Understanding the Unknown Status in Test Observability
Understand how you can resolve Unknown status or Timeouts.
What does the Unknown status mean?
Test Observability sometimes marks tests and builds as “Unknown”, like below:
If a test is marked as “Unknown”, then it is possible that Test Observability:
- has not received complete data from a test potentially due to an outdated SDK version
- has not recieved complete data from a test potentially due to an inactivity timeout on the user’s side
- does not recognize the status that your test framework has set for the build (if it is a non standard status i.e. something other than Pass, Fail or Skipped)
If a build is marked as unknown or has a warning tooltip, then it is possible that Test Observability:
- has not received complete data from a build or tests potentially due to an outdated SDK version
- has not recieved complete data from a test potentially due to an inactivity timeout on the user’s side
What can you do if your build was marked as unkown or had a stability issue?
-
Check if you are on the latest stable version of the BrowserStack SDK which you use to run tests with Test Observability. Upgrading to the latest stable version of the SDK for your framework minimizes issues with tests or builds being marked as Unknown. Please read further below to understand how to check this.
-
If you are on the latest version of the BrowserStack SDK, then ensure you have set an appropriate Inactivity Timeout in your project’s settings. An inactivity timeout is the amount of time Test Observability will continue to wait in between tests. Set a large build timeout if you have large waiting periods between multiple test executions in the same build job. Please read further below to understand how to check this.
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If you have done both of the above actions, please raise a Support Ticket. Our support engineers will investigate if there is anything specific with your test suite and SDK that is causing this issue to occur on a recurring basis.
Configuring Build Timeout
There is a possibility your build was marked as timed out because Test Observability kept waiting for a test or event from your build. You can configure an inactivity timeout to automatically terminate running builds on account of not receiving events from your test framework. Set a large build timeout if you have large waiting periods between multiple test executions in the same build job.
Updating to the latest stable SDK version
Please check the table below on how to update your SDK version. Upgrading to the latest stable version of the SDK for your framework minimizes issues with tests or builds being marked as Unknown.
If your framework is not listed in the table below, you may assume you are on a framework which has stable versions by default. However, we encourage you to automatically update to the latest version regardless as good hygiene.
| Framework | Minimum Stable Version | How to Update SDK |
|---|---|---|
| Cypress | 1.27.0 |
Run npm update browserstack-cypress-cli in your Terminal Alternatively, set the version for browserstack-cypress-cli in your package.json as latest or ^1.27.0 and then run npm install. |
| Jest | 1.32.2 |
Run npm update browserstack-node-sdk in your Terminal Alternatively, set the version for browserstack-node-sdk in your package.json as latest or ^1.32.2 and then run npm install. |
| Mocha | 1.32.2 |
Run npm update browserstack-node-sdk in your Terminal Alternatively, set the version for browserstack-node-sdk in your package.json as latest or ^1.32.2 and then run npm install. |
| Robot | 1.19.15 |
Run pip install --upgrade browserstack-sdk in your Terminal Alternatively, set the version for browserstack-sdk in your requirements.txt as >=1.19.15, and then run pip install -r requirements.txt
|
| TestNG or TestNG Cucumber |
1.13.10 |
Set the version of the browserstack-java-sdk in your pom.xml to LATEST or 1.13.10. |
| WebdriverIO v7 | 7.36.0 |
Run npm update @wdio/browserstack-service in your Terminal Alternatively, set the version for @wdio/browserstack-service in your package.json as latest or ^7.36.0 and then run npm install. |
| WebdriverIO v8 | 8.33.1 |
Run npm update @wdio/browserstack-service in your Terminal Alternatively, set the version for @wdio/browserstack-service in your package.json as latest or ^8.33.1 and then run npm install. |
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