{"id":626,"date":"2024-04-26T13:09:27","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T13:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/razvanvancea.ro\/blog\/?p=626"},"modified":"2026-05-24T05:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:16:10","slug":"4-ways-to-handle-test-data-in-k6-load-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razvanvancea.ro\/blog\/2024\/04\/26\/4-ways-to-handle-test-data-in-k6-load-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"4 ways to handle Test Data in k6 – Load Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Test data is the information designed to be used by test script during execution. Using different values for certain parameters will make the test more realistic.<\/p>

Common use cases for test data might be usernames and passwords, emails, addresses, names, personal information, prodct names and so on.

In this article we will explore 4 ways of handling this subject. It worths mentioning that the SharedArray approach will be the most efficient method.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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1) Arrays - simplest way to add test data<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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2) CSV file<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In this approach we are going to keep the data sets (pairs of usernames+passwords) into a CSV file, import it in our k6 script then use a random variable that randomly picks data<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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3) JSON file<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In this approach we are going to keep the data sets (pairs of usernames+passwords) into a JSON file, import it in our k6 script then use a random variable that randomly picks data<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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4) SharedArray - the most efficient approach<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The shared array approach must be combined<\/strong> with any of the previous approaches and it is the most efficient way to add data within a k6 test because it handles the high resource utilization most efficiently.<\/p>

The reason is that in the previous approaches when a file is used in a test, multiple copies of the files are created and sent to the load generator; when the file is large it can have an impact on the resources. Hence, to prevent this, the SharedArray approach should be the go-to option.

In the following example, I will be using SharedArray combined with the JSON approach.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Source code HERE<\/a><\/p>

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Enjoyed this article? Make sure to subscribe to my\u00a0YouTube Channel<\/a><\/em>\u00a0for more Test Automation tutorials, and follow me on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/em>\u00a0for regular insights.
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<\/strong>I\u2019ve created a\u00a0personalized 1-on-1 Mentoring program\u00a0<\/strong>refined to\u00a0boost YOUR skills.\u00a0<\/strong>Reach out at\u00a0iamrv@razvanvancea.ro<\/a>\u00a0for more details and\u00a0together\u00a0<\/strong>will create a\u00a0learning path\u00a0<\/strong>adapted to your\u00a0current skills and goals\u00a0<\/strong>that you are aiming for,<\/strong>\u00a0in a\u00a0timely-efficient manner\ud83d\ude80<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Test data is the information designed to be used by test script during execution. Using…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-k6"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t