientation: Portrait or landscape

For example, imagine Georgia, a 47-year-old high income, corporate road warrior living in Manhattan, traveling to San Francisco and London. Her traits include:

Network: Constantly connected, frequent network switches across various WiFi and cellular networks
Brand of choice: Apple and Verizon
App loyalty: Intense social user, WhatsApp, Mobile Banking, and PO & Expense Report approval

These traits are translated into capabilities, creating Georgia's persona that can be easily incorporated into your test.

If any of the capabilities are explicitly defined in the test script, for example the device definition, they will override the persona capability.