JUnit 4.6


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FAQ edited by Mike Clark. Web mastering by Erik Meade.
(see also JUnit.org)

6 April 2009

JUnit is a simple framework to write repeatable tests. It is an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks.

Summary of Changes in version 4.6

Max

JUnit now includes a new experimental Core, MaxCore. MaxCore remembers the results of previous test runs in order to run new tests out of order. MaxCore prefers new tests to old tests, fast tests to slow tests, and recently failing tests to tests that last failed long ago. There's currently not a standard UI for running MaxCore included in JUnit, but there is a UI included in the JUnit Max Eclipse plug-in at:

http://www.junitmax.com/junitmax/subscribe.html

Example:

public static class TwoUnEqualTests {
    @Test
    public void slow() throws InterruptedException {
        Thread.sleep(100);
        fail();
    }

    @Test
    public void fast() {
        fail();
    }
}

@Test
public void rememberOldRuns() {
    File maxFile = new File("history.max");
    MaxCore firstMax = MaxCore.storedLocally(maxFile);
    firstMax.run(TwoUnEqualTests.class);

    MaxCore useHistory= MaxCore.storedLocally(maxFile);
    List<Failure> failures= useHistory.run(TwoUnEqualTests.class)
            .getFailures();
    assertEquals("fast", failures.get(0).getDescription().getMethodName());
    assertEquals("slow", failures.get(1).getDescription().getMethodName());
}

Test scheduling strategies

JUnitCore now includes an experimental method that allows you to specify a model of the Computer that runs your tests. Currently, the only built-in Computers are the default, serial runner, and two runners provided in the ParallelRunner class: ParallelRunner.classes(), which runs classes in parallel, and ParallelRunner.methods(), which runs classes and methods in parallel.

This feature is currently less stable than MaxCore, and may be merged with MaxCore in some way in the future.

Example:

public static class Example {
    @Test public void one() throws InterruptedException {
        Thread.sleep(1000);
    }
    @Test public void two() throws InterruptedException {
        Thread.sleep(1000);
    }
}

@Test public void testsRunInParallel() {
    long start= System.currentTimeMillis();
    Result result= JUnitCore.runClasses(ParallelComputer.methods(),
            Example.class);
    assertTrue(result.wasSuccessful());
    long end= System.currentTimeMillis();
    assertThat(end - start, betweenInclusive(1000, 1500));
}

Comparing double arrays

Arrays of doubles can be compared, using a delta allowance for equality:

@Test
public void doubleArraysAreEqual() {
    assertArrayEquals(new double[] {1.0, 2.0}, new double[] {1.0, 2.0}, 0.01);
}

Filter.matchDescription API

Since 4.0, it has been possible to run a single method using the Request.method API. In 4.6, the filter that implements this is exposed as Filter.matchDescription.

Documentation

Bug fixes

Summary of Changes in version 4.5

Installation

Basic JUnit operation

Extension

Extra Runners

Theories

Development

Summary of Changes in version 4.4

JUnit is designed to efficiently capture developers' intentions about their code, and quickly check their code matches those intentions. Over the last year, we've been talking about what things developers would like to say about their code that have been difficult in the past, and how we can make them easier.

assertThat

Two years ago, Joe Walnes built a new assertion mechanism on top of what was then JMock 1. The method name was assertThat, and the syntax looked like this:

assertThat(x, is(3));
assertThat(x, is(not(4)));
assertThat(responseString, either(containsString("color")).or(containsString("colour")));
assertThat(myList, hasItem("3"));

More generally:

assertThat([value], [matcher statement]);

Advantages of this assertion syntax include:

We have decided to include this API directly in JUnit. It's an extensible and readable syntax, and because it enables new features, like assumptions and theories.

Some notes:

assumeThat

Ideally, the developer writing a test has control of all of the forces that might cause a test to fail. If this isn't immediately possible, making dependencies explicit can often improve a design.
For example, if a test fails when run in a different locale than the developer intended, it can be fixed by explicitly passing a locale to the domain code.

However, sometimes this is not desirable or possible.
It's good to be able to run a test against the code as it is currently written, implicit assumptions and all, or to write a test that exposes a known bug. For these situations, JUnit now includes the ability to express "assumptions":

import static org.junit.Assume.*

@Test public void filenameIncludesUsername() {
   assumeThat(File.separatorChar, is('/'));
   assertThat(new User("optimus").configFileName(), is("configfiles/optimus.cfg"));
}

@Test public void correctBehaviorWhenFilenameIsNull() {
   assumeTrue(bugFixed("13356"));  // bugFixed is not included in JUnit
   assertThat(parse(null), is(new NullDocument()));
}

With this beta release, a failed assumption will lead to the test being marked as passing, regardless of what the code below the assumption may assert. In the future, this may change, and a failed assumption may lead to the test being ignored: however, third-party runners do not currently allow this option.

We have included assumeTrue for convenience, but thanks to the inclusion of Hamcrest, we do not need to create assumeEquals, assumeSame, and other analogues to the assert* methods. All of those functionalities are subsumed in assumeThat, with the appropriate matcher.

A failing assumption in a @Before or @BeforeClass method will have the same effect as a failing assumption in each @Test method of the class.

Theories

More flexible and expressive assertions, combined with the ability to state assumptions clearly, lead to a new kind of statement of intent, which we call a "Theory". A test captures the intended behavior in one particular scenario. A theory allows a developer to be as precise as desired about the behavior of the code in possibly infinite numbers of possible scenarios. For example:

@RunWith(Theories.class)
public class UserTest {
  @DataPoint public static String GOOD_USERNAME = "optimus";
  @DataPoint public static String USERNAME_WITH_SLASH = "optimus/prime";

  @Theory public void filenameIncludesUsername(String username) {
    assumeThat(username, not(containsString("/")));
    assertThat(new User(username).configFileName(), containsString(username));
  }
}

This makes it clear that the user's filename should be included in the config file name, only if it doesn't contain a slash. Another test or theory might define what happens when a username does contain a slash.

UserTest will attempt to run filenameIncludesUsername on every compatible DataPoint defined in the class. If any of the assumptions fail, the data point is silently ignored. If all of the assumptions pass, but an assertion fails, the test fails.

The support for Theories has been absorbed from the Popper project, and more complete documentation can be found there.

Defining general statements in this way can jog the developer's memory about other potential data points and tests, also allows automated tools to search for new, unexpected data points that expose bugs.

Other changes

This release contains other bug fixes and new features. Among them:

Summary of Changes in version 4.3.1

Summary of Changes with version 4.3

Summary of Changes with version 4.2

Summary of Changes with version 4.1

Summary of Changes with version 4.0

The architecture of JUnit 4.0 is a substantial departure from that of earlier releases. Instead of tagging test classes by subclassing junit.framework.TestCase and tagging test methods by starting their name with "test", you now tag test methods with the @Test annotation.

Contents of the Release

README.html  this file
junit-4.6.jar a jar file with the JUnit framework, bundled with the hamcrest-core-1.1 dependency.
junit-dep-4.6.jar a jar file with the JUnit framework, unbundled from any external dependencies. Choosing to use this jar developers will need to also provide in the classpath a compatible version of external dependencies (ie hamcrest-core-1.1+)
junit-4.6-src.jar a jar file with the source code of the JUnit framework
org/junit the source code of the basic JUnit annotations and classes
    samples sample test cases
    tests test cases for JUnit itself
javadoc javadoc generated documentation
doc documentation and articles

Installation

Below are the installation steps for installing JUnit:
  1. unzip the junit4.6.zip file
  2. add junit-4.6.jar to the CLASSPATH. For example: set classpath=%classpath%;INSTALL_DIR\junit-4.6.jar;INSTALL_DIR
  3. test the installation by running java org.junit.runner.JUnitCore org.junit.tests.AllTests.

    4. Notice: that the tests are not contained in the junit-4.6.jar but in the installation directory directly. Therefore make sure that the installation directory is on the class path
Important: don't install junit-4.6.jar into the extension directory of your JDK installation. If you do so the test class on the files system will not be found.

Getting Started

To get started with unit testing and JUnit read the article: JUnit Cookbook.
This article describes basic test writing using JUnit 4.

You find additional samples in the org.junit.samples package:

Documentation

JUnit Cookbook
    A cookbook for implementing tests with JUnit.
Javadoc
    API documentation generated with javadoc.
Frequently asked questions
    Some frequently asked questions about using JUnit.
License
    The terms of the common public license used for JUnit.
The following documents still describe JUnit 3.8.

Test Infected - Programmers Love Writing Tests
    An article demonstrating the development process with JUnit.
JUnit - A cooks tour
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