Web Service speed issue - is it the browser?

Question

Hi

I have a legacy CGI web service that returns XML. I have added logging to timestamp the various method calls within the service, and it completes within a couple of seconds.

However, because of the amount of XML being returned, it takes about 15 seconds for the browser to display this.

I understand what is happening, but other people don't. Is there some tool/add-in I can use to SHOW where the speed issue lies, and that it's not in the WebService?

Thanks

Answer 1

A simple solution to prove the browser is the issue is to not use a browser and show that it does complete in 2 seconds - use wget or something similar. You could even just create a link to the service and right-click -> save target as. Either way you're taking the rendering out of the equation.

Alternatively, the YSlow addon for firefox will mark different points in the loading, though I'm not sure this works for XML files.

Answer 2

Use Fiddler to show server response time which is on "Performance Statistics" tab.

Answer 3

You can try firebug network pane for firefox to show/measure the speed of loading the page. Or as Greg said, just use wget.