Testing Ajax or Flex apps? Monitor Browser Traffic with Wireshark

Ajax and other rich client technologies such as Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex submit information to web and application servers differently than traditional web applications do. As a tester of these technologies, it's important to understand what is being sent and when. Get started by using Wireshark, a free network protocol analyzer, and find out. You might be surprised at what gets sent, and whether sensitive information is encrypted, and how much network chatter a rich client web application might generate.