Test Action Library

The Test Action Library is where you store predefined Group Actions and Objects for GUI Functional scenarios. You can create a GUI Functional test by dragging and dropping predefined Actions into a Test Scenario. This scriptless testing approach is the preferred method for testers who do not want to write scripts manually.

For more information about how to create Actions and Objects, see Creating Scriptless GUI Functional Tests.

What are Objects, Actions, and Group Actions?

  • Actions are user interactions such as "click", "select", or "type". The Test Action Library does not contain Actions because they are a fixed set that cannot be edited. For the full list of Actions, see Taurus Actions for GUI Functional Testing.
  • Group Actions are your custom sets of test actions that commonly occur together in your test scenarios. For example, you can define a Group Action that contains the common sequence of Actions of going to the login page, typing user name and password, and clicking submit.
    • Group Actions are shared with your workspace.
    • You manage your Group Actions in the Test Action Library.
  • Objects are the GUI elements of the application under test, such as buttons or text fields, to which you apply test actions.
    • Objects are defined by one or more locators. If the first locator is not found, BlazeMeter tries the other locators. Edit the object to reorder the priority of its locators.
    • BlazeMeter generates default names for new Objects based on their locators. If an Object name already exists, BlazeMeter appends an incrementally numbered suffix, such as "Object [CSS: input[name="q"]; Name: q](2)".
    • Objects are shared with your workspace.
    • You manage Objects in the Test Action Library.

Tip: Name Objects manually with human-readable names. Initial Object names are automatically generated and do not update when you edit the object's locators. Find a naming convention with your team that helps you identify the correct Object among the others in the context of your application under test. For example, you may want to distinguish between a "Home page submit button" and "Order page submit button".

How to Edit Shared Objects, Actions, and Group Actions?

You cannot edit Actions because they are a fixed set.

Before editing Group Actions or Objects, you want to identify where these shared resources are used, so you can estimate the impact of your changes:

  1. Go to the Test Action Library.
  2. Search the Test Action Library for specific Group Actions or Objects
    • Click the Filter button to only show rows that fulfil criteria such as Type, Created or Updated date range, Created by user, Updated by user, Created from URL, or Test Name.
    • Click the table headings to sort the table by criteria such as Name, Type, Base URL, Usage (in how many tests is this shared Object or Group being used?), Created date, Created by user, or Last Updated date.
  3. Expand the Group Action or Object to see more details.
    • For each Group Action, you can view the contained Actions and their default values.
    • For each Object, you see a screenshot and its locator, so you can easily recognize it.
    • For all entries, you see the list of affected scenarios that use this Group Action or Object.

To edit an Object:

  1. Find and expand the Object in the Test Action Library.
  2. Open a scenario that uses the Object in the Scenario Editor.

  3. Edit the Object locators.

    edit object button

    You have the following options:

    • Replace the Object:
      1. Enable the Object Picker object picker icon.
      2. Switch to the application under test in the same browser.
      3. Select a UI element to create an object or to reuse an existing object from the library.
    • Update Object locators:
      1. Open the Object dropdown.
      2. Hover the pointer over the Object and click Edit. The Edit Object dialog opens.
      3. Edit the object's locators manually.

        Tip: Inside the Edit Object Dialog, enable the Object Picker object picker icon, switch to the application under test, and select a UI element to update existing locators quickly.

  4. Debug-run your test to verify that your changes work.
  5. If the Object is used in more than one scenario, debug-run the other scenarios as well to verify the changes.

To edit a Group Action:

  1. Find and expand the Group Action in the Test Action Library.
  2. Open a scenario that uses the Group Action.
  3. Edit the Group Action in the Scenario Editor.
    The changes are saved locally.
  4. Debug-run your test to verify that your changes work.
  5. (Optional) Click Override Group Action.
    BlazeMeter saves your changes to the Test Action Library and updates the Group in other tests that reuse it.

How to Delete an Object or Group Action?

The Delete button is only available for Objects and Group Actions that are not used in any scenarios.

  1. Find and expand the item in the Test Action Library.
  2. If the Usage value is larger than zero, open each scenario in the Scenario Editor and remove the item.
  3. As soon as the Usage value for the item is zero, the Delete button becomes available in the Test Action Library.