Using TypeIt4Me with Katalon Studio

In an previous article, I made comment of TypeIt4Me as a helpful tool to work alongside Katalon Studio. After several months, I have a full library of code snippets tucked away in TypeIt4Me, that allow me to put tests together much faster. In essence, I have automated parts of my automation code.

TypeIt4Me is a text expander that allows me to type a single keyword and have it converted to a block of code. In most demos you see, the example is to type in something like “ttyl” which converts to Talk to you later. Or an “addr” abbreviation gets converted to:

1313 Mockingbird Ln
Anywhere ST, 90210.

These are fine examples, but code snippets are just as valid and save a huge amount of time.

For example, I have the keyword replace@ set up as:

tempText=tempText.replaceAll("[\$,]", "")

I can also type in for@ and get:

for (loop = 1; loop <=10; loop++) {
  println(loop)
}

The amount of expanded text can be just about anything. I also have one for the “lorem ipsum” text. I type in lorem@ and I get:

Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Sed posuere consectetur est at lobortis. Etc, etc, etc, for another couple paragraphs.

It could also be more meaningful code like reading the contents of a table using the web driver code, as in this example:

readtable@

WebDriver driver = DriverFactory.getWebDriver()
WebElement Webtable=driver.findElement(By.id("sales_dash_table")); // Replace TableID with Actual Table ID or Xpath
//Get the number of rows in the table and turn it into a List
List<WebElement> TotalRowCount=Webtable.findElements(By.xpath("//*[@id='sales_dash_table']/tbody/tr"));
//Display the number of rows in the table for the given sales rep
log.logWarning("No. of Rows in the WebTable: "+TotalRowCount.size());
//Loop through the table and output the information to Log File
//Read columns 1-4, assign each to a variable, then output the result to the Log File
for (loop =1;loop<=TotalRowCount.size();loop++)
{
companyName= driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='sales_dash_table']/tbody/tr[" + (loop)+ "]/td[1]")).getText();
log.logWarning('Company Name:=' + companyName)
sales= driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='sales_dash_table']/tbody/tr[" + (loop)+ "]/td[2]")).getText();
log.logWarning('Sales Figure Amount:=' + sales)
gp= driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='sales_dash_table']/tbody/tr[" + (loop)+ "]/td[3]")).getText();
log.logWarning('Gross Profit:=' + gp)
margin= driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='sales_dash_table']/tbody/tr[" + (loop)+ "]/td[4]")).getText();
log.logWarning('Margin % :=' + margin)
}

This is exceptionally faster than copy/paste and even if these snippets don’t turn out to be ones I use every day, I have a library of examples all in one place. For many, the only thing I have to change is the variables.

If you notice, each keyword has the @ symbol at the end. This is something I chose to make sure the text isn’t expanded accidentally. It purposefully denotes in my mind that I am inserting text and is a simple keystroke to add.

The other benefit of an program like TypeIt4Me, is that it’s available system wide. Atom and other editors can store snippets just as easily, but TypeIt4Me is available in all apps. I can use it within Katalon, within Atom, within Textmate, within Jira, within Github and everywhere else I work.

Text expanders aren’t just for writing emails or expanding the odd abbreviation here and there. They can be extremely power and beneficial to write commonly used code fragments and as a repository of useful code. TypeIt4Me says I have saved over a dozen hours of typing using this method.

Update: Here is a screenshot of TypeIt4Me with a series of shortcuts used for Groovy. On the left is the keyword I type, followed by the @ to indicate it’s an expanded keyword and not regular text. On the right is the text that will be inserted.