How to develop a Custom Keywords plugin in Katalon Studio

A custom keywords plugin is a Katalon Studio project with some custom keywords implementation. To develop a custom keywords plugin, follow these steps:

• Create a new Katalon Studio project with the build.gradle file.

• Implement your custom keywords with a katalon-plugin.json file.

• You can add test cases to help verify these custom keywords and serve as samples for plugin users.

This tutorial introduces a detailed process of sharing custom keywords as plugins. You can download our sample custom keywords plugin on GitHub: Zip custom keywords plugin.

Develop a custom keywords plugin in Katalon Studio

Add your dependencies to the build.gradle file

To open the build.gradle file in Katalon Studio, do as follows:

1. Go to File > New > Project, check the Generate build.gradle file box.

   
   
   

   Katalon Studio will generate a default build.gradle template.

   
   
   

2. Add your dependencies to the build.gradle file.

   For example, we want to add our dependencies to the Zip custom keywords plugin. We enter the following code in the build.gradle file:

   For Gradle 7

   plugins {
     id 'java-library'
     id 'groovy'
     id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '7.1.2'
     id 'com.katalon.gradle-plugin' version '0.1.2'
   }
   
   repositories {
     mavenCentral()
   }
   
   def pluginSources = [
     'Keywords',
     'Test Listeners',
     'Include/scripts/groovy'
   ]
   
   sourceSets {
      main {
       groovy {
         srcDirs = pluginSources
         srcDir 'Libs' // generated by Katalon Studio
       }
     }
   }
   
   shadowJar {
     exclude 'Temp*.class'
   }
   
   groovydoc {
     source = pluginSources
     docTitle = 'Zip Custom Keywords'
   }
   
   dependencies {
     implementation 'net.lingala.zip4j:zip4j:1.3.2'
   }
   

   
   
   

   For Gradle 5-6

   plugins {
   
     id 'java'
   
     id 'groovy'
   
     id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '4.0.4'
   
     id "com.katalon.gradle-plugin" version "0.0.7"
   
   }
   
   repositories {
   
     jcenter()
   
     mavenCentral()
   
   }
   
   sourceSets {
   
     main {
   
       groovy {
   
         srcDirs = ['Keywords', 'Libs', 'Test Listeners', 'Include/scripts/groovy']
   
       }
   
     }
   
   }
   
   dependencies {
   
     compile 'net.lingala.zip4j:zip4j:1.3.2'
   
   }
   
   shadowJar {
   
     exclude 'Temp*.class'
   
   }
   
   katalon {
   
     dependencyPrefix = "com.katalon"
   
     minimize = false
   
   }
   

   
   
   

Implement your custom keywords with a katalon-plugin.json file

In the Keywords folder, add a katalon-plugin.json file with the following format:

{
  "keywords": [keywordClass1, keywordClass2]
}

Example:

{
    "keywords": ["com.katalon.plugin.keyword.zip.ZipKeywords"]
}

Package the plugins with Gradle

1. Install Gradle. Follow the instruction on the Gradle website: Install Gradle.

2. Open Terminal/Command Prompt, then go to the plugin project directory.

3. Inside the plugin project folder, run: gradle katalonCopyDependencies

4. Open the plugin project with Katalon Studio.

5. Next, run gradle katalonPluginPackage in the same Terminal/Command Prompt, then check the build/libs for the JAR package of the plugin.

notes

To execute katalonPluginPackage across platforms, open the plugin project with Katalon Studio first to repopulate the .classpath file. The packaging task uses these paths to look up Katalon Studio libraries.

You can refer to some other custom keywords plugins on our GitHub repository:

• Excel custom keywords plugin
• Ashot custom keywords plugin

Test the custom keywords plugin in Katalon Studio

In a new Katalon Studio project, put the JAR package of the plugin in the Plugins folder. Reopen this project to use imported custom keywords.

Note:

• You might not be able to use custom keywords plugin from Katalon Studio 9.x. This is because Katalon Gradle Plugin does not support compiling Groovy 3.0, which is bundled with Katalon Studio 9.x. To use the plugins, first build your custom keyword plugins in Katalon Studio 8.x, then put the plugins in the Plugins folder of your project in Katalon Studio 9.x.

Publish the plugin to Katalon Store

Once you’re done developing your plugins, submit them to Katalon Store. To learn more about submitting plugins to Katalon Store, you can refer to this document: Submit plugins. Katalon will review your contents against our policies before listing them on the Katalon Store.

Troubleshooting: Could not find org.codehaus.groovy:groovy:3.0.17-fat

This issue occurs when the dependency org.codehaus.groovy:groovy:3.0.17-fat is not available or incorrectly referenced in the project's configuration. To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Open the .classpath file in your project directory.
   
2. Rename all occurrences of groovy-3.0.17-fat.jar to groovy-3.0.17.jar.
   
3. Edit the build.gradle file to add org.codehaus.groovy:groovy:3.0.17 under dependencies:

   dependencies {
     implementation 'org.codehaus.groovy:groovy:3.0.17'
   }

4. Save the changes and run the gradle build command again.

See also

• Resolve external dependencies for a plugin