Top Testing Frameworks
Testing is one of the disciplines that separates professional developers from amateur ones. It's not about following TDD, BDD, or whatever testing methodologies, but at the very minimum level, you must write code to test your code automatically and that is precisely we need testing frameworks.
As a Java developer, we work on very different areas, starts from writing core Java code to creating JSP pages, writing REST APIs, and sometimes even creating Groovy scripts for build automation. That's why we also need to be aware of different tools we can use to automate testing.
Here are some useful Unit and integration testing tools widely used in the programming world :
As a Java developer, we work on very different areas, starts from writing core Java code to creating JSP pages, writing REST APIs, and sometimes even creating Groovy scripts for build automation. That's why we also need to be aware of different tools we can use to automate testing.
Here are some useful Unit and integration testing tools widely used in the programming world :
Junit:
Junit is widely used testing framework along with Java Programming Language. You can use this automation framework for both unit testing and UI testing.It helps us define the flow of execution of our code with different Annotations.JUnit is linked as a JAR at compile-time; the framework resides under package junit.framework for JUnit 3.8 and earlier, and under package org.junit for JUnit 4 and later.
REST Assured:
Testing and validating REST services in Java is harder than in dynamic languages such as Ruby and Groovy. REST Assured brings the simplicity of using these languages into the Java domain. For example if your HTTP server returns the following JSON at “http://localhost:8080/lotto/{id}”:
{ "lotto":{ "lottoId":5, "winning-numbers":[2,45,34,23,7,5,3], "winners":[ { "winnerId":23, "numbers":[2,45,34,23,3,5] }, { "winnerId":54, "numbers":[52,3,12,11,18,22] } ] } }
You can easily use REST Assured to validate interesting things from the response:@Test public void lotto_resource_returns_200_with_expected_id_and_winners() { when(). get("/lotto/{id}", 5). then(). statusCode(200). body("lotto.lottoId", equalTo(5), "lotto.winners.winnerId", containsOnly(23, 54)); }
Selenium:
Selenium is probably the most popular tool for Java UI testing, which allows you to test your JSP pages without launching them in a browser.You can test your web application UI using JUnit and Selenium. It even allows you to write web application acceptance tests. For more info visit official website https://www.seleniumhq.org/
TestNG:
TestNG is a testing framework inspired by JUnit and NUnit but introducing many new functionalities that make it more powerful and easier to use, such as annotations, running your tests in arbitrarily big thread pools with various policies available (all methods in their own thread, one thread per test class, etc).
The gap between JUnit and TestNG has reduced because of using annotations from JUnit 4 and integrating the Hamcrest matchers as well but it's up to you.
Mockito:
Mocking is one of the essential techniques of modern-day unit testing, as it allows you to test your code in isolation without any dependency, and every Java developer should learn a mocking framework along with JUnit.
Mockito is a mocking framework, JAVA-based library that is used for effective unit testing of JAVA applications. Mockito is used to mock interfaces so that a dummy functionality can be added to a mock interface that can be used in unit testing. This tutorial should help you learn how to create unit tests with Mockito as well as how to use its APIs in a simple and intuitive way.
Spock Framework:
Spock is another testing and specification framework for Java and Groovy applications. It's written in Groovy, which makes it a very expressive and to-the-point specification language.
When you use Spock, your test will become more readable and easier to maintain and thanks to its JUnit runner, Spock is compatible with most IDEs, build tools, and continuous integration servers. Java Testing with Spock book is a good resource to start with.
Cucumber:
Cucumber is another great tool for automated integration tests, but what makes it different from other tools in the same category is its specification capability.
Cucumber merges specification and test documentation into one cohesive whole living documentation and since they will be automatically tested by Cucumber, your specifications are always banged up-to-date.
Robot Framework:
The Robot Framework is a Python-based generic test automation framework for acceptance testing and acceptance test-driven development.
It is a keyword-driven testing framework that uses tabular test data syntax. You can use it to test distributed, heterogeneous applications, where verification requires touching several technologies and interfaces.
Conclusion :
There are many more libraries available which I have not included here but it is mostly matter of preference of developer and the firm. Basically, you must have knowledge of at least Junit with one mocking framework like mockito.
Testing and validating REST services in Java is harder than in dynamic languages such as Ruby and Groovy. REST Assured brings the simplicity of using these languages into the Java domain. For example if your HTTP server returns the following JSON at “http://localhost:8080/lotto/{id}”:
{ "lotto":{ "lottoId":5, "winning-numbers":[2,45,34,23,7,5,3], "winners":[ { "winnerId":23, "numbers":[2,45,34,23,3,5] }, { "winnerId":54, "numbers":[52,3,12,11,18,22] } ] } }
You can easily use REST Assured to validate interesting things from the response:@Test public void lotto_resource_returns_200_with_expected_id_and_winners() { when(). get("/lotto/{id}", 5). then(). statusCode(200). body("lotto.lottoId", equalTo(5), "lotto.winners.winnerId", containsOnly(23, 54)); }
Selenium:
Selenium is probably the most popular tool for Java UI testing, which allows you to test your JSP pages without launching them in a browser.You can test your web application UI using JUnit and Selenium. It even allows you to write web application acceptance tests. For more info visit official website https://www.seleniumhq.org/
TestNG is a testing framework inspired by JUnit and NUnit but introducing many new functionalities that make it more powerful and easier to use, such as annotations, running your tests in arbitrarily big thread pools with various policies available (all methods in their own thread, one thread per test class, etc).
The gap between JUnit and TestNG has reduced because of using annotations from JUnit 4 and integrating the Hamcrest matchers as well but it's up to you.
Mocking is one of the essential techniques of modern-day unit testing, as it allows you to test your code in isolation without any dependency, and every Java developer should learn a mocking framework along with JUnit.
Mockito is a mocking framework, JAVA-based library that is used for effective unit testing of JAVA applications. Mockito is used to mock interfaces so that a dummy functionality can be added to a mock interface that can be used in unit testing. This tutorial should help you learn how to create unit tests with Mockito as well as how to use its APIs in a simple and intuitive way.
Spock Framework:
Spock is another testing and specification framework for Java and Groovy applications. It's written in Groovy, which makes it a very expressive and to-the-point specification language.
When you use Spock, your test will become more readable and easier to maintain and thanks to its JUnit runner, Spock is compatible with most IDEs, build tools, and continuous integration servers. Java Testing with Spock book is a good resource to start with.
Cucumber:
Cucumber is another great tool for automated integration tests, but what makes it different from other tools in the same category is its specification capability.
Cucumber merges specification and test documentation into one cohesive whole living documentation and since they will be automatically tested by Cucumber, your specifications are always banged up-to-date.
The Robot Framework is a Python-based generic test automation framework for acceptance testing and acceptance test-driven development.
It is a keyword-driven testing framework that uses tabular test data syntax. You can use it to test distributed, heterogeneous applications, where verification requires touching several technologies and interfaces.
There are many more libraries available which I have not included here but it is mostly matter of preference of developer and the firm. Basically, you must have knowledge of at least Junit with one mocking framework like mockito.
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