SupportFilesRoot Property (.NET)

Type: String

Default value: "" (empty string, must be set before use of Progressive speed tests)

The Progressive method of testing download connection speeds works by transparently transferring data between your web server and the user's browser. Image files you place on your server are used by BrowserHawk to generate the download traffic needed for the speed measurements. The images are not displayed, rather they are used for data transfer measurements only.

Therefore when using the Progressive connection speed or latency tests, it is mandatory to set the SupportFilesRoot property to point at the web path where the image files can be accessed

For example, assume your web site root directory is located in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mysite and you created a subdirectory called "bhspeed" which resides underneath "mysite" (c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mysite\bhspeed) and copied the speed image files to this location. You must tell BrowserHawk what the location is of these image files. This location can be an absolute or relative path to the subdirectory you created. Note that this is a web path, as seen by the browser (not a file system path as seen by the web server). For example, in the above scenario you should set the SupportFilesRoot property to "/bhspeed".

You may wish to locate these files on a web server separate from where your main site content is located. For example, on a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This is supported, in which case you would set the SupportFilesRoot with the fully qualified URL as the target, such as "http://mycdn.wherever.com/bhspeed". However it is important to note that the speed measurement is performed between the user's browser and the web server where the images are stored. This may weigh into your decision on where to store the files if more than one web server or network is an option.

If you plan to use the Progressive method for download connection speed measurements, the above mentioned image files can be obtained from this location:

http://www.cyscape.com/download/speed-supportfiles.zip

After downloading the zip file, see the README file it contains for step by step instructions on how to set the SupportFilesRoot property and use the Progressive speed test.

Note: The Progressive method can be bandwidth intensive which may impact the fees charged to you by your hosting provider. See the Progressive method topic for more information.

Note: If setting this property, you must do so prior to calling the GetExtendedBrowser method.