(This article is part of the JMeter Series)
As tests get larger, or as steps need to be repeated you’ll want to structure your tests into distinct entities - these seem to be called “Modules” in JMeter.
However, there is no “Module” element JMeter. As a “Module” you can however use the “Simple Controller”. It allows you to drop other elements into it and to name them as a whole. I don’t know whether it has additional features such as providing scoping of any kind.
Thus if you need to “call” the same set of steps from different places, then you can place them in a “Simple Controller”. However you’ll need to place that controller somewhere and as such it will get executed in that place and order. You can prevent it being executed by disabling it:
even though being disabled, components inside a Controller still can be called and executed. Therefore, you can use a disabled “Simple Controller” as a repository for reusable components or modules:
On the picture you can see a “module repository” and a call to a specific “Module” inside it.
Tomáš Pospíšek, 30.12.2010