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Meta-Annotation Support for Testing
You can use most test-related annotations as meta-annotations to create custom composed annotations and reduce configuration duplication across a test suite.
You can use each of the following as a meta-annotation in conjunction with the TestContext framework.
-
@BootstrapWith
-
@ContextConfiguration
-
@ContextHierarchy
-
@ActiveProfiles
-
@TestPropertySource
-
@DirtiesContext
-
@WebAppConfiguration
-
@TestExecutionListeners
-
@Transactional
-
@BeforeTransaction
-
@AfterTransaction
-
@Commit
-
@Rollback
-
@Sql
-
@SqlConfig
-
@SqlMergeMode
-
@SqlGroup
-
@Repeat
(only supported on JUnit 4) -
@Timed
(only supported on JUnit 4) -
@IfProfileValue
(only supported on JUnit 4) -
@ProfileValueSourceConfiguration
(only supported on JUnit 4) -
@SpringJUnitConfig
(only supported on JUnit Jupiter) -
@SpringJUnitWebConfig
(only supported on JUnit Jupiter) -
@TestConstructor
(only supported on JUnit Jupiter) -
@NestedTestConfiguration
(only supported on JUnit Jupiter) -
@EnabledIf
(only supported on JUnit Jupiter) -
@DisabledIf
(only supported on JUnit Jupiter)
Consider the following example:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration({"/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml"})
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
public class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration({"/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml"})
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
public class UserRepositoryTests { }
@RunWith(SpringRunner::class)
@ContextConfiguration("/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml")
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@RunWith(SpringRunner::class)
@ContextConfiguration("/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml")
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
class UserRepositoryTests { }
If we discover that we are repeating the preceding configuration across our JUnit 4-based test suite, we can reduce the duplication by introducing a custom composed annotation that centralizes the common test configuration for Spring, as follows:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@ContextConfiguration({"/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml"})
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
public @interface TransactionalDevTestConfig { }
@Target(AnnotationTarget.TYPE)
@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
@ContextConfiguration("/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml")
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
annotation class TransactionalDevTestConfig { }
Then we can use our custom @TransactionalDevTestConfig
annotation to simplify the
configuration of individual JUnit 4 based test classes, as follows:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
public class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
public class UserRepositoryTests { }
@RunWith(SpringRunner::class)
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
class OrderRepositoryTests
@RunWith(SpringRunner::class)
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
class UserRepositoryTests
If we write tests that use JUnit Jupiter, we can reduce code duplication even further, since annotations in JUnit 5 can also be used as meta-annotations. Consider the following example:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@ContextConfiguration({"/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml"})
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@ContextConfiguration({"/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml"})
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
class UserRepositoryTests { }
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension::class)
@ContextConfiguration("/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml")
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension::class)
@ContextConfiguration("/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml")
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
class UserRepositoryTests { }
If we discover that we are repeating the preceding configuration across our JUnit Jupiter-based test suite, we can reduce the duplication by introducing a custom composed annotation that centralizes the common test configuration for Spring and JUnit Jupiter, as follows:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@ContextConfiguration({"/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml"})
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
public @interface TransactionalDevTestConfig { }
@Target(AnnotationTarget.TYPE)
@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension::class)
@ContextConfiguration("/app-config.xml", "/test-data-access-config.xml")
@ActiveProfiles("dev")
@Transactional
annotation class TransactionalDevTestConfig { }
Then we can use our custom @TransactionalDevTestConfig
annotation to simplify the
configuration of individual JUnit Jupiter based test classes, as follows:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
class UserRepositoryTests { }
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
class OrderRepositoryTests { }
@TransactionalDevTestConfig
class UserRepositoryTests { }
Since JUnit Jupiter supports the use of @Test
, @RepeatedTest
, ParameterizedTest
,
and others as meta-annotations, you can also create custom composed annotations at the
test method level. For example, if we wish to create a composed annotation that combines
the @Test
and @Tag
annotations from JUnit Jupiter with the @Transactional
annotation from Spring, we could create an @TransactionalIntegrationTest
annotation, as
follows:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Transactional
@Tag("integration-test") // org.junit.jupiter.api.Tag
@Test // org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
public @interface TransactionalIntegrationTest { }
@Target(AnnotationTarget.TYPE)
@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
@Transactional
@Tag("integration-test") // org.junit.jupiter.api.Tag
@Test // org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
annotation class TransactionalIntegrationTest { }
Then we can use our custom @TransactionalIntegrationTest
annotation to simplify the
configuration of individual JUnit Jupiter based test methods, as follows:
-
Java
-
Kotlin
@TransactionalIntegrationTest
void saveOrder() { }
@TransactionalIntegrationTest
void deleteOrder() { }
@TransactionalIntegrationTest
fun saveOrder() { }
@TransactionalIntegrationTest
fun deleteOrder() { }
For further details, see the Spring Annotation Programming Model wiki page.