(This article is part of the JMeter Series)

Upon starting JMeter you’ll see two branches: “Test Plan” and “WorkBench”.

“Test Plan” is the place where your tests will live.

What the purpose of “WorkBench” is, is not really clear. It seems to be meant to be a place to do your throw-away experimentation.

The really crucial “trap” of the “WorkBench” is however, that JMeter will throw away whatever you put into the “WorkBench” upon exit. JMeter will not save the contents of the “WorkBench” if you tell it to “Save” your work and you’ll loose whatever is in there. It will only save the contents of the “Test Plan” branch.

So be ware of putting anything in the “Work Bench”. You’re bound to get burned.

Tomáš Pospíšek, 27.12.2010