Using Variables and/or Properties with Simple Data Writer in JMeter

Question

Using JMeter v5.1.1, I am setting a dynamic file path and name to be used with Simple Data Writer. I've tried this every way I can think of to no avail. Things I've tried:

• JSR223 PreProcessor (scoped to same thread group) which stores dynamic path/name in variables, and use variable in Simple Data Writer
• Execute thread groups consecutively. Use StartUp Thread with JSR223 Sampler which stores dynamic path/name in properties, and use __P function in Simple Data Writer to retrieve path/name. This method will pull the property values from the previous run if I do not remove the properties at the end of the test.
• Execute thread groups consecutively. Use StartUp Thread with JSR223 Sampler which stores dynamic path/name in properties. Run JSR223 PreProcessor which stores global properties as variables in thread group, and use variables in Simple Data Writer to retrieve path/name. I've also tried the __V function with this approach. This method will pull the property values from the previous run if I do not remove the properties at the end of the test.

I can see in the JSR223 scripts that the path/name are being set correctly using log.info. I can also see them set when using a debug sampler, but for some reason the Simple Data Writer does not seem to be picking them up. If I set the variables before running, it works fine. This seems like an order of operations problem, or asynchronous/multi-thread issue, but am not sure how to proceed. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Here's a sample to reproduce the behavior:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jmeterTestPlan version="1.2" properties="5.0" jmeter="5.1.1 r1855137">
  <hashTree>
    <TestPlan guiclass="TestPlanGui" testclass="TestPlan" testname="Data Writer Issue" enabled="true">
      <stringProp name="TestPlan.comments"></stringProp>
      <boolProp name="TestPlan.functional_mode">false</boolProp>
      <boolProp name="TestPlan.tearDown_on_shutdown">true</boolProp>
      <boolProp name="TestPlan.serialize_threadgroups">true</boolProp>
      <elementProp name="TestPlan.user_defined_variables" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="ArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">
        <collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments"/>
      </elementProp>
      <stringProp name="TestPlan.user_define_classpath"></stringProp>
    </TestPlan>
    <hashTree>
      <SetupThreadGroup guiclass="SetupThreadGroupGui" testclass="SetupThreadGroup" testname="setUp Thread Group" enabled="true">
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.on_sample_error">continue</stringProp>
        <elementProp name="ThreadGroup.main_controller" elementType="LoopController" guiclass="LoopControlPanel" testclass="LoopController" testname="Loop Controller" enabled="true">
          <boolProp name="LoopController.continue_forever">false</boolProp>
          <stringProp name="LoopController.loops">1</stringProp>
        </elementProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.num_threads">1</stringProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.ramp_time">1</stringProp>
        <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.scheduler">false</boolProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.duration"></stringProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.delay"></stringProp>
      </SetupThreadGroup>
      <hashTree>
        <JSR223Sampler guiclass="TestBeanGUI" testclass="JSR223Sampler" testname="Set Path to Store Results" enabled="true">
          <stringProp name="scriptLanguage">groovy</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="parameters"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="filename"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="cacheKey">true</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="script">import org.apache.jmeter.services.FileServer;

// Get the separator for current OS
String separator = File.separator;

// Use {{current directory}}/csv for path
String path = FileServer.getFileServer().getBaseDir() + separator + &quot;csv&quot; + separator;

// Create directory if doesn&apos;t already exist
(new File(path)).mkdirs();

log.info(path);

// Save path to property
props.put(&quot;data-file-path&quot;, path);</stringProp>
        </JSR223Sampler>
        <hashTree/>
        <JSR223Sampler guiclass="TestBeanGUI" testclass="JSR223Sampler" testname="Set FileName to Store Results" enabled="true">
          <stringProp name="scriptLanguage">groovy</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="parameters"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="filename"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="cacheKey">true</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="script">import org.apache.jmeter.services.FileServer; 
import java.time.*;
import java.time.format.*;

// Get current date/time formatted as yyyyMMddHHmm
String formattedDateTime = LocalDateTime.now().format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(&quot;yMMddHHmm&quot;));

// Get name of currently-running script
String scriptName = FileServer.getFileServer().getScriptName();

// Save fileName as scriptName (minus file extension) with timestamp at end
String fileName = scriptName.take(scriptName.lastIndexOf(&apos;.&apos;))  + &quot;_&quot; + formattedDateTime + &quot;.csv&quot;;

log.info(fileName);

// Set filename as property
props.put(&quot;data-file-name&quot;, fileName);</stringProp>
        </JSR223Sampler>
        <hashTree/>
      </hashTree>
      <ThreadGroup guiclass="ThreadGroupGui" testclass="ThreadGroup" testname="Sample GET Requests" enabled="true">
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.on_sample_error">continue</stringProp>
        <elementProp name="ThreadGroup.main_controller" elementType="LoopController" guiclass="LoopControlPanel" testclass="LoopController" testname="Loop Controller" enabled="true">
          <boolProp name="LoopController.continue_forever">false</boolProp>
          <stringProp name="LoopController.loops">1</stringProp>
        </elementProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.num_threads">2</stringProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.ramp_time">1</stringProp>
        <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.scheduler">false</boolProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.duration"></stringProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.delay"></stringProp>
        <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.same_user_on_next_iteration">true</boolProp>
        <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.delayedStart">true</boolProp>
      </ThreadGroup>
      <hashTree>
        <DebugSampler guiclass="TestBeanGUI" testclass="DebugSampler" testname="Debug Sampler" enabled="true">
          <boolProp name="displayJMeterProperties">true</boolProp>
          <boolProp name="displayJMeterVariables">true</boolProp>
          <boolProp name="displaySystemProperties">false</boolProp>
        </DebugSampler>
        <hashTree/>
        <ResultCollector guiclass="SimpleDataWriter" testclass="ResultCollector" testname="Save Results to CSV File" enabled="true">
          <boolProp name="ResultCollector.error_logging">false</boolProp>
          <objProp>
            <name>saveConfig</name>
            <value class="SampleSaveConfiguration">
              <time>true</time>
              <latency>true</latency>
              <timestamp>true</timestamp>
              <success>true</success>
              <label>true</label>
              <code>true</code>
              <message>true</message>
              <threadName>true</threadName>
              <dataType>true</dataType>
              <encoding>false</encoding>
              <assertions>false</assertions>
              <subresults>true</subresults>
              <responseData>false</responseData>
              <samplerData>false</samplerData>
              <xml>false</xml>
              <fieldNames>true</fieldNames>
              <responseHeaders>false</responseHeaders>
              <requestHeaders>false</requestHeaders>
              <responseDataOnError>false</responseDataOnError>
              <saveAssertionResultsFailureMessage>true</saveAssertionResultsFailureMessage>
              <assertionsResultsToSave>0</assertionsResultsToSave>
              <bytes>true</bytes>
              <sentBytes>true</sentBytes>
              <url>true</url>
              <threadCounts>true</threadCounts>
              <idleTime>true</idleTime>
              <connectTime>true</connectTime>
            </value>
          </objProp>
          <stringProp name="filename">${__P(data-file-path)}${__P(data-file-name)}</stringProp>
        </ResultCollector>
        <hashTree/>
        <HTTPSamplerProxy guiclass="HttpTestSampleGui" testclass="HTTPSamplerProxy" testname="Get ToDo" enabled="true">
          <elementProp name="HTTPsampler.Arguments" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="HTTPArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">
            <collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments"/>
          </elementProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.domain">jsonplaceholder.typicode.com</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.port"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.protocol">https</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.contentEncoding"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.path">/todos/1</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.method">GET</stringProp>
          <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.follow_redirects">true</boolProp>
          <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.auto_redirects">false</boolProp>
          <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.use_keepalive">true</boolProp>
          <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.DO_MULTIPART_POST">false</boolProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.embedded_url_re"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.connect_timeout"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.response_timeout"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="TestPlan.comments">&quot;groupNames&quot;: [&quot;${__P(GroupNames_${__Random(1,${__property(GroupNames_matchNr)})})}&quot;]</stringProp>
        </HTTPSamplerProxy>
        <hashTree/>
      </hashTree>
      <PostThreadGroup guiclass="PostThreadGroupGui" testclass="PostThreadGroup" testname="tearDown Thread Group" enabled="true">
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.on_sample_error">continue</stringProp>
        <elementProp name="ThreadGroup.main_controller" elementType="LoopController" guiclass="LoopControlPanel" testclass="LoopController" testname="Loop Controller" enabled="true">
          <boolProp name="LoopController.continue_forever">false</boolProp>
          <stringProp name="LoopController.loops">1</stringProp>
        </elementProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.num_threads">1</stringProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.ramp_time">1</stringProp>
        <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.scheduler">false</boolProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.duration"></stringProp>
        <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.delay"></stringProp>
      </PostThreadGroup>
      <hashTree>
        <JSR223Sampler guiclass="TestBeanGUI" testclass="JSR223Sampler" testname="Clear Dynamic Properties" enabled="true">
          <stringProp name="scriptLanguage">groovy</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="parameters"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="filename"></stringProp>
          <stringProp name="cacheKey">true</stringProp>
          <stringProp name="script">props.remove(&quot;data-file-path&quot;);
props.remove(&quot;data-file-name&quot;);</stringProp>
        </JSR223Sampler>
        <hashTree/>
      </hashTree>
      <ResultCollector guiclass="ViewResultsFullVisualizer" testclass="ResultCollector" testname="View Results Tree" enabled="true">
        <boolProp name="ResultCollector.error_logging">false</boolProp>
        <objProp>
          <name>saveConfig</name>
          <value class="SampleSaveConfiguration">
            <time>true</time>
            <latency>true</latency>
            <timestamp>true</timestamp>
            <success>true</success>
            <label>true</label>
            <code>true</code>
            <message>true</message>
            <threadName>true</threadName>
            <dataType>true</dataType>
            <encoding>false</encoding>
            <assertions>true</assertions>
            <subresults>true</subresults>
            <responseData>false</responseData>
            <samplerData>false</samplerData>
            <xml>false</xml>
            <fieldNames>true</fieldNames>
            <responseHeaders>false</responseHeaders>
            <requestHeaders>false</requestHeaders>
            <responseDataOnError>false</responseDataOnError>
            <saveAssertionResultsFailureMessage>true</saveAssertionResultsFailureMessage>
            <assertionsResultsToSave>0</assertionsResultsToSave>
            <bytes>true</bytes>
            <sentBytes>true</sentBytes>
            <url>true</url>
            <threadCounts>true</threadCounts>
            <idleTime>true</idleTime>
            <connectTime>true</connectTime>
          </value>
        </objProp>
        <stringProp name="filename"></stringProp>
      </ResultCollector>
      <hashTree/>
    </hashTree>
  </hashTree>
</jmeterTestPlan>

Answer 1

I don't think you can use __P() function in the Simple Data Writer's filename field, in fact you can, but it will return default value of 1 so when you run your test file with the name of 11 is being generated in the folder where you run your tests from and this is where your results go.

In general you should not be using Listeners for anything but tests development and/or debugging because they don't add any value and just consuming valuable system resources. Neither you should run your test in GUI mode

Assuming above points I would recommend reconsidering your approach and use -l command-line argument to specify the .jtl results file location. If you want to add timestamp for this - go for operating system date and time commands, for example:

• Windows:

  jmeter -n -t test.jmx -l csv/%date:~10,4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%.csv
  

• Unix and derivatives:

  jmeter -n -t test.jmx -l csv/`date +%Y%m%d%H%M`.csv
  

Answer 2

You can debug this issue using step-by-step Debugger. Also you can use inbuilt JMeter function to complete your requirement if you can. Because inbuilt JMeter function works well in listener's path.