We have already discussed the data types that Karate can natively work with. Now, we will see that this also works when reading these from external files. This is a great feature since it allows us to keep the tests small and concise even when working with large amounts of data. This would not be the case if we put this data right into the test scenarios.

There is, of course, also a downside when working with files as opposed to inline data—our tests and the data that they need are separated from each other and therefore require more steps if someone wants to follow the flow of the test. So, you must think carefully about what makes more sense in each individual case.

The code examples for this section can be found in the project under https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Writing-API-Tests-with-Karate/tree/main/chapter06/files. The project setup is shown here:

Figure 6.5 – File examples project setup

In here...