# Transferring Session Variables to Other Files

**URL:** <https://community.gatling.io/t/transferring-session-variables-to-other-files/3958>\
**Category:** Gatling (Open-Source)\
**Created:** [October 5, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://community.gatling.io/t/transferring-session-variables-to-other-files/3958 "2017-10-05T17:14:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_Bacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Robert\_Bacon](https://community.gatling.io/u/Robert_Bacon)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://community.gatling.io/t/transferring-session-variables-to-other-files/3958/1 "2017-10-05T17:14:03Z")

</div>

Ok,

I think I’m overthinking something here. I’ve done lots of research and came across ways to utilize session variables in other sessions on the same script. I have utilized session variables by using the “session =\> sessionVariable” method, and calling session variables with ${variable} method, but I’ve still not been able to transfer the value of a session variable to a global variable. This is important for me because I am trying to make our test more modular by creating a main file for the test and scenario setup, but separate files for the functions or processes we plan to test.

So for example, my main test is set up somewhat like this:

package computerdatabase

import io.gatling.core.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.core.feeder.\_  
import io.gatling.core.session.\_  
import io.gatling.http.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.jdbc.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.http.response.ResponseWrapper  
import io.gatling.http.response.StringResponseBody  
import scala.concurrent.duration.\_  
import scala.util.parsing.json.\_  
import scala.util.Random  
import addons.\_  
import modules.\_

class MutableTest extends Simulation {

val login = Login.login  
val sessionToken = Login.accessToken

val t\_iterations = Integer.getInteger(“iterations”, 1).toInt  
val t\_concurrency = Integer.getInteger(“concurrency”, 1).toInt  
val t\_rampUp = Integer.getInteger(“ramp-up”, 10).toInt

val httpConf = http  
.baseURL(“[https://funwebaddress.com](https://funwebaddress.com)”)  
.headers(Map(“Content-Type” → “application/json,text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml”, “charset” → “UTF-8”))  
.doNotTrackHeader(“1”)  
.acceptLanguageHeader(“en-US,en;q=0.5”)  
.acceptEncodingHeader(“gzip, deflate”)  
.userAgentHeader(“Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.8; rv:16.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/16.0”)

val scn = scenario(“Test”)  
.repeat(t\_iterations){  
exec(login)  
}

setUp(scn.inject(rampUsers(t\_concurrency) over (t\_rampUp)))  
.protocols(httpConf)

}

The first modular file is coded as followed:

package computerdatabase.modules

import io.gatling.core.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.core.feeder.\_  
import io.gatling.core.session.\_  
import io.gatling.http.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.jdbc.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.commons.validation.\_  
import io.gatling.http.response.ResponseWrapper  
import io.gatling.http.response.StringResponseBody  
import scala.concurrent.duration.\_  
import scala.util.parsing.json.\_  
import scala.util.Random  
import java.util.Calendar  
import java.math.BigInteger  
import java.security.SecureRandom  
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat  
import java.text.DateFormat  
import java.nio.ByteBuffer  
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.paddings.PaddedBufferedBlockCipher  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.modes.CBCBlockCipher  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.engines.RijndaelEngine  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.paddings.PKCS7Padding  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.params.\_  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.\_

object Login {

val user = “username”

val password = “associatedPassword”

val variable1 = “value1”  
val variable2 = “value2”  
val variable3 = “value3”  
var token = “”

val jsonrequest = “”"{“variable1”:"""" + variable1 + “”"",  
“variable2”:"""" + variable2 + “”"",  
“user”:"""" + user + “”"",  
“password”:"""" + password + “”"",  
“variable3”:"""" + variable3 + “”""  
}"""

val login = exec(http(“Login”)  
.post(“[http://someURLwebsite.com](http://someURLwebsite.com)”)  
.body(StringBody(jsonrequest))  
.transformResponse{  
case response if response.isReceived =\>  
new ResponseWrapper(response) {  
val stripped = response.body.string  
override val body = new StringResponseBody(stripped, response.charset)  
}  
}  
.asJSON  
.check(jsonPath("$…result").is(“true”))  
.check(jsonPath("$…responsetoken")  
.find  
.saveAs(“giventoken”)))

val accessToken = exec(session =\> {  
token = session(“giventoken”).as[String]  
println("session: " + token)  
session  
})

}

So this is what I tried. I have not been able to provide the main test’s “sessionToken” variable with the value provided by the “responsetoken” in the JSON response. Is there something I’m missing? Some way that will make this all easier? Or is this thought process and methodology flawed to begin with?

I did find solutions for others that were looking to allow multiple users to login with the same token, or others that wanted to utilize a token provided in one session as an argument in another session, but I have not found a solution to creating a global variable that has the value of a session variable that can be passed to another file.

If I could at least get a link to such a response, I would be most grateful.

TIA

Rob

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![slandelle](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.gatling.io/slandelle/32/4_2.png) [@slandelle](https://community.gatling.io/u/slandelle)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://community.gatling.io/t/transferring-session-variables-to-other-files/3958/2 "2017-10-05T19:22:29Z")

</div>

Hi,

I suspect your programming background is with languages that don’t support multithreading (Python?) and where global mutable variables is fine.  
Here, in a multithreaded context such as Gatling’s, you’re definitively shooting yourself in the foot.

The proper way to pass parameters is to create methods and pass method parameters.

Regards,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_Bacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Robert\_Bacon](https://community.gatling.io/u/Robert_Bacon)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://community.gatling.io/t/transferring-session-variables-to-other-files/3958/3 "2017-10-05T19:45:25Z")

</div>

Thanks for the quick response Stéphane.

I am comfortable using methods with parameters, but I am fairly new to scala. I have been working with it since the beginning of this past summer. So I guess I’m still feeling out the capabilities and limitations of the language.

So is it possible to create methods that go from one file to the other and vice versa? Or is that more of a one-way street?

I did try to use a method for my situation above. Here is what I came up with:

package computerdatabase

import io.gatling.core.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.core.feeder.\_  
import io.gatling.core.session.\_  
import io.gatling.http.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.jdbc.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.http.response.  
ResponseWrapper  
import io.gatling.http.response.StringResponseBody  
import scala.concurrent.duration.\_  
import scala.util.parsing.json.\_  
import scala.util.Random  
import addons.\_  
import modules.\_

class MutableTest extends Simulation {

val variable1 = “value1”  
val variable2 = “value2”

val login = Login.login(variable1, variable2)

val t\_iterations = Integer.getInteger(“iterations”, 1).toInt  
val t\_concurrency = Integer.getInteger(“concurrency”, 1).toInt  
val t\_rampUp = Integer.getInteger(“ramp-up”, 10).toInt

val httpConf = http  
.baseURL(“[https://funwebaddress.com](https://funwebaddress.com)”)  
.headers(Map(“Content-Type” → “application/json,text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml”, “charset” → “UTF-8”))  
.doNotTrackHeader(“1”)  
.acceptLanguageHeader(“en-US,en;q=0.5”)  
.acceptEncodingHeader(“gzip, deflate”)  
.userAgentHeader(“Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.8; rv:16.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/16.0”)

val scn = scenario(“Test”)  
.repeat(t\_iterations){  
exec(login)  
}

setUp(scn.inject(rampUsers(t\_concurrency) over (t\_rampUp)))  
.protocols(httpConf)

}

And the module file:

package computerdatabase.modules

import io.gatling.core.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.core.feeder.\_  
import io.gatling.core.session.\_  
import io.gatling.http.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.jdbc.Predef.\_  
import io.gatling.commons.validation.\_  
import io.gatling.http.response.ResponseWrapper  
import io.gatling.http.response.StringResponseBody  
import scala.concurrent.duration.\_  
import scala.util.parsing.json.\_  
import scala.util.Random  
import java.util.Calendar  
import java.math.BigInteger  
import java.security.SecureRandom  
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat  
import java.text.DateFormat  
import java.nio.ByteBuffer  
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.paddings.PaddedBufferedBlockCipher  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.modes.CBCBlockCipher  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.engines.RijndaelEngine  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.paddings.PKCS7Padding  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.params.\_  
import org.bouncycastle.crypto.\_

object Login {

def login (variable1:String, variable2:String) : String = {

val user = “username”

val password = “associatedPassword”

val modvar1 = variable1  
val modvar2 = variable2  
var token = “”

val jsonrequest = “”"{“variable1”:"""" + modvar1 + “”"",  
“variable2”:"""" + modvar2 + “”"",  
“user”:"""" + user + “”"",  
“password”:"""" + password + “”""  
}"""

val login = exec(http(“Login”)  
.post(“[http://someURLwebsite.com](http://someURLwebsite.com)”)  
.body(StringBody(jsonrequest))  
.transformResponse{  
case response if response.isReceived =\>  
new ResponseWrapper(response) {  
val stripped = response.body.string  
override val body = new StringResponseBody(stripped, response.charset)  
}  
}  
.asJSON  
.check(jsonPath("$…result").is(“true”))  
.check(jsonPath("$…responsetoken")  
.find  
.saveAs(“giventoken”)))

return giventoken  
})

}

}

When I attempted this setup, I received a compatibility error. “login” was a string, while it needed to be a gatling chain. How do I get the token from the module file, while still setting it up as a gatling execution for the scenario?

Am I wrong in thinking this is possible?

Thanks again,

Rob