There are many data generators available (see similar products ), but each one lacks features I desired - especially the open source products.
Thus I started the development of benerator in June 2006 with the following goals (and USPs):
Thus I started the development of benerator in June 2006 with the following goals (and USPs):
- Creating and importing data in various formats, supporting csv, xml and flat files as well as databases or other systems (this includes import and anonymization of production data).
- Supporting all major database products out-of-the-box.
- Automatically importing data constraints from (e.g. database) systems or setup files.
- Support complex constraints.
- Creating realistic data. Realistic data must obey business constraints as well as statistical characteristics.
- Creating mass data. Special issues arise when having to create millions of data sets efficiently.
- Defining, bundling and reusing generators for data that is specific for a business domain (e.g. addresses, finance).
- Strongly reducing data definion effort in software testing by using benerator as a common data (generator) repositiory for functional tests, integration test, load tests and showcase setup.
- Allowing for easy extension of generators, supported systems and file formats and more.
- Exporting generated data in a way that test runners (like JMeter) can easily use it.
Try to find another test data generator that provides these features. You can start with this list . If you really should find one, please tell and surprise me .
The best thing is: you get all this as open source! OK, the license costs of a commercial generator do not really matter compared to personnel costs, but you can get developer support for benerator and easily fix problems in source code or customize it to your individual needs.