End-to-end testing Java web applications with an embedded Tomcat

In this instalment on assembly testing [1] I'll talk about how automated system tests run over my Java web applications. The set-up is rather cheap, not very labour-intensive and can incrementally evolve from a simple assembly test (aka smoke test) to a full-fledged system test. Since this post is rather concrete naming tools and frameworks, … Continue reading End-to-end testing Java web applications with an embedded Tomcat →

Assembly tests

Assembly tests: a cheap way of testing "Lights on, lights off, no smoke. Works." A delivery manager from a large consulting firm once told me about a peculiar breed of automated system tests his team was using to catch regressions with minimal effort. He called those tests "assembly tests", essentially they start an entire application, … Continue reading Assembly tests →

Integration testing Spring controllers

Time-constrained projects sometimes mandate crude realism as to the type and extent of test coverage in a software project. You'll find arguments for and against testing in the entire spectrum of opinions from "tests are luxury we can't afford" to "regressions are luxury we can't afford". Constrained or not, there is rarely a good excuse … Continue reading Integration testing Spring controllers →

ORA-12519 connection errors and JUnit tests

In my current project we are running hundreds of JUnit tests which load a Spring application context, a Hibernate session factory and a c3p0 pool. The entire suite runs fine everywhere except a single machine where some tests will occasionally fail with a "ORA-12519, TNS:no appropriate service handler found" on an Oracle XE. The cause[1,2] … Continue reading ORA-12519 connection errors and JUnit tests →

A better eq() when matching method arguments with Mockito

I learned late of Mockito [1], even so more I love it. Walking a little farther away from the basics, a frequent needs presents itself to match method parameters (either when specifying or verifying behaviour) based on properties of complex objects which do not implement the java equals contract. Such an example would be verifying … Continue reading A better eq() when matching method arguments with Mockito →