Data Source Test Step

The Data Source test step retrieves data from different sources to use it in data-driven tests.

The Data Source test step allows you to read data from different data storages (Excel sheets, databases, text files, and so on), or generate them during the test run, and then provide them to other test steps as properties of the Data Source test step. You can configure the test step automatically, and it will generate values for your request parameters.

One test step uses only one Data Source type and gets a value for one or more different properties. ReadyAPI supports the following data sources:

When the test is executing the Data Source step, it reads all the available data and assigns the value of the first data row to step properties.

To iterate through the data rows, you need to add the Data Source Loop test step.

After the creation, you can modify test step settings: select the Data Source type and specify the test step’s properties.

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Here is a brief description of available panels in the test step editor:

Properties panel

Configuration panel

Data log

Besides the test step editor, you can adjust the test step’s behavior by using its properties in the Data Source Properties and Custom Data Source Test Step Properties panels in the Navigator.

DataSource Properties   | View ↓

Custom Data Source Test Step Properties

The test step toolbar contains commands that allow you to modify a test step:

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Here is a description of some commands:

• – Retrieves data from the specified data source. You can use this item to check if you specified connection settings correctly.

• – Removes the retrieved data from memory and clears the Data Log.

• – Opens the Options dialog to configure the test step properties.

Data sources have some configurable options for ways to handle data.

To open the Options dialog, click on the test step toolbar.

The options apply to the selected Data Source test step regardless of the data source type.

Options are organized into three tabs:

Settings

The tab contains the following options:

Option	Description
Restart on Run	If this option is enabled, the iterator of the data source is set to the first row every time the test run reaches the beginning of the data source loop. This happens, for example, when you restart a test run or when the data source loop is nested inside another data source loop.
Preload	If this option is enabled, the test step tries loading the data from the data source before running the test case.
Fail on Empty	If this option is enabled, the test step fails if the data source is empty. Use this option to create data-driven assertions, if, for example, the SQL query of JDBC data source contains a WHERE clause that uses Property Expansion to select data corresponding to a previously returned response.
Skip Loop on Empty	When this option is enabled and the data source is empty on initial execution, ReadyAPI continues test execution from the first corresponding Data Source Loop test step in a test case.
Start Row	A zero-based index of the initial row that the data source uses.
End Row	A zero-based index of the last row that the data source uses.
Rows Per Iteration	Specifies how many rows the data source loads for each iteration. The minimum value is 1. For information on how to refer to a specific row, see Obtain Property Values of the Specific Row.
Run last iteration	When this option is enabled, ReadyAPI will perform the iteration even if the number of remaining rows in the data source is less than the number specified in the Rows Per Iteration option. For example, if you get two rows in each iteration and the data source has three rows, at the second iteration only one row will remain. When the option is enabled, ReadyAPI performs the iteration. Otherwise, it exits the data source loop and continues the test.

Data processing

The tab contains the following options:

Option	Description
Trim	Specifies whether the test step will remove leading and trailing spaces from the retrieved text values.
Entitize	Specifies whether the test step will replace special HTML symbols (like & or >) with the appropriate entities (like & or >).
Expand	If selected, the test step will expand property expansion expressions in retrieved values.

Load testing

This tab contains options that control the Data Source test step’s behavior during a load test run:

Option	Description
Shared	Specifies if the data source is shared between concurrent virtual users. Enable this option to command virtual users to use the same data source iterator. The test step will move the iterator to the next row every time some virtual user reads data from the data source. So, the next virtual user will use data of the next row. If the option is disabled, each virtual user has their own iterator and moves through the data source independently from other virtual users.
Restart Shared	Works only if the Shared option is enabled. Specifies whether the test step will reset the data source’s iterator when it reaches the last row. If the option is disabled, and the iterator is beyond the last row, then -- The Data Source test step returns empty values in its data properties. The Data Source Loop test step that uses this Data Source considers the Data Source to be over. The Test Case execution continues with the test step that is after the Data Source Loop test step.
Stop on Data Source exhaustion	When checked, the corresponding Load Test will be stopped as soon as the corresponding Data Source is exhausted (once all the data source’s data items were used).

To access these options in ReadyAPI Performance, select the needed step on the step list:

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While the test step editor is open, you can see retrieved values in the Data Log panel. If the test step is run as part of a test case, you can see brief information on the test step run in the Transaction Log panel.

Below, you can find information on common tasks that you can perform with the Data Source test step.

Import list of properties from file

Specify the data source

Get multiple rows in a single iteration

Obtain property values of the specific row

During the test, the Data Source test step loads the specified number of rows in each iteration. To refer to a specific row, use the following property expansion syntax:

${DataSouceTestStep#DataSourceProperty::RowNumber}

Where:

• DataSourceTestStep – Specifies the name of the desired Data Source test step.

• DataSourceProperty – Specifies the desired property of the test step.

• RowNumber – Specifies a zero-based index of the desired row.

If a data source gets multiple rows, and you do not specify RowNumber, the expression returns the last received row.

Example

ExampleExample

Suppose that a Data Source test step has the following data and loads two rows per iteration:

	Country	City
1	Italy	Venice
2	China	Hong Kong
3	Turkey	Istanbul
4	United States	New York

To refer to the Country property of the first row in the iteration, use ${DataSource#Country::0}.

To refer to the City property of the second row in the iteration, use ${DataSource#City::1}.

When you run a test case, you will get the following values:

Iteration	${DataSource#Country::0}	${DataSource#City::1}
1	Italy	Hong Kong
2	Turkey	New York