JMeter TIP#2 - Keyboard Shortcuts

JMeter TIP#2 – Keyboard Shortcuts

INTRODUCTION

Keyboard shortcuts in JMeter are keys or combinations of keys that provide an alternative way to do something that you’d typically do with a mouse while building a test plan in JMeter IDE.

We will start the post with common keyboard shortcuts available through most of the IDEs. Customization of the keyboard shortcuts is discussed later. List of references used for improving the content and coverage are listed at the end for further reading.

USING HOTKEYS AVAILABLE IN JMETER

Use Command on Mac and Ctrl for Windows

Shortcut	Function	Note
Ctrl + C	Copy
Ctrl + V	Paste
Delete key	Deleted the selected components	All child components will be deleted
Ctrl + X	Cut the selected element	All child components will be cut
Ctrl + Shift + C	Duplicate Node
Ctrl + H	Help	Open reference documentation of the selected component in the web browser.
Ctrl + D	Disable debug
Ctrl + Shift + D	Enable debug
Ctrl + Shift + F1	Function helper dialog
Ctrl + minus	Collapse all	(Minus (“-”) in the num key does not work )
Ctrl + Shift + minus	Expand all	(Minus (“-”) in the num key does not work )
Ctrl + R	Start the test plan
	Start with no timers
Ctrl + Shift + R	Start remote all
Ctrl + period	Stop the test
Ctrl + comma	Shutdown the test
Alt + X	Stop remote all
Alt + Z	Shutdown remote all
Ctrl + F	Open find/search dialog
	Reset search
Ctrl + T	Toggle	Enable/Disable the selected component(s). All child elements will be affected
Ctrl + G	Save node as an image
Ctrl + Shift + G	Save the screen as an image
Ctrl + L	Open a new test plan
Ctrl + O	Open an existing test plan into JMeter IDE
Ctrl + S	Save the test plan
Ctrl + Shift + S	Save the test plan as
Ctrl + Q	Exit JMeter IDE
Ctrl + M	Select SSL Manager (set “javax.net.ssl.keyStore” property)
Ctrl + / or Ctrl + A	Select all components in the tree	/ in the num key does not work
Ctrl + Z	Undo	Work only within components’ editor window. Does not work in the test plan tree
Ctrl + Y	Redo	Work only within components’ editor window. Does not work in the test plan tree
Ctrl + E	Clear all	Clear test results in all the listeners
Ctrl + Shift + E	Clear	Clear the test result in selected listener
Right arrow	Expand the selected node
Left arrow	Collapse the selected node
Up arrow	Move cursor one element up from the current selected item
Down arrow	Move cursor one element down from the current selected item
Home key	Move to the Test Plan component
End Key	Move to the last component visible in the tree
Page Down Key	Move one screen up in the component tree	A component in the tree should be selected
Page Up Key	Move one screen down in the component tree	A component in the tree should be selected

NEW KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Additional hotkeys are included into JMeter to add mostly used components into the test plan tree. These shortcuts were available from JMeter version 3.0.

In this section, we will list the default shortcuts available. Use Command+0 .. Command+9 on Mac.

Shortcut	Function	Note(s)
Ctrl + 0	Add a normal Thread Group into the test plan
Ctrl + 1	Add a HTTP Request component to the selected Thread Group	A Thread Group should be selected.
Ctrl + 2	Add a Regular Expression Extractor
Ctrl + 3	Add a Response Assertion
Ctrl + 4	Add a Constant Timer
Ctrl + 5	Add a Test Action to the selected Thread Group
Ctrl + 6	Add a JSR223 PostProcessor	This shortcut did not work in JMeter 4.0
Ctrl + 7	Add a JSR223 PreProcessor
Ctrl + 8	Add a Debug Sampler to the selected Thread Group
Ctrl + 9	Add a View Results Tree

Configuring Shortcuts

It is possible to configure the shortcuts to add mostly used components into the test plan tree. It can be done by changing the gui.quick_XXX property in the bin/jmeter.properties file.

Boundary Extractor post processor is added to Ctrl + 2 shortcut

Ctrl + 6 shortcut is not working

Configure the file with valid class names of the components and save the jmeter.properties file.

Restart JMeter after doing any changes to the property file to see the effect of the changes.

It is a best practice to introduce the changes (property name and value) into the user.properties file without doing any changes in jmeter.properties file. We shall preserve the original content in the jmeter.properties file.

The property file(s) should be saved and JMeter should be restarted to see the effect.

Class name of the components

You need the class names associated with the components to add them to the property file. The following will list the class names of some of the most used components.

	Component name	Class name
*Samplers*
	HTTP Request	HttpTestSampleGui
	Java Request	JavaTestSamplerGui
	Test Action	TestActionGui
*Logical controllers*
	Runtime Controller	RunTimeGui
	Transaction Controller	TransactionControllerGui
	Interleave Controller	InterleaveControlGui
*Listeners*
	View Results Tree	ViewResultsFullVisualizer
	Simple Data Writer	SimpleDataWriter
	Summary Report	SummaryReport
*Configuration Elements*
	CSV Data Set Config	CSVDataSet
	Simple Config Element	SimpleConfigGui
*Assertions*
	Response Assertion	AssertionGui
	Duration Assertion	DurationAssertionGui
*Timers*
	Gaussian Random Timer	GaussianRandomTimerGui
	Synchronizing Timer	SyncTimer
	Constant Throughput Timer	ConstantThroughputTimer
*Pre-Processors*
	User Parameters	UserParametersGui
	Sample Timeout	SampleTimeoutGui
*Post-Processors*
	Boundary Extractor	BoundaryExtractorGui
	Regular Expression Extractor	RegexExtractorGui

Please refer to the JMeter API documentation for all the class names associated with the components. You shall add frequently used components into the custom shortcut list for efficient test plan building.

You cannot incorporate keyboard shortcuts with JMeter plugins.

REFERENCES

Dzone.com. (2018). Apache JMeter Keyboard Shortcuts – DZone Performance. [online]

Available at: https://dzone.com/articles/apache-jmeter-keyboard-shortcuts [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Keyboard shortcut. [online]

Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_shortcut [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

GitHub. (2018). JMeter. [online]

Available at: https://github.com/udomsak/JMeter/tree/master/src/core/org/apache/jmeter/images/toolbar [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

JMeter VN. (2018). The shortcuts in JMeter. [online]

Available at: https://jmetervn.com/2016/09/30/the-shortcuts-in-jmeter/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

Jmeter.apache.org. (2018). Apache JMeter – History of Previous Changes. [online]

Available at: http://jmeter.apache.org/changes_history.html [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

Jmeter.apache.org. (2018). Apache JMeter API. [online]

Available at: http://jmeter.apache.org/api/index.html [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

Support.microsoft.com. (2018). Keyboard shortcuts in Windows. [online] Available at: https://support.microsoft.com/en-my/help/12445/windows-keyboard-shortcuts [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

Wiki.apache.org. (2018). JMeterShortcuts – Jmeter Wiki. [online]

Available at: https://wiki.apache.org/jmeter/JMeterShortcuts [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].