Katalon-IDEA-Combination

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1

I made a GitHub repository:

This article presents my know-how of extending your capability to utilize Katalon Studio. I assume that you (the readers) have seasoned skill of Groovy programming with JUnit5 and Gradle build tool in IntelliJ IDEA. If you are a non-programmer and/or new to Katalon Studio, this article would not be useful for you.

Problem to solve

One day, I worked on a Katalon Studio project. I wanted to list up out unused Test Objects in the “Object Repository” folder in my katalon project. I knew Katalon Studio Enterprise equips the feature of Test Object Refactoring, but I don’t have an Enterprise license. I only have a Free license. Therefore I started developing a set of Groovy classes that help me identifying unused TestObject. I created a project KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector.

See the project of its version 0.2.6, which is already outdated, as follows:

This project is a single Katalon Studio project. I created 21 .groovy files in the Keywords folder.

:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.2.6))
$ tree Keywords
Keywords
└── com
    └── kazurayam
        └── ks
            ├── configuration
            │   └── RunConfigurationConfigurator.groovy
            ├── reporting
            │   └── Shorthand.groovy
            ├── testcase
            │   ├── DigestedLine.groovy
            │   ├── DigestedText.groovy
            │   ├── ScriptsAccessor.groovy
            │   ├── ScriptsDecorator.groovy
            │   ├── TestCaseId.groovy
            │   ├── TestCaseScriptDigester.groovy
            │   └── TextDigester.groovy
            └── testobject
                ├── Locator.groovy
                ├── LocatorIndex.groovy
                ├── ObjectRepositoryAccessor.groovy
                ├── ObjectRepositoryDecorator.groovy
                ├── RegexOptedTextMatcher.groovy
                ├── TestObjectEssence.groovy
                ├── TestObjectId.groovy
                └── gc
                    ├── BackwardReferences.groovy
                    ├── Database.groovy
                    ├── ForwardReference.groovy
                    ├── Garbages.groovy
                    └── ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector.groovy

9 directories, 21 files
:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.2.6))
$ tree Keywords | grep .groovy | wc
      21      60    1106

These .groovy file comprises my library that help finding unused entries in the Object Repository folder.

The library deserved a set of unit-tests for better quality. But, Katalon Studio does not support performing unit-test for “Custom Keywords” using JUnit. However, as a professional programmer, I desperately wanted to perform unit-testing. So, I introduced my “junit4ks” library to run the unit-tests for my custom Groovy classes inside Katalon Studio. See

I developed a set of *.groovy files using JUnit4.

:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.2.6))
$ tree Include/scripts
Include/scripts
└── groovy
    └── com
        └── kazurayam
            └── ks
                ├── configuration
                │   └── RunConfigurationConfiguratorTest.groovy
                ├── testcase
                │   ├── DigestedLineTest.groovy
                │   ├── DigestedTextTest.groovy
                │   ├── ScriptsAccessorTest.groovy
                │   ├── ScriptsDecoratorTest.groovy
                │   ├── TestCaseIdTest.groovy
                │   ├── TestCaseScriptDigesterTest.groovy
                │   └── TextDigesterTest.groovy
                └── testobject
                    ├── LocatorIndexTest.groovy
                    ├── LocatorTest.groovy
                    ├── ObjectRepositoryAccessorTest.groovy
                    ├── ObjectRepositoryDecoratorTest.groovy
                    ├── ObjectRepositoryTest.groovy
                    ├── RegexOptedTextMatcherTest.groovy
                    ├── TestObjectEssenceTest.groovy
                    ├── TestObjectIdTest.groovy
                    └── gc
                        ├── DatabaseTest.groovy
                        ├── ForwardReferenceTest.groovy
                        ├── GarbagesTest.groovy
                        └── ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollectorTest.groovy

9 directories, 20 files
:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.2.6))
$ tree Include/scripts | grep .groovy | wc
      21      58    1230

I ended up with over 40 .groovy classes. I could perform enough unit-tests over my library.

Did I enjoy that? — No, I didn’t. It was damn hard.

Katalon Studio GUI has problems for developing and unit-testing custom Groovy classes in the Keywords folder. Here, I am not going to go into detail what’s problem. I just wanted to use IntelliJ IDEA for this job.

But, how can I combine Katalon Studio and IntelliJ IDEA?

Solution

I introduced Gradle Multi-project into the KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollection project since v0.3.0. The latest version has the following folder tree:

:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.4.13))
$ tree -L 1 -F .
./
├── README.md
├── docs/
├── gradle/
├── gradlew
├── gradlew.bat
├── katalon/
├── lib/
└── settings.gradle

5 directories, 4 files

I can open the root project using IntelliJ IDEA, as follows:

0

The root project KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector consists of 2 sub-projects: katalon and lib. The settings.gradle file is as follows:

rootProject.name = "KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector"
include 'lib'
include 'katalon'

katalon subproject

The katalon subproject contains an usual Katalon project. Its folder tree looks like this:

:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.4.13))
$ tree -L 1 -F ./katalon
./katalon/
├── Include/
├── KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector.prj
├── Object Repository/
├── Profiles/
├── Scripts/
├── Test Cases/
├── Test Listeners/
├── Test Suites/
├── build.gradle
├── console.properties
└── settings/

Of course, I have no problem opening this project using Katalon Studio GUI, as follows:

1_katalon_subproject_opened_in_GUI

This Katalon project was generated based on the official sample WebUI project “healthcare”. This katalon project has nothing unusual.

lib subproject

The lib project is an ordinary Gradle project. The folder tree looks as follows:

:~/tmp/KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector ((0.4.13))
$ tree lib
lib
├── build.gradle
└── src
    ├── main
    │   └── groovy
    │       ├── com
    │       │   └── kazurayam
    │       │       └── ks
    │       │           ├── configuration
    │       │           │   ├── KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver.groovy
    │       │           │   └── RunConfigurationConfigurator.groovy
    │       │           ├── logging
    │       │           │   └── SimplifiedStopWatch.groovy
    │       │           ├── reporting
    │       │           │   └── Shorthand.groovy
    │       │           ├── testcase
    │       │           │   ├── ScriptsDecorator.groovy
    │       │           │   ├── TestCaseId.groovy
    │       │           │   └── TestCaseScriptDigester.groovy
    │       │           ├── testobject
    │       │           │   ├── Locator.groovy
    │       │           │   ├── LocatorDeclarations.groovy
    │       │           │   ├── LocatorIndex.groovy
    │       │           │   ├── ObjectRepositoryDecorator.groovy
    │       │           │   ├── SelectorMethod.groovy
    │       │           │   ├── TestObjectId.groovy
    │       │           │   └── combine
    │       │           │       ├── BackwardReference.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── BackwardReferenceIndex.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── CombinedLocatorDeclarations.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── CombinedLocatorIndex.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── ForwardReference.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── ForwardReferences.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── Garbage.groovy
    │       │           │       ├── ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector.groovy
    │       │           │       └── RunDescription.groovy
    │       │           └── text
    │       │               ├── DigestedLine.groovy
    │       │               ├── DigestedText.groovy
    │       │               ├── RegexOptedTextMatcher.groovy
    │       │               └── TextDigester.groovy
    │       └── internal
    │           └── GlobalVariable.groovy
    └── test
        └── groovy
            └── com
                ├── kazurayam
                │   └── ks
                │       ├── configuration
                │       │   ├── KatalonProjectDirectoryResolverTest.groovy
                │       │   └── RunConfigurationConfiguratorTest.groovy
                │       ├── logging
                │       │   └── SimplifiedStopWatchTest.groovy
                │       ├── testcase
                │       │   ├── ScriptsAccessorTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── ScriptsDecoratorTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── TestCaseIdTest.groovy
                │       │   └── TestCaseScriptDigesterTest.groovy
                │       ├── testobject
                │       │   ├── LocatorDeclarationsTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── LocatorIndexTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── LocatorTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── ObjectRepositoryAccessorTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── ObjectRepositoryDecoratorIncludeExcludeTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── ObjectRepositoryDecoratorTest.groovy
                │       │   ├── TestObjectIdTest.groovy
                │       │   └── combine
                │       │       ├── BackwardReferenceIndexTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── BackwardReferenceTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── CombinedLocatorDeclarationsTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── CombinedLocatorIndexTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── ForwardReferenceTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── ForwardReferencesTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── GarbageTest.groovy
                │       │       ├── ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollectorTest.groovy
                │       │       └── RunDescriptionTest.groovy
                │       └── text
                │           ├── DigestedLineTest.groovy
                │           ├── DigestedTextTest.groovy
                │           ├── RegexOptedTextMatcherTest.groovy
                │           └── TextDigesterTest.groovy
                └── kms
                    └── katalon
                        └── core
                            └── testobject
                                └── SelectorMethodTest.groovy

30 directories, 56 files

I moved all of .groovy files in the Katalon project of the v0.2.6 into the lib subproject; and I further developed the library. I developed my library on IntelliJ IDEA using Gradle and JUnit4.

IntelliJ IDEA supports a fully functional integration with Gradle project. It’ comfortable. See the doc.

Technical difficulties to overcome

I introduced Gradle Multi-project structure with 2 subprojects lib and katalon. Soon I realized that there are several technical difficulties that I needed to overcome.

  1. In order to compile and run Groovy codes in the lib subproject, Groovy compiler and test runners require many external dependencies (jar files) which are included in the Katalon Studio installation folder. How can it be done?
  2. In order to run tests in the lib subproject, I needed to be able to read the files in the Object Repository folder in the katalon subproject. It may sound easy, but it is actually difficult to do.
  3. Once I finished developing Groovy classes in the lib subproject, I wanted to import them into the sibling katalon project. How can I do it?

I have overcome all these technical difficulties. I wrote seperated document. See the docs for detail.

Conclusion

I have developed a good combination of Katalon Studio + IntelliJ IDEA + Gradle. With this combination, I can enjoy stress-free Groovy programming.

Environment I used

  • macOS SONOMA 14.7.5
  • IntelliJ IDEA 2024.2 (Ultimate Edition)
  • Katalon Studio 10.2.0 Free, JDK 17 bundled
  • Groovy 3.0.24
  • Gradle 8.14
  • git version 2.45.2
3

My detail know-how

What I want to do

I made this Katalon-IDEA-Combination project as a Gradle Multiproject that consists of 2 subprojects: katalon and lib. In this document, I will explain the problems I got and the solution I found.

What I eventually want to achieve? Let me set the objective. In the katalon subproject, I wrote a test Case named misc/listTestObjects. Its source code is as follows:

import java.nio.file.Files
import java.nio.file.Path
import java.nio.file.Paths

import com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfiguration

import io.github.kazurayam.ks.testobject.ObjectRepositoryAccessor
import io.github.kazurayam.ks.testobject.TestObjectId

// find the path of "katalon" project folder 
Path projectDir = Paths.get(RunConfiguration.getProjectDir())
println "projectDir=${projectDir}"

// find the path of "Object Repository" folder
Path objectRepositoryDir = projectDir.resolve("Object Repository")
assert Files.exists(objectRepositoryDir)

// get an instance of ObjectRepositoryAccessor
ObjectRepositoryAccessor accessor = 
    new ObjectRepositoryAccessor.Builder(objectRepositoryDir).build()

// get the list of TestObjectId contained in the "Object Repository"
List<TestObjectId> list = accessor.getTestObjectIdList()

// print the absolute path of the rs files in the "Object Repository"
list.each { TestObjectId toi ->
    Path relativePath = toi.getRelativePath()
    Path absolutePath = objectRepositoryDir.resolve(relativePath)
    println absolutePath
}

Please note that this Test Case uses the class io.github.kazurayam.ks.testobject.ObjectRepositoryAccessor and io.github.kazurayam.ks.testobject.TestObjectId. I will develop these classes in the lib subproject.

When I run this Test Case, it should print the absolute path Test Objects, which are *.rs files contained in the Object Repository folder in the katalon subproject. The following messages is a sample output that I am contented with:

2025-05-08 07:00:39.842 INFO  c.k.katalon.core.main.TestCaseExecutor   - --------------------
2025-05-08 07:00:39.845 INFO  c.k.katalon.core.main.TestCaseExecutor   - START Test Cases/misc/listTestObjects
2025-05-08 07:00:40.484 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 1: projectDir = Paths.get(getProjectDir())
2025-05-08 07:00:40.502 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 2: println(projectDir=$projectDir)
projectDir=/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon
2025-05-08 07:00:40.574 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 3: objectRepositoryDir = projectDir.resolve("Object Repository")
2025-05-08 07:00:40.612 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 4: assert Files.exists(objectRepositoryDir)
2025-05-08 07:00:40.658 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 5: accessor = ObjectRepositoryAccessor$Builder(objectRepositoryDir).build()
2025-05-08 07:00:40.786 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 6: list = accessor.getTestObjectIdList()
2025-05-08 07:00:40.831 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 7: list.each({ io.github.kazurayam.ks.testobject.TestObjectId toi -> ... })
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_AppointmentConfirmation/lbl_Comment.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_AppointmentConfirmation/lbl_Facility.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_AppointmentConfirmation/lbl_HospitalReadmission.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_AppointmentConfirmation/lbl_Program.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_AppointmentConfirmation/lbl_VisitDate.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/btn_BookAppointment.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/chk_Medicaid.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/chk_Medicare.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/chk_None.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/chk_Readmission.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/div_Appointment.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/lst_Facility.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/txt_Comment.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraAppointment/txt_VisitDate.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_CuraHomepage/btn_MakeAppointment.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_Login/btn_Login.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_Login/txt_Password.rs
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon/Object Repository/Page_Login/txt_UserName.rs
2025-05-08 07:00:40.899 INFO  c.k.katalon.core.main.TestCaseExecutor   - END Test Cases/misc/listTestObjects

When I started trying to write this Test Case, I encountered a series of technical issues. I struggled for a few days. Eventually I could find resolutions. Let me present them to you one by one in the following sections.

Problem1: How to resolve external dependencies for lib subproject?

Problem1-1 The jar of Groovy is required

In the lib subproject, I wrote a Groovy class

I tried to compile it in the commandline, and got an error.

$ ./gradlew :lib:compileGroovy
> Task :lib:compileGroovy FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':lib:compileGroovy'.
> Cannot infer Groovy class path because no Groovy Jar was found on class path: [/Users/kazurayam/tmp/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/build/classes/java/main]

The lib:compileGroovy task required the Groovy jar of some version, but I did not configured it. That’s the cause of the error.

Where is the Groovy’s jar file?

Every Katalon project has a file named .classpath. Katalon Studio list the jar files it bundles and are required to run a Test Case. See the katlaon/.classpath

In the .classpath file, I found the following line:

 <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/configuration/resources/lib/groovy-3.0.17.jar"/>

This is the Groovy jar file bundled in the Katalon Studio distribution. So, I should use it for the lib subproject as well.

I edited the lib/build.gradle file to use the Groovy jar which is located in the Katalon Studio installation directory.

plugins {
    id 'groovy'
}
...
static String resolveKatalonStudioInstallationDirectory() {
    OperatingSystem os = OperatingSystem.current()
    if (os.isMacOsX()) {
        return '/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse'
    } else if (os.isWindows()) {
        String userHome = System.getProperty("user.home")
        return "${userHome}/Katalon_Studio_Windows_64-10.2.0"
    } else if (os.isLinux()) {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("I don't know")
    } else {
        // Unknown OS
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Who knows?")
    }
}

ext {
    KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY = resolveKatalonStudioInstallationDirectory()
    GroovyVersion = '3.0.17'
}

dependencies {

    // will look into the Katalon Studio installation directory

    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/configuration/resources/lib",
            include: [
                    "groovy-${GroovyVersion}.jar"
            ]
    )

With this change, the error “Cannot infer Groovy class path” was resolved.

Problem1-2 The jar of “com.kms.katalon.core” is required

./gradlew :lib:compileGroovy command continued to fail with error.

$ gradle :lib:compileGroovy

> Task :lib:compileGroovy
startup failed:
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/src/main/groovy/io/github/kazurayam/ks/testobject/ObjectRepositoryAccessor.groovy: 5: unable to resolve class com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject
 @ line 5, column 1.
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject
   ^

The message said that the :lib:compileGroovy task was unable to find the com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject class. I had to include the Katalon’s Core jar in the classpath.

In the katalon/.classpath file, I found the following line:

<classpathentry kind="lib" path="/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core_1.0.0.202504231120.jar" sourcepath="/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/configuration/resources/source/com.kms.katalon.core/com.kms.katalon.core-sources.jar">
        <attributes>
            <attribute name="javadoc_location" value="file:/Applications/Katalon%20Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/configuration/resources/apidocs/com.kms.katalon.core/"/>
        </attributes>
    </classpathentry>

OK. I will include this jar in the classpath for :lib:compileGroovy target. I edited the lib/build.gradle file.

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    'com.kms.katalon.core*.jar',
                    'com.kms.katalon.util*.jar'
            ])

With this change, the errors concerning com.kms.katalon.core module were resolved.

Problem1-3 The jar of external jar which is bundled in the Katalon Studio distribution

The :lib:compileGroovy task continued to fail.

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
gradle :lib:compileGroovy

> Task :lib:compileGroovy FAILED
startup failed:

/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/src/main/groovy/io/github/kazurayam/ks/testobject/ObjectRepositoryAccessor.groovy: 6: unable to resolve class org.slf4j.Logger
 @ line 6, column 1.
   import org.slf4j.Logger
   ^

/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/src/main/groovy/io/github/kazurayam/ks/testobject/ObjectRepositoryAccessor.groovy: 7: unable to resolve class org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
 @ line 7, column 1.
   import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
   ^

org.slf4j.LoggerFactory and org.slf4j.Logger — these classes are member of the famous SLF4J API library, which is published at the Maven Central Repository:

Is it OK if I download the SLF4J-API jar of arbitrary version from Maven Central? — No, I shouldn’t. Katalon Studio bundles the SLF4J-API of a specific version. See the katalon/.classpath file:

 <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/slf4j.api_2.0.16.jar"/>

My :lib:compileGroovy task should use the specific version of external jars bundled in the Katalon Studio distribution if present.

I edited the lib/build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    'slf4j*.jar'
            ])
}

With this change, the error concerning SLF4J-API disappeared.

Problem1-4 The external jar which is missing from the Katalon’s distribution

The :lib:compileGroovy task failed yet.

gradle :lib:compileGroovy

> Task :lib:compileGroovy
startup failed:
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/src/main/groovy/io/github/kazurayam/ks/testobject/ObjectRepositoryAccessor.groovy: 3: unable to resolve class com.kazurayam.ant.DirectoryScanner
 @ line 3, column 1.
   import com.kazurayam.ant.DirectoryScanner
   ^

The com.kazurayam.ant.DirectoryScanner is available at the Maven Central repository

This jar is not bundled in the Katalon Studio’s distributable.

This type of external jar is easiest to include in the classpath for the :lib:compileGroovy task. I edited the lib/build.gradle file:

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation libs.directoryscanner

And I edited the settings.gradle file in the rootProject directory:

dependencyResolutionManagement {
    versionCatalogs {
        libs {
            library('directoryscanner', 'com.kazurayam:monk-directory-scanner:0.1.1')
            ...

With this change, finally, the :lib:compileGroovy task succeeded.

Problem1-5 JUnit Jupiter

I ran the following command, which failed:

$ ./gradlew :lib:test
Starting a Gradle Daemon (subsequent builds will be faster)

> Task :lib:compileTestGroovy FAILED
startup failed:
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/src/test/groovy/com/kms/katalon/core/testobject/ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy: 3: unable to resolve class org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
 @ line 3, column 1.
   import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
   ^
   ...

The org.junit.jupiter.api.Test class belongs to the so-called JUnit5 jar, which is not bundled in the Katalon Studio’s distributable. I need to add the jar in the classpath for the :lib:test target.

I edited the lib/build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    ...
    testImplementation libs.junit.jupiter.api
    testImplementation libs.junit.jupiter.engine
    testRuntimeOnly("org.junit.platform:junit-platform-launcher")
    ...
}

Also I edited the settings.gradle file:

dependencyResolutionManagement {
    versionCatalogs {
        libs {
            ...
            library('junit-jupiter-api', 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.12.2')
            library('junit-jupiter-engine', 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine:5.12.2')
            ...

With this change, the errors concerning “org.junit.jupiter.api” were resolved.

Problem1-6 groovy.lang.GroovyObject

I continued trying gradle :lib:test, but failed

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
./gradlew :lib:test
> Task :lib:compileTestGroovy FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':lib:compileTestGroovy'.
> Unrecoverable compilation error: startup failed:
  General error during conversion: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: groovy.lang.GroovyObject

  java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: groovy.lang.GroovyObject
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationUnit$IPrimaryClassNodeOperation.doPhaseOperation(CompilationUnit.java:977)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationUnit.processPhaseOperations(CompilationUnit.java:672)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationUnit.compile(CompilationUnit.java:636)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationUnit.compile(CompilationUnit.java:611)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.compile.ApiGroovyCompiler.execute(ApiGroovyCompiler.java:285)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.compile.ApiGroovyCompiler.execute(ApiGroovyCompiler.java:67)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.compile.GroovyCompilerFactory$DaemonSideCompiler.execute(GroovyCompilerFactory.java:90)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.compile.GroovyCompilerFactory$DaemonSideCompiler.execute(GroovyCompilerFactory.java:76)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.compile.daemon.AbstractIsolatedCompilerWorkerExecutor$CompilerWorkAction.execute(AbstractIsolatedCompilerWorkerExecutor.java:78)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.DefaultWorkerServer.execute(DefaultWorkerServer.java:63)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.AbstractClassLoaderWorker$1.create(AbstractClassLoaderWorker.java:54)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.AbstractClassLoaderWorker$1.create(AbstractClassLoaderWorker.java:48)
        at org.gradle.internal.classloader.ClassLoaderUtils.executeInClassloader(ClassLoaderUtils.java:100)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.AbstractClassLoaderWorker.executeInClassLoader(AbstractClassLoaderWorker.java:48)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.IsolatedClassloaderWorker.run(IsolatedClassloaderWorker.java:49)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.IsolatedClassloaderWorker.run(IsolatedClassloaderWorker.java:30)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.WorkerDaemonServer.run(WorkerDaemonServer.java:96)
        at org.gradle.workers.internal.WorkerDaemonServer.run(WorkerDaemonServer.java:65)
        at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.request.WorkerAction$1.call(WorkerAction.java:138)
        at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.child.WorkerLogEventListener.withWorkerLoggingProtocol(WorkerLogEventListener.java:41)
        at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.request.WorkerAction.lambda$run$0(WorkerAction.java:135)
        at org.gradle.internal.operations.CurrentBuildOperationRef.with(CurrentBuildOperationRef.java:80)
        at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.request.WorkerAction.run(WorkerAction.java:127)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:568)
        at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:36)
        at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24)
        at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:182)
        at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:164)
        at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHub$Handler.run(MessageHub.java:414)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:64)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.AbstractManagedExecutor$1.run(AbstractManagedExecutor.java:47)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1136)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:635)
        at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:840)
  Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: groovy.lang.GroovyObject
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.decompiled.AsmReferenceResolver.resolveClass(AsmReferenceResolver.java:46)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.decompiled.ClassSignatureParser.configureClass(ClassSignatureParser.java:42)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.decompiled.DecompiledClassNode.lazyInitSupers(DecompiledClassNode.java:189)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.decompiled.DecompiledClassNode.getGenericsTypes(DecompiledClassNode.java:80)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.GenericsVisitor.checkGenericsUsage(GenericsVisitor.java:157)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.GenericsVisitor.checkGenericsUsage(GenericsVisitor.java:151)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.GenericsVisitor.visitDeclarationExpression(GenericsVisitor.java:113)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.expr.DeclarationExpression.visit(DeclarationExpression.java:89)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.CodeVisitorSupport.visitExpressionStatement(CodeVisitorSupport.java:117)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassCodeVisitorSupport.visitExpressionStatement(ClassCodeVisitorSupport.java:200)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.stmt.ExpressionStatement.visit(ExpressionStatement.java:40)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.CodeVisitorSupport.visitBlockStatement(CodeVisitorSupport.java:86)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassCodeVisitorSupport.visitBlockStatement(ClassCodeVisitorSupport.java:164)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.stmt.BlockStatement.visit(BlockStatement.java:69)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassCodeVisitorSupport.visitClassCodeContainer(ClassCodeVisitorSupport.java:138)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassCodeVisitorSupport.visitConstructorOrMethod(ClassCodeVisitorSupport.java:111)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.GenericsVisitor.visitConstructorOrMethod(GenericsVisitor.java:93)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassCodeVisitorSupport.visitMethod(ClassCodeVisitorSupport.java:106)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassNode.visitMethods(ClassNode.java:1094)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassNode.visitContents(ClassNode.java:1087)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.GenericsVisitor.visitClass(GenericsVisitor.java:74)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationUnit.lambda$addPhaseOperations$5(CompilationUnit.java:221)
        at org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationUnit$IPrimaryClassNodeOperation.doPhaseOperation(CompilationUnit.java:943)
        ... 36 more

  1 error

I have never seen such an error “NoClassDefFound: groovy.lang.GroovyObject”. I made a lot of search, eventually found a workaround.

I edited the lib/build.gradle file.

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    // to import groovy.lang.GroovyObject
                    '**/org.codehaus.groovy*/lib/groovy*-indy.jar',

With this change, the error concerning groovy.lang.GroovyObject was resolved.

Problem1-7 org/dom4j/DocumentException

The ./gradlew :lib:test command still failed.

./gradlew :lib:test

> Task :lib:test

ObjectRepositoryFailingTest > test_findObject() FAILED
    java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError at ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11
        Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException at ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11

In the report, I found the detail:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/dom4j/DocumentException
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:467)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.lambda$createCallStaticSite$2(CallSiteArray.java:65)
    at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:318)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallStaticSite(CallSiteArray.java:63)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallSite(CallSiteArray.java:156)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:47)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:125)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:139)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.test_findObject(ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11)
...

I changed the lib/build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    'org.dom4j*.jar',

Then the error concerning “org/dom4j/DocumentException” was resolved.

Problem1-8 com/google/gson/JsonSyntaxException

The ./gradlew :lib:test command still failed.

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
./gradlew :lib:test

> Task :lib:test

ObjectRepositoryFailingTest > test_findObject() FAILED
    java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError at ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11
        Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException at ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11

The report showed the detail:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/google/gson/JsonSyntaxException
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.initShouldLogTestSteps(KeywordLogger.java:77)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.<init>(KeywordLogger.java:73)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.getInstance(KeywordLogger.java:59)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.getInstance(KeywordLogger.java:51)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.<clinit>(ObjectRepository.java:54)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:467)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.lambda$createCallStaticSite$2(CallSiteArray.java:65)
    at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:318)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallStaticSite(CallSiteArray.java:63)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallSite(CallSiteArray.java:156)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:47)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:125)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:139)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.test_findObject(ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11)

I edited the lib/build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    'com.google.gson*.jar',

With this change, the error concerning “gson” was resolved.

Problem1-9 org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
./gradlew :lib:test

> Task :lib:test

ObjectRepositoryFailingTest > test_findObject() FAILED
    java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError at ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11
        Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException at ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:1017)
    at java.base/java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:150)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.defineClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:862)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.findClassOnClassPathOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:760)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClassOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:681)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:639)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:188)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:525)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.constants.StringConstants.<clinit>(StringConstants.java:56)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfiguration.<clinit>(RunConfiguration.java:117)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.initShouldLogTestSteps(KeywordLogger.java:77)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.<init>(KeywordLogger.java:73)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.getInstance(KeywordLogger.java:59)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.logging.KeywordLogger.getInstance(KeywordLogger.java:51)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.<clinit>(ObjectRepository.java:54)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:467)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.lambda$createCallStaticSite$2(CallSiteArray.java:65)
    at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:318)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallStaticSite(CallSiteArray.java:63)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallSite(CallSiteArray.java:156)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:47)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:125)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:139)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.test_findObject(ObjectRepositoryFailingTest.groovy:11)

What the hell is it “org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS”? I have no idea. But I found the following line in the katalon/.classpath.

 <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.20.0.v20240509-1421.jar"/>

Probably this is the key. I edited the lib/build.gradle

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    'org.eclipse.osgi*.jar',

This change resolved the error concerning “org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS”.

Problem1-10 org/apache/commons/lang/StringEscapeUtils

The .gradlew :lib:test command still failed.

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/commons/lang/StringEscapeUtils
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findWebUIObject(ObjectRepository.java:365)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.readTestObjectFile(ObjectRepository.java:273)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findTestObject(ObjectRepository.java:231)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findTestObject(ObjectRepository.java:181)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository$findTestObject.call(Unknown Source)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:47)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:125)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:139)
    at com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepositoryPassingTest.test_findObject(ObjectRepositoryPassingTest.groovy:18)

I changed the lib/build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    'org.apache.commons.lang*.jar',

This change resolved the error concerning “org/apache/commons/lang/StringEscapeUtils”.

Problem1-11 org/openqa/selenium/WebElement

The ./gradlew :lib:test task still failed:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/openqa/selenium/WebElement
at java.base/java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods0(Native Method)
at java.base/java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredMethods(Class.java:3402)
at java.base/java.lang.Class.privateGetPublicMethods(Class.java:3427)
at java.base/java.lang.Class.getMethods(Class.java:2019)
at java.desktop/com.sun.beans.introspect.MethodInfo.get(MethodInfo.java:70)
at java.desktop/com.sun.beans.introspect.ClassInfo.getMethods(ClassInfo.java:80)
at java.desktop/java.beans.Introspector.getTargetMethodInfo(Introspector.java:1029)
at java.desktop/java.beans.Introspector.getBeanInfo(Introspector.java:446)
at java.desktop/java.beans.Introspector.getBeanInfo(Introspector.java:195)
at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.lambda$addProperties$8(MetaClassImpl.java:3401)
at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:569)
at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.addProperties(MetaClassImpl.java:3401)
at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.reinitialize(MetaClassImpl.java:3383)
at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.initialize(MetaClassImpl.java:3376)
at org.codehaus.groovy.reflection.ClassInfo.getMetaClassUnderLock(ClassInfo.java:273)
at org.codehaus.groovy.reflection.ClassInfo.getMetaClass(ClassInfo.java:315)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.metaclass.MetaClassRegistryImpl.getMetaClass(MetaClassRegistryImpl.java:258)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.InvokerHelper.getMetaClass(InvokerHelper.java:1017)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallStaticSite(CallSiteArray.java:71)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.createCallSite(CallSiteArray.java:156)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:47)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:125)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:139)
at com.kms.katalon.core.webui.keyword.WebUiBuiltinKeywordsTest.test_comment(WebUiBuiltinKeywordsTest.groovy:10)

I edited the lib/build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: "${KATALON_STUDIO_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY}/plugins",
            include: [
                    ...
                    'org.seleniumhq.selenium.selenium-api*.jar',

This change resolved the error concerning “WebElement”.

Problem1-12 How to print Classpath

I worked on constructing the classpath for the lib subproject. How does the content of classpath look like?

I made a Gradle task printClasspath in the lib subproject.

tasks.register('printClasspath') {
    group = 'Custom'
    description = "show the entries included in the runtime classpath, sorted alphabetically"
    doLast {
        sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath.sort().each { println it }
    }
}

When I ran the printClasspath by

$ ./gradlew :lib:printClasspath

I got the following output:

/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/configuration/resources/lib/groovy-3.0.17.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.google.gson_2.11.0.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.appium_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.cucumber_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.mobile_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.testng_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.webservice_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.webui_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core.windows_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.core_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/com.kms.katalon.util_1.0.0.202504231120.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.apache.commons.lang3_3.14.0.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.apache.commons.lang_2.6.0.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.codehaus.groovy_3.0.22.v202406302347-e2406/lib/groovy-3.0.22-indy.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.codehaus.groovy_3.0.22.v202406302347-e2406/lib/groovy-test-3.0.22-indy.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.dom4j_2.1.4.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi.compatibility.state_1.2.1000.v20240213-1057.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi.services_3.12.100.v20240327-0645.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi.util_3.7.300.v20231104-1118.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.20.0.v20240509-1421.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/org.seleniumhq.selenium.selenium-api_4.28.1.jar
/Applications/Katalon Studio.app/Contents/Eclipse/plugins/slf4j.api_2.0.16.jar
/Users/kazurayam/github/dotfiles/.gradle/caches/modules-2/files-2.1/com.kazurayam/monk-directory-scanner/0.1.1/51aae11fcb0e55b72e2bd5a97a6fd662af45915e/monk-directory-scanner-0.1.1.jar
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/build/classes/groovy/main
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/build/classes/java/main
/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/lib/build/resources/main

I could confirm that the classpath now includes groovy-3.0.17.jar and many others.

Problem1-13 How to confirm versions of runtime environment

I made a custom Gradle task printVersions in the lib/build.gradle

import org.gradle.internal.os.OperatingSystem
import org.gradle.util.GradleVersion
tasks.register('printVersions') {
    doLast {
        OperatingSystem os = OperatingSystem.current()
        println "${os.toString()}"
        println "Java ${JavaVersion.current()}"
        println "Groovy ${GroovySystem.getVersion()}"
        println GradleVersion.current().toString()
    }
}

When I ran this, I got the following output:

Mac OS X 14.7.5 x86_64
Java 17
Groovy 3.0.17
Gradle 8.4

Problem2 RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() returns null outside katalon project

A blocker problem

See the source of Test Cases/misc/listTestObjects. This TestCase calls com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() to find the path of the “katalon” project.

// find the path of "katalon" project folder 
Path projectDir = Paths.get(RunConfiguration.getProjectDir())
println "projectDir=${projectDir}"

When I ran this TestCase in Katalon Studio, it successfully ran and printed the path of the katalon project folder.

2025-05-08 07:00:40.484 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 1: projectDir = Paths.get(getProjectDir())
2025-05-08 07:00:40.502 DEBUG testcase.listTestObjects                 - 2: println(projectDir=$projectDir)
projectDir=/Users/kazurayam/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination/katalon

Yes, RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() is the established way of obtaining the OS path of a Katalon project’s folder. It works properly in Katalon Runtime Engine as well.

However, RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() does not work outside Katalon Studio. I wrote a JUnit test:

package com.kms.katalon.core.configuration

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test

// This test will always fail. It is intentional.
@Disabled
class RunConfigurationFailingTest {

    @Test
    void test_getProjectDir() {
        String projectDir = RunConfiguration.getProjectDir()
        assertTrue(projectDir.endsWith("katalon"), "projectDir=${projectDir}")
    }
}

When I ran this JUnit test, it failed.

$ ./gradlew :lib:test --tests com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfigurationFailingTest

> Task :lib:test FAILED

RunConfigurationFailingTest > test_getProjectDir() FAILED
    org.opentest4j.AssertionFailedError at RunConfigurationFailingTest.groovy:11

org.opentest4j.AssertionFailedError: projectDir=null ==> expected: <true> but was: <false>
    at app//org.junit.jupiter.api.AssertionFailureBuilder.build(AssertionFailureBuilder.java:151)
    at app//org.junit.jupiter.api.AssertionFailureBuilder.buildAndThrow(AssertionFailureBuilder.java:132)
    at app//org.junit.jupiter.api.AssertTrue.failNotTrue(AssertTrue.java:63)
    at app//org.junit.jupiter.api.AssertTrue.assertTrue(AssertTrue.java:36)
    at app//org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue(Assertions.java:214)
    at java.base@17.0.11/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base@17.0.11/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)
    at java.base@17.0.11/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base@17.0.11/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:568)
    at app//org.codehaus.groovy.reflection.CachedMethod.invoke(CachedMethod.java:107)
    at app//groovy.lang.MetaMethod.doMethodInvoke(MetaMethod.java:323)
    at app//org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.StaticMetaMethodSite$StaticMetaMethodSiteNoUnwrap.invoke(StaticMetaMethodSite.java:131)
    at app//org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.StaticMetaMethodSite.callStatic(StaticMetaMethodSite.java:100)
    at app//org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCallStatic(CallSiteArray.java:55)
    at app//org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callStatic(AbstractCallSite.java:217)
    at app//org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callStatic(AbstractCallSite.java:240)
    at app//com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfigurationFailingTest.test_getProjectDir(RunConfigurationFailingTest.groovy:11)
    ...

The RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() returned null in the lib subproject!

This is a serious blocker for me. Without the path of Object Repository in the katalon subproject, I can not perform any unit-tests for my codes in the lib subproject.

Solution

I invented a magic spell: io.github.kazurayam.ks.configuration.RunConfigurationConfigurator. See how it works as in the following JUnit test:

package com.kms.katalon.core.configuration

import io.github.kazurayam.ks.configuration.RunConfigurationConfigurator
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue

class RunConfigurationPassingTest {

    @BeforeAll
    static void beforeAll() {
        // the magic spell
        RunConfigurationConfigurator.configureProjectDir()
    }

    @Test
    void test_getProjectDir() {
        String projectDir = RunConfiguration.getProjectDir()
        assertTrue(projectDir.endsWith("katalon"), "projectDir=${projectDir}")
    }
}

Please find the @BeforeAll-annotaed method calls RunConfigurationConfigurator.configureProjectDir(). This call alters the internal state of the singleton instance of com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConguration object.

When I ran this JUnit test, it passed. This means, a call to RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() in a JUnit test in the lib subproject successfully returned the path of the sibling katalon subproject. The issue has been magically resolved!

Description

I developed 2 Groovy classes in the lib subproject. These classes enabled to me to resolve the aforementioned problems.

KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver

package io.github.kazurayam.ks.configuration

import java.nio.file.Files
import java.nio.file.Path
import java.nio.file.Paths

class KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver {

    private static final String KATALON_PROJECT_PATH_RELATIVE_TO_THE_LIB_PROJECT = "../katalon"

    private KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver() {}

    /**
     * When the System Property `com.kazurayam.ks.configuration.KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver.thePath` is
     * given with a value, it will be converted to a Path value and will be returned.
     * Otherwise, the path to `../katalon` relative to the System Property `user.home` will be returned.
     */
    static Path getProjectDir() {
        Path thePath
        String thePathString = System.getProperty("com.kazurayam.ks.configuration.KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver.thePath")
        if (thePathString != null) {
            thePath = Paths.get(thePathString).toAbsolutePath().normalize()
        } else {
            Path currentDir = Paths.get(System.getProperty('user.dir'))
            thePath = currentDir.resolve(KATALON_PROJECT_PATH_RELATIVE_TO_THE_LIB_PROJECT)
                    .toAbsolutePath().normalize()
        }
        if (Files.exists(thePath)) {
            return thePath
        } else {
            throw new IOException(thePath.toString() + " is not present")
        }
    }
}

The static KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver.getProjectDir() method will return a Path object, which is the katalon subproject’s root folder.

When the method is called inside Katalon Studio runtime, the method simply returns a non-null value returned by RunConfiguration.getProjectDir().

When the RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() returned null, the method presumes that it was invoked in the sibling lib subproject, and returns a path ../katalon relative to the lib subproject.

As you can perceive, the KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver is NOT reusable; it is designed to be used solely in the lib subproject of this Katalon-IDEA-Combination project.

RunConfigurationConfigurator

package io.github.kazurayam.ks.configuration

import com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfiguration
import com.kms.katalon.core.constants.StringConstants

class RunConfigurationConfigurator {

    /**
     * When run in the `<rootProjectDir>/lib` project, this method will
     * configure the `RunConfiguration` instance so that the call to
     * `getProjectDir()` returns the path of `<rootProjectDir>/katalon` directory.
     * When run in the `<rootProjectDir>/katalon` project, this method will
     * do nothing. Effectively a call to `RunConfiguration.getProjectDir()` will
     * return the path of `<rootProjectDir>/katalon` directory.
     */
    static void configureProjectDir() {
        if (RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() == null ||
                RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() == "null") {
            // the code was invoked outside the Katalon Studio runtime Environment,
            // Perhaps, in the subproject `lib` next to the `katalon` project.
            // We want to configure the RunConfiguration instance to return the directory of
            // the `katalon` project
            Map<String, Object> executionSettingMap = new HashMap<>()
            executionSettingMap.put(StringConstants.CONF_PROPERTY_PROJECT_DIR,
                    KatalonProjectDirectoryResolver.getProjectDir().toString())
            RunConfiguration.setExecutionSetting(executionSettingMap)
        } else {
            // the code was invoked inside the Katalon Studio runtime environment;
            // nothing to do
        }
    }
}

When the RunConfigurationConfigurator.configureProjectDir() is called anywhere inside the lib subproject, it will alter the internal state of the singleton instance of com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfiguration class. See the following junit5 test:

package com.kms.katalon.core.configuration

import io.github.kazurayam.ks.configuration.RunConfigurationConfigurator
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue

class RunConfigurationPassingTest {

    @BeforeAll
    static void beforeAll() {
        // the magic spell
        RunConfigurationConfigurator.configureProjectDir()
    }

    @Test
    void test_getProjectDir() {
        String projectDir = RunConfiguration.getProjectDir()
        assertTrue(projectDir.endsWith("katalon"), "projectDir=${projectDir}")
    }
}

This test will pass, which proves that, once configured, the call to RunConfiguration.getProjectDir() will return the path of sibling katalon subproject.

Provided with the RunConfigurationConfigurator class, I could develop good number of unit-test in the lib subproject while utilizing the files in the`katalon` as the test fixture. In fact, my codes in the lib subproject could get access to any resources inside the katalon subproject: Test Objects, Test Case scripts, Test Listeners, Test Suites, Profiles.

You may ask me what this line does.

            RunConfiguration.setExecutionSetting(executionSettingMap)

You should read the source code of the com.kms.katalon.core.configuration.RunConfiguration class. The source code is bundled with every Katalon Studio installation. On Windows, you would find it here:

  • <Katalon Studio installation folder>/configuration/resources/source/com.kms.katalon.core/com.kms.katalon.core-sources.jar

Problem3 How to transfer the lib artifact into Katalon project

I can generate a jar file which contains the classes developed in the lib subproject. Run this command:

$ ./gradlew clean build

Then, a jar will be generated in the lib/build/libs folder:

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
tree lib/build/libs
lib/build/libs
└── my-custom-artifact-0.1.1.jar

1 directory, 1 file

Now, I need to import this jar from the lib into the sibling katalon subproject in order to make my custom classes (e.g, io.github.kazurayam.ks.testobject.ObjectRepositoryAccessor) available to the Test Case scripts in the sibling katalon subproject.

I made a Grable build in the katalon subproject.

plugins {
    id 'groovy'
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

ext {
    ARTIFACT_ID = 'my-custom-artifact'
    ARTIFACT_VERSION = '0.1.1'
    userHome = System.getProperty('user.home')
    rootProjectDir = rootProject.projectDir as File
    MDSVersion = '0.1.1'
}


tasks.register('importLibArtifact') {
    group = 'Custom'
    description = "import the KS_ObjectRepositoryGarbageCollector jar and the MockDirectoryScanner jar into the Drivers folder"
    doFirst {
        delete fileTree("Drivers").matching {
            include "${ARTIFACT_ID}-*.jar"
        }
    }
    doLast {
        copy {
            into layout.projectDirectory.dir("Drivers")
            from("${rootProject.projectDir}/lib/build/libs") {
                include "${ARTIFACT_ID}-${ARTIFACT_VERSION}.jar"
            }
        }
    }
}

When I run the :katalon:importLibArtifact task, the jar file will be copied into the Drivers folder of the Katalon project.

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
gradle :katalon:importLibArtifact

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 1s
1 actionable task: 1 executed

~/katalon-workspace/Katalon-IDEA-Combination git:[develop]
tree ./katalon/Drivers
./katalon/Drivers
├── ...
└── my-custom-artifact-0.1.1.jar

1 directory, 2 files

I will close the Katalon project once and reopen it. Then Katalon Studio will recognize the updated jar.

Extensibility

In this project, I employed IntelliJ IDEA as it is my favorite IDE. I believe that you can use other IDE for the same role as long as it works with the Gradle build tool. You may want to try Visual Studio Code with Java Extension, or Eclipse.

In this project, I used JUnit Jupiter (JUnit5) for unit-testing in the lib subproject. Of course, you can choose any unit-testing frameworks: JUnit4, TestNG, Spock. I suppose you can even choose Cucumber-Java, though I am not familiar with it.

In this project, I wrote every classes in Groovy. In the lib subproject, you can write codes in other JVM-programming languages: Java, Kotlin, Scala; as long as the IDE of your choice supports it.

Katalon Studio v9.x once brought the “Keywords” to be an Enterprise feature. Katalon disallowed the users of Free version to create and use any custom Groovy class. It was a surprise for me. Later in v10.0 they turned the feature back. Now, I have got the experience of Katalon-IDEA-Combination, I would not be surprised even if the “Keywords” is priced again in future Katalon v11.x and later. The “Keywords” feature doesn’t really matter to me.

Conclusion

I made a Gradle Multiproject with 2 subprojects: katalon and lib. In the lib subproject, I could develop a set of custom classes that extends my Katalon project’s capability. I used IntelliJ IDEA with JUnit5 and Gradle. I could import the custom classes into the katalon subproject. Katalon studio could utilize the custom classes without any problem.

I believe that I could seamlessly combine Katalon Studio and IntelliJ IDEA. It is a lot of fun.

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