File Transfer

A tester or developer uses a web browser to access the console. The console manages the virtual service. The system under test (application under test) connects directly to the virtual service on different ports.

Here is an example of how that could look like for a scenario where the virtual service is replaying files.

Virtual service replaying files from a request directory to a response directory

Usage

First, go to Files in the top navigation bar and then click Add/Edit.

Fill in the Request/Response fields and click Save to configure a mapping.

After saving the mapping, it will appear in the list of mappings.

Clicking the edit button will allow you to edit an existing mapping.

Priority

When Traffic Parrot notices a request files, it will try to simulate the system it is replacing by creating a response file in the specified directory. To decide what is the name and content of the response file, it will go through all the request to response mappings it has available to find the response file definition. For more details how request matching works, see Request matching.

There are several matchers available to match request files, depending on the attribute.

{
  "name": "{{ anyValue }}",
  "lastName": "{{ anyValue }}",
  "age": "{{ anyNumber }}",
  "children": "{{ anyElements }}"
}

{
  "name": "Bob",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "age": 37,
  "children": [{"name": "sam"}, {"name": "mary"}]
}

$[?(@.xyz.size() == 2)]

{"xyz":[{"a":true}, {"b":false}]}

{"xyz":["a":true, "b":false, "c":true]}

<example>
  <name>{{ anyValue }}</name>
  <age>{{ anyNumber }}</age>
  <children><tp:AnyElements/></children>
</example>

<example>
  <name>Sam</name>
  <age>29</age>
  <children><child name="bob"/></children>
</example>

/xyz[count(abc) = 2]

<xyz><abc/><abc/></xyz>

<xyz><abc/></xyz>

{"field": "20", "matches": "TXNREF.*"}

:20:TXNREF001

:20:OTHERREF

{
  "bodyPatterns": [{
    "matchesSwiftField": {
      "field": "20",
      "matches": "TXNREF.*"
    }
  }]
}

How to export

How to import

File connections

Traffic Parrot supports three file transfer drivers for record and replay:

• Local File System — reads and writes files on the local disk or a mounted network share
• SFTP — connects to a remote SFTP server over SSH
• FTP — connects to a remote FTP server

Connections are configured in the root-directories.json file located in the main Traffic Parrot directory. Each connection appears in the dropdown on the record and replay panels. All directories configured when adding a mapping are relative to the connection's root directory (local) or remote base path (SFTP/FTP).

All three drivers share the same mapping format, UI, and record/replay behavior. You select which connection to use from the dropdown — no separate pages are needed for different protocols.

Local File System driver

The Local File System driver reads and writes files on the local disk or a mounted network share. This is the default driver if no driver field is specified.

Example configuration with two local file system connections:

[
  {
    "connectionId": "1",
    "connectionName": "C Drive",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "LOCAL_FILE_SYSTEM",
      "rootDirectory": "C:\\some\\root\\directory"
    }
  },
  {
    "connectionId": "2",
    "connectionName": "Network Drive",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "LOCAL_FILE_SYSTEM",
      "rootDirectory": "\\\\network\\share"
    }
  }
]

Note that the \ character must be escaped as \\ in JSON.

SFTP driver

The SFTP driver connects to a remote SFTP server over SSH. It supports password authentication and private key authentication.

Example SFTP connection configuration:

[
  {
    "connectionId": "3",
    "connectionName": "My SFTP Server",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "SFTP",
      "hostname": "sftp.example.com",
      "port": 22,
      "username": "sftpuser",
      "password": "secret",
      "remoteBasePath": "/data/files"
    }
  }
]

You can also use private key authentication with a passphrase-protected key. In that case, set password to the passphrase for the private key.

FTP driver

The FTP driver connects to a remote FTP server. It supports passive mode, which is recommended when the server is behind a firewall or NAT.

Example FTP connection configuration:

[
  {
    "connectionId": "4",
    "connectionName": "My FTP Server",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "FTP",
      "hostname": "ftp.example.com",
      "port": 21,
      "username": "ftpuser",
      "password": "secret",
      "passiveMode": true,
      "remoteBasePath": "/data/files"
    }
  }
]

Mixing connection types

You can define connections of different types in the same root-directories.json file. Each connection appears in the dropdown, and you select the one you want to use when recording or replaying.

Example with all three driver types:

[
  {
    "connectionId": "1",
    "connectionName": "Local Files",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "LOCAL_FILE_SYSTEM",
      "rootDirectory": "/tmp/file-transfers-root"
    }
  },
  {
    "connectionId": "2",
    "connectionName": "SFTP Server",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "SFTP",
      "hostname": "sftp.example.com",
      "username": "user",
      "password": "pass",
      "remoteBasePath": "/data"
    }
  },
  {
    "connectionId": "3",
    "connectionName": "FTP Server",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "FTP",
      "hostname": "ftp.example.com",
      "username": "user",
      "password": "pass",
      "remoteBasePath": "/data"
    }
  }
]

Backward compatibility

If you are upgrading from a previous version of Traffic Parrot, your existing root-directories.json file will continue to work. Traffic Parrot auto-detects the old format and treats each entry as a Local File System connection.

The old format:

[
  {
    "id": "1",
    "name": "C Drive",
    "rootDirectory": "C:\\some\\root\\directory"
  }
]

is equivalent to the new format:

[
  {
    "connectionId": "1",
    "connectionName": "C Drive",
    "connectionData": {
      "driver": "LOCAL_FILE_SYSTEM",
      "rootDirectory": "C:\\some\\root\\directory"
    }
  }
]

To use the new FTP or SFTP drivers, add entries using the new format with connectionData containing a driver field directly to your existing root-directories.json file, as shown in the examples above. You can mix old-format and new-format entries in the same file.

Change the configuration file location

If you would like to change the location of the connections configuration file, change the value of the property

trafficparrot.virtualservice.rootDirectoriesUrl=classpath:root-directories.json

to for example

trafficparrot.virtualservice.rootDirectoriesUrl=file:/home/john/git/project/root-directories.json

This can be useful if you would like to version control it with your application source code.