Loading parameter data from a CSV in a VS2008 coded web test

Today I've been working on how to load correlated data from a CSV file into a coded web test. VS2008 has support for a wide range of data sources for correlation but I still prefer the good 'ol CSV format.

I rag on LR a lot, but selecting a data file and accessing it with the "{pSomeParam}" format is much easier in LR than VS2008. Details below:

In my little webtest I recorded a simple script hitting Google and I wanted to be able to pass different search terms to Google. Nothing fancy, just enough to figure out how to do what I wanted. This task in LR is pretty trivial.

I created a file by the name of searchTerms.csv that contains the following:

8<------------------
column1
loadrunner
perl
superbase
vs2008
------------------>8

I then added a data source to the web test and converted it over to code to see how I need to code things in the future and this is how it looks:

   1:  [DataSource("searchTerms", 

   2:              "Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.CSV", 

   3:              "|DataDirectory|\\databindingtowebtest\\searchTerms.csv", 

   4:              Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebTesting.DataBindingAccessMethod.Sequential,

   5:              "searchTerms#csv")]

   6:  [DataBinding("searchTerms", "searchTerms#csv", "column1", "GoogleSearchTerm")]

The context for the current web test should now be automagically updated with an index entry by the name of "GoogleSearchTerm" that is referenced like this:

   1:  request2.QueryStringParameters.Add("q", this.Context["GoogleSearchTerm"].ToString(), false, false);

I don't mind the accessing of the correlated data via the context. That is no big deal, but setting up the databinding is kind of a complicated PITA. I have to give nods to LR at this point for the ease of creating params. But, on the other hand, VS2008 gives me a lot more control of slicing and dicing of return HTML data so there had to be a trade off someplace and I guess this is one of those situations.

Something important that I've learned is that numeric data needs to be double quoted to prevent mangling of the values. For example, I have the following entries now:

  [DataSource("lastNames", 

              "Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.CSV", 

              "c:\\work\\data\\LRData\\lastNames.csv", 

              Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebTesting.DataBindingAccessMethod.Random, //   .Sequential, 

              "lastNames#csv")]

  [DataSource("targetServer",

            "Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.CSV",

            "c:\\work\\data\\LRData\\targetServer.csv",

            Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebTesting.DataBindingAccessMethod.Sequential,

            "targetServer#csv")]

  [DataBinding("lastNames", "lastNames#csv", "lastName", "lastName")]

  [DataBinding("targetServer", "targetServer#csv", "TargetServer", "targetServer")]

The IP address that I want to hit is bound to the context entry for "targetServer."

I found that if I have the entry as:

8<----------------------
TargetServer
10.0.0.100
---------------------->8

I find that if it is not quoted it will be manged into the value "10.001." Just adding the double quotes around the value will allow me to use the IP address as I originally intended.

string targetWebServer = this.Context["targetServer"].ToString();

WebTestRequest request1 = new WebTestRequest("http://" + targetWebServer.ToString() + "/someVDir/somePage.aspx");

Knowing is half the battle. (GI Joe!)