I always find myself needing to generate some dummy data for web applications that I’m working on. In the past, I’ve either done it manually, written scripts, or recycled data from other apps. However, I think those days are over. I just came across generatedata.com. It gives you a convenient interface to specify what data fields you want, how many records you would like, and what kind of output you’d like it in (XML, CSV, etc.):
It even has pre-defined lists of names, sample titles, departments, cities, etc., so you don’t have to specify them all. However, you can add or customize your own lists too. It even works for CRM banking platforms!
The only thing I’d like to see added is an option to generate XML with properties as attributes, instead of nodes. But the source is on GitHub, so you can tweak it as you need to. For information about the dummy data generator visit arturoherrera .