How to Share Test Data

After you have created a Test Data set for one test, you may want to use the same data in other tests, or share this data with users in your Workspace, or in other Workspaces. Shared test data can be either a spreadsheet or a data entity. You can share test data either within the current workspace, or export it from one workspace and import it into another.

You can open saved test data entities in any other test in the same workspace. The test data integration covers Performance tests, Functional tests, API Monitoring tests, and Virtual Services.

This article covers:

• Video demo
• Share spreadsheets within the workspace
• Share data entities within the workspace
• Export Data Entities to other workspaces
• Preview Shared Test Data
• Unshare Test Data

Video demo

The following video quickly summarizes using shared data entities consistently across all different test types.

Click to show video

Share spreadsheets within the workspace

Create Shared Folders for Spreadsheets

To share a spreadsheet within a Workspace, ask a Workspace administrator to create a shared folder and to upload the CSV files there.

Tip: For the admin to create the necessary Shared Folders, decide on clear names for these folders that help team members identify which test data is relevant for them.

1. Prepare spreadsheets with test data as usual.
   Example: The column names will become the test parameter names, and the rows contain the test data values.
2. Save the spreadsheets in CSV format.
3. Log on as a Workspace Administrator.
4. Click Settings > Workspace > Shared Folders.
5. To create a new Shared Folder, click Plus, give the new folder a name (without spaces!), and press Enter.
6. Click a shared folder to open it.
7. Drag and drop the CSV files from your local machine onto the drop area, or click to browse to file to upload them.

The uploaded files become available to workspace members.

Attach CSVs from shared folders to a test

After the Shared Folder and its contents are ready, team members can attach shared test data to their tests.

1. Open a test and go to the Configuration tab.
2. Click the Test Data button.
3. Click Plus, and then select Attach... CSV File from Shared Folders.
   The Shared Folders window opens.
4. Select the desired folders so that a checkmark appears, then click Accept to use the selected test parameters in your test definition.

Note: You cannot edit column names in the Test Data pane when the CSV file is loaded from Shared Folders. The column names are used as the parameter names.

Remove shared CSVs from a test

To stop using shared test data in a test, return to the Shared Folders window, and deselect the shared folder. The test data remains available for other users of this workspace.

Share data entities within the workspace

In addition to sharing spreadsheets, you can also share data entities with team members in the same Workspace. To share a test's local data entity, save it to the workspace. The saved data entity contains copies of all test parameters.

For more information about creating data entities, see How to Use Test Data.

Restriction: Attached CSV files and spreadsheets from Shared Folders are not included in data entities saved to the workspace. This article also describes the procedure how to share and load files, see there.

Note: After saving a data entity, the shared copy is no longer linked to the original local test. This means, if you regenerate the local test's synthetic data, the shared data entity remains unaffected.

Follow these steps:

1. Open a test and go to the Configuration tab.
2. Click the Test Data button.
3. Click the ellipsis menu and select Save to Workspace.
   The Save Test Data Entity window opens.
4. Define a Test Data Entity Name that helps your team members to identify what to use this test data for, and click Save.
   
5. Open a test into which you want to load the data entity, and go to the Configuration tab.
6. Click the Test Data button.
7. Click the ellipsis menu and select Load From Workspace.
8. Select a test data entity and click Open.

   Caution: Opening a data entity overwrites all current test parameters and settings in the test.

Export Data Entities to other workspaces

You can export a data entity as a zip file to your local computer, and import it into any test with test data support in another workspace. The zip file contains all test parameters, attached CSV files, and CSV files from shared folders.

Tip: You can export data entities to make a backup as a file.

1. Open the source test and go to the Configuration tab.
2. Click the Test Data button.
3. Click the ellipsis menu and select Export to File.
4. Define the Test Data Entity Name and click Export.
   You download the data entity as a ZIP file.
5. Open the target test and go to the Configuration tab.
6. Click the Test Data button.
7. Click the ellipsis menu and select Import.
8. Select the exported ZIP file and Click Open.

   Caution: Importing a data entity overwrites all current test parameters and settings in the test.

After the import, you can remove test parameters that you don't need, and add new test parameters to the test.

Import Shared Folders

Important: BlazeMeter only re-establishes the identity of shared CSV files in tests if CSV files with the same names exist in the Shared Folders of the target workspace.

1. Export the data entity from the source Workspace.
2. Work with the workspace administrators of the target workspace to recreate the Shared Folder structure and have them upload the CSV files from the source Workspace.
3. Go to the target workspace and open a test.
4. Click the Test Data button and click the Plus button.
5. Select Import Data Entity From Exported File.
6. Select the exported ZIP file and Click Open.

   Caution: Importing a data entity overwrites all current local test parameters and settings in the test.

Preview Shared Test Data

Each Data Entity appears as a tab in the Data Settings / Iteration window of the test it is used in.

You can also click Test Data in the top navigation to open the Test Data Management window to preview the values of all shared Data Entities in this workspace.

Unshare Test Data

Unshare a spreadsheet

Caution: After you delete a shared test data folder, tests that are still using this data will no longer run and throw an error that test data is missing. Identify usage and replace test data before unsharing it.

To prevent everyone from using a shared data set (for example, because it is outdated), return to the Shared Folders window, and deselect the shared folder.

Then click the delete button to remove the spreadsheet for everyone in the Workspace.

Unshare a Data Entity

1. Click Test Data in the top navigation.

   The Test Data Management window shows the list of shared Data Entities in this workspace.

2. Hover the mouse over the Actions column of a shared data entity.
   Inline action buttons appear.
3. Click the Delete action to remove the data entity from all tests.