Katalon Studio 8.0.0 much slower in opening and saving files

[danpoleary]

@duyluong

After much testing, I think I found the issue. If a testcase has a large number of variables, then the opening or saving of that testcase gets very slow. If I create a testcase with no variables, save is very quick. I just add variables, then it becomes very slow to save. The rest of testcase can be empty.

I am now creating a new testcase and slowly adding variable of different types one by one to see when the saving gets slow. I will let you know the results soon.

Results: after adding the 5th variable (I used String, Number, String, Number, String) it starts to get slow to save. I close the file and reopen and it is slow to load.

Something changed in variable handling to cause this.

[kazurayam]

@danpoleary

Everything is installed under C:\development\apps.

I have a doubt about this location.

Would you try installing it under the C:\Users\yourOsUsername folder where your Windows user have full access privilege so that KS can surely WRITE files into ?

[kazurayam]

@danpoleary

The two imports are for custom keywords, and are not from plugins.

Well, I don’t think so.

I know …

import com.katalon.cdp.CdpUtils

this must come from Chrome DevTools Integration plugin

import com.katalon.utils.OsUtils

this must come from Katalon Utilities.

[danpoleary]

They rely on those plugins which I have from Katalon managed plugins.

We cannot run under our user accounts since it is managed by our security group. Thy prevent us from installing or running anything in c:\users… (They scan and remove things)

If you noticed earlier, I found the issue is with testcase variables. I got the rest of our team to reproduce my findings, and in all cases, 5 or more variables start to slow down save and open of a testcase. The more variables the slower. This does not happen in 7.8.2, and I will be retrying in the 7.9 series as well.

[kazurayam]

@danpoleary

@danpoleary

We cannot run under our user accounts since it is managed by our security group. Thy prevent us from installing or running anything in c:\users… (They scan and remove things)

Ok. Could you try installing KS under C:\Users\yourAccount just once and see if it doesn’t help at all?

[danpoleary]

@Kazurayam I tried under my user account and it still takes 8 to 10 seconds. Like I mentioned earlier, it is tied to the number of variables in a testcase. After the 5th variable is added, the performance of open and save starts to be noticeably slower. Try it on yours. create a testcase, could be empty, and start adding variables. You will see it get slower and slower to save.

[kazurayam]

@danpoleary

You will see it get slower and slower to save.

No, I do not see it.

You shared your test case script. I made a project where I made a test case with your code. I can open, save, update it quickly. I don’t see any slowness. Your issue seems to be hard to reproduce on in other’s environment.

[shakti.singh]

Noticed similar slow performance on a totally fresh install of Katalon Studio 8.0.1 on Windows 10 (1909).
The project is a small demo project with 4 scenarios in a feature file along with a groovy script in default package for step definitions. If separate step methods are defined for each scenario (example) then the error is resolved.
Event log has the following -
CodeSelectRequestor: Could not proceed due to null declaring type for org.codehaus.groovy.ast.expr.ConstantExpression

Maybe related error - does not have matching glue code for example in line xyz.

feature file

Scenario Outline: Scenario_Name
    Given I have to run Param1 <Param1> Param2 <Param2> Param3 <Param3> Param4 <Param4> Param5 <Param5>
      | Param6  |
      | P6Val1  |
    When I start
    Then result should be success

Examples: 
  | Scenario    | Param2    | Param3    | Param1 | Param4 | Param5 |
  | Scenario1   | P2Val1    | P3Val1    | P1Val1 | P4Val1 | P5Val1 |
  | Scenario2   | P2Val2    | P3Val2    | P1Val2 | P4Val2 | P5Val2 |

groovy file

	@Given("I have to run Param1 (.*) Param2 (.*) Param3 (.*) Param4 (.*) Param5 (.*) Param6 (.*)")
	def I_have_to_run_Param1_Param2_Param3_Param4_Param5_(String Param1, String Param2, String Param3, String Param4, String Param5, String Param6) {
		// Write test here
	}

[jim.sears]

FYI - I recreated the issue when I installed the Katalon Studio sample cucumber project from Git.

[danpoleary]

Good morning @kazurayam,

Did you add variables to the variables tab? The code I provided did not have the variables tab entries.

[kazurayam]

@danpoleary

Did you add variables to the variables tab?

I do not do anything on the variables tab.

I remember I saw a lot of variable names in the code were underlined; that would mean the names were supposed to be declared in the variables tab; but I left them underlined. I could edit the code, save it, open/close it quickly.

[danpoleary]

@kazurayam @duyluong
You need to add one variable at a time to the variables tab, and save after each. Once you reach 5, it will start to be noticeably slower, The more you add, the slower… This does not happen in the 7.8.2 release, and I still need to verify it did not happen in the 7.9.x releases, but I do not recall any issues . I really notice it in the 8.0.x versions.

[kazurayam]

In Katalon Studio v7.9.1 I made new project, a Test Case where I copy & pasted the code you previous ly shared to us. In the variable tab, I defined 6 variables. I could close, open, edit it just quickly. I could not reproduce your problem.

@duyluong

Can you share your project in private, it will help us to better investigating this issue.

@danpoleary

We cannot share this project since is a secure environment application.

I think you should create a minimum project where you can reproduce your slowness problem and violates no security concern; and then share it to us.

[danpoleary]

I did say 8.0.x.

I just confirmed that the 7.9.x releases do not have the issue either. It only started with 8.0.0, and still exists in 8.0.1

Create an empty test case in 8.0.x add variables one by one to the variables tab and save after each. From 5 onwards the save get slower and slower.

When a test case with many variables is opened, it takes a long time as well

[kazurayam]

@duyluong
@ThanhTo
@danpoleary

I could reproduce the slowness problem of Katalon Studio v8.0.x.
I used Mac OSX 11.4.
I compared Katalon Studio 7.9.1 and 8.0.1.
Here I attache a sample project zipped:

v8.0.x_Slowness_demo.zip (93.3 KB)

I created Test Cases/Slowness_demo.

It’s script is minimalistic:

import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.keyword.WebUiBuiltInKeywords as WebUI

WebUI.openBrowser("http://demoaut.katalon.com/")
WebUI.delay(3)
WebUI.closeBrowser()

I added 20 variables in the Variables tab of the Test Case:

I double click the Test case to open it. I measured the time seconds taken.

With v7.9.1 it took 5 seconds or shorter. I saw no progress indicator displayed.

With v8.0.1 it took 15 seconds or longer. With v8.0.1 when I double click the file icon, an progress indicator came up for seconds long enough to irritate me. With v8.0.1, I checked the .log file and found no Exception was raised.

It looks to me that v8.0.1 has become just slower than v7.9.1 when I try to open a Test Case with 20 variables defined in the Variables tab.

---

What I guess

According to the Relase note #8.0.x it includes:

• Improve Performance: Load large projects faster and consume less memory during execution.

To me it looks the work done for performance improvement has a unforeseen side effect which causes the problem that @danpoleary pointed out.

[kazurayam]

In the demo project, I found a file: v8.0.x_Slowness_demo/Test Cases/Slowness_demo.tc. The file content looks as follows:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TestCaseEntity>
   <description></description>
   <name>Slowness_demo</name>
   <tag></tag>
   <comment></comment>
   <testCaseGuid>742e496e-e28a-4404-8cd7-0d99cb680735</testCaseGuid>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>b693b8c4-3873-4219-bc2a-081118c88edf</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>283b4410-94dd-4fa2-a73e-e1ef4c27c98d</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_0</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>1c62f908-5bf8-4922-a9bc-225a8c88f938</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_1</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>bbaf780c-8ed7-43be-9baf-c9da2786593a</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_2</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>22b64e13-9fe9-4077-a31b-960972da95ba</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_3</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>be3196cb-9677-4326-9234-a2325b5633fb</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_4</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>b9648af0-6e58-4b1c-956b-28a2e70886c3</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_5</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>30859709-b123-4872-bd6b-a318d24c033f</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_6</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>03c2c73b-6e16-496c-98b0-03ccaa25c3d3</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_7</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>4df96971-bc6a-4f72-ae86-36e343772ebc</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_8</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>31534d86-f30e-4da3-b2fe-cf805d754ac4</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_9</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>e4f7be89-1052-4c65-849c-b4f7d9695a94</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_10</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>5fba34a3-b5cd-45c5-91ad-692a49489e24</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_11</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>85b1809c-1a9e-41b3-af75-e5cd3e140a64</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_12</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>08c1eb98-f8dc-4d45-a83e-a8c916aee0ad</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_13</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>d243a5c5-d0df-477b-a28b-eeee4a58e310</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_14</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>d897ad5f-9eae-441c-a427-56fc7d78d4ee</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_15</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>1821fadf-0f81-4675-88fb-c9d25c9f3d0c</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_16</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>fb50cac3-3c46-4a43-9d8e-420ad91104b8</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_17</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>f889bed7-0652-4f8a-aa2a-1da9c881c8f0</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_18</name>
   </variable>
   <variable>
      <defaultValue>''</defaultValue>
      <description></description>
      <id>7c5ba178-3b50-496a-9174-0e285f816e3e</id>
      <masked>false</masked>
      <name>variable_19</name>
   </variable>
</TestCaseEntity>

I can see what it is. The content of “Variables” tab is serialised into this file.

Just I guess, with no backings, that Katalon Studio v8.0.1 reads and parses this XML file 20 times when I double clicked the Test Case icon to open it in the Editor. It reads the file and recognise 1 entry, and forget it. It reads the file again and recognise the 2nd entry, and forget it. … continue until the end of the XML file.

[kazurayam]

@whisstuan.nguyen reported an behavior change of Xerces XML Parser in between 7.9.1 and v 8.0.1:

Error when run custom script

@kazurayam Unfortunately, I cannot give you the URL, but I see the XML response didn’t contain External DTD <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <soap:Body> .................... Another way, I asked my partner and run it at version 7.9, and it has worked well. And one more thing I found that version 8.0.1 used Zulu plat…

I’m not sure but could be related

[danpoleary]

@duyluong @kazurayam

I tried with the latest 8.0.5, and no luck. I also tried switching jre to Zulu from Oracle, and it also had no effect on the long open and saves of Test cases with many variables defined in the variable tab. All of our users will be staying with 7.9.1 until this is resolved.

Let me know if their is any other information I can provide.

Dan

[danpoleary]

Good morning @duyluong @ThanhTo, Any news on this? Our project team is stuck on version 7.9.1 and we would like to take advantage of new features, fixes, and improvements in the latest releases.

[duyluong]

Hi @danpoleary,

Create an empty test case in 8.0.x add variables one by one to the variables tab and save after each. From 5 onwards the save get slower and slower.

We will investigate this issue by following your steps. We hope to find out the root cause and release the fix soon

@kazurayam Thanks for your investigation.