Data Parallelism for Katalon Studio — Demo Project

Demo project for the Data Parallelism plugin. It shows how to use the plugin to partition a data-driven test suite into N slices and run them in parallel, reducing execution time proportionally.

The plugin was inspired by kmohit3021/katalon-databinding-parallelexecution, which explored the same idea of splitting a data-bound Katalon test suite for parallel execution.

The Problem

Katalon's test suite data binding runs rows sequentially. A suite with 100 rows of login data takes 100× the time of a single iteration — even when you have capacity to run multiple browser instances.

How It Works

        Source Test Suite (10 rows)
                  │
                  ▼
     "Create Parallel Suites" (N=3)
        ┌─────────┼─────────┐
        ▼         ▼         ▼
   Partition 1  Partition 2  Partition 3
    rows 1–4    rows 5–7    rows 8–10
        │         │         │
        └─────────┼─────────┘
                  ▼
         Parallel Collection
       (3 concurrent instances)

The plugin reads your source test suite, counts the bound data rows (using Katalon's findTestData() API — works with any data source type), divides them into balanced ranges, and generates:

• N partitioned .ts files — each identical to the source but scoped to a row range
• A test suite collection — configured for PARALLEL execution with N concurrent instances

All generated files go into a separate Generated/ folder. The originals are never modified.

Setup

Install the Data Parallelism plugin via one of:

• Katalon Store (recommended) — install from store.katalon.com/product/486/Data-Parallelism, then reload plugins in Katalon Studio.

• Manual JAR — place the plugin JAR in your project's Plugins/ directory. To build it from source:

  cd "../katalon-data-parallelism"
  JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 17) ./gradlew katalonPluginPackage
  cp build/libs/katalon-data-parallelism-*-all.jar "../data-parallelism/Plugins/"

Parameters

Run Test Cases/Utilities/Create Parallel Suites with these variables:

Parameter	Default	Description
sourceTestSuiteId	Test Suites/Print Names	Path to the source test suite (Katalon format, no .ts extension)
numberOfPartitions	3	Number of parallel slices to create
outputFolder	Test Suites/Generated	Where to write generated files
collectionName	(auto)	Name for the collection; defaults to <SuiteName> - Parallel Collection
browser	Chrome	Browser for all partitions
profileName	default	Execution profile for all partitions

Usage

1. Prerequisites

You need a test suite that already has data binding configured:

• A test case with variables (e.g., username, password)
• A data file (CSV, Excel, internal — any type Katalon supports)
• A test suite that binds the data file to the test case variables

2. Generate parallel suites

1. Open Test Cases/Utilities/Create Parallel Suites
2. Set the variables (at minimum, set sourceTestSuiteId to your suite's path)
3. Run the test case

Console output:

Source suite: Print Names
Partitions: 3
  Data 'Data Files/User Data': 10 rows
  Ranges for 'Data Files/User Data': [1-4, 5-7, 8-10]
Created: Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Partition 1 (rows 1-4)
Created: Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Partition 2 (rows 5-7)
Created: Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Partition 3 (rows 8-10)

--- Summary ---
Generated 3 partitioned test suites in: Test Suites/Generated/
  1. Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Partition 1
  2. Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Partition 2
  3. Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Partition 3
Collection: Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Parallel Collection
Execution mode: PARALLEL (max 3 concurrent)
Browser: Chrome, Profile: default

3. Run the collection

1. Refresh the project in Katalon Studio (right-click project → Refresh)
2. Open Test Suites/Generated/Print Names - Parallel Collection
3. Click Execute

Katalon launches 3 browser instances simultaneously, each running its partition.

4. Cleanup

Run Test Cases/Utilities/Cleanup Parallel Suites to delete all generated files:

Parameter	Default	Description
generatedFolder	Test Suites/Generated	Folder to clean

The folder itself is removed if empty after cleanup.

Generated File Structure

Test Suites/
├── Print Names.ts                          ← original (unchanged)
├── Print Names.groovy                      ← original (unchanged)
└── Generated/
    ├── Print Names - Partition 1.ts        ← rows 1-4
    ├── Print Names - Partition 1.groovy
    ├── Print Names - Partition 2.ts        ← rows 5-7
    ├── Print Names - Partition 2.groovy
    ├── Print Names - Partition 3.ts        ← rows 8-10
    ├── Print Names - Partition 3.groovy
    └── Print Names - Parallel Collection.ts

How Partitioning Works

Rows are distributed as evenly as possible. When rows don't divide evenly, earlier partitions get one extra row:

Total Rows	Partitions	Distribution
10	3	4, 3, 3
10	4	3, 3, 2, 2
7	3	3, 2, 2
100	5	20, 20, 20, 20, 20

If numberOfPartitions exceeds the row count, the partition count is clamped to the number of rows so every partition gets at least one row. A warning is logged and fewer suites are generated than requested:

Total Rows	Requested Partitions	Actual Partitions	Distribution
3	10	3	1, 1, 1
1	5	1	1

Limitations

• Single source suite: Currently partitions one test suite at a time. To parallelize multiple suites, run the utility once per suite and build the collection manually, or combine the generated partitions.
• Uniform config: All partitions use the same browser and profile. Per-partition configuration (e.g., different browsers) requires manual editing of the generated collection.
• Refresh required: Katalon Studio needs a project refresh to see the generated files in the UI.