Something that confuses new users to WebInspect is that the Web Macro Recorder will not record any requests to http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost. This can cause much head scratching for someone who just wants to try something out on their local machine.

The simple solution to this is to add an entry to your hosts file, and use the alias instead of localhost.

So (for those who need me to spell it out for them), to record a macro for the HP WebTours website on my local machine (http://127.0.0.1:1080/WebTours/), I added the following line to my hosts file (C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetchosts)…

# HP/Mercury WebTours website alias
127.0.0.1 webtours

The Web Macro Recorder then successfully records all requests to http://webtours:1080/WebTours/.

 

Published On: June 3, 2008Tags: ,

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One Comment

  1. Joe August 26, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    You might also try “http://localhost./” (notice the “.” after localhost). I believe this problem is cuased by the fact that the .NET Framework re-routes localhost queries around proxies, but putting the dot after it tricks the framework into avoiding the bypass.

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