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Executing SQL Scripts

When writing integration tests against a relational database, it is often beneficial to run SQL scripts to modify the database schema or insert test data into tables. The spring-jdbc module provides support for initializing an embedded or existing database by executing SQL scripts when the Spring ApplicationContext is loaded. See Embedded database support and Testing data access logic with an embedded database for details.

Although it is very useful to initialize a database for testing once when the ApplicationContext is loaded, sometimes it is essential to be able to modify the database during integration tests. The following sections explain how to run SQL scripts programmatically and declaratively during integration tests.

Executing SQL scripts programmatically

Spring provides the following options for executing SQL scripts programmatically within integration test methods.

  • org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.init.ScriptUtils

  • org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.init.ResourceDatabasePopulator

  • org.springframework.test.context.junit4.AbstractTransactionalJUnit4SpringContextTests

  • org.springframework.test.context.testng.AbstractTransactionalTestNGSpringContextTests

ScriptUtils provides a collection of static utility methods for working with SQL scripts and is mainly intended for internal use within the framework. However, if you require full control over how SQL scripts are parsed and run, ScriptUtils may suit your needs better than some of the other alternatives described later. See the javadoc for individual methods in ScriptUtils for further details.

ResourceDatabasePopulator provides an object-based API for programmatically populating, initializing, or cleaning up a database by using SQL scripts defined in external resources. ResourceDatabasePopulator provides options for configuring the character encoding, statement separator, comment delimiters, and error handling flags used when parsing and running the scripts. Each of the configuration options has a reasonable default value. See the javadoc for details on default values. To run the scripts configured in a ResourceDatabasePopulator, you can invoke either the populate(Connection) method to run the populator against a java.sql.Connection or the execute(DataSource) method to run the populator against a javax.sql.DataSource. The following example specifies SQL scripts for a test schema and test data, sets the statement separator to @@, and run the scripts against a DataSource:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Test
void databaseTest() {
	ResourceDatabasePopulator populator = new ResourceDatabasePopulator();
	populator.addScripts(
			new ClassPathResource("test-schema.sql"),
			new ClassPathResource("test-data.sql"));
	populator.setSeparator("@@");
	populator.execute(this.dataSource);
	// run code that uses the test schema and data
}
@Test
fun databaseTest() {
	val populator = ResourceDatabasePopulator()
	populator.addScripts(
			ClassPathResource("test-schema.sql"),
			ClassPathResource("test-data.sql"))
	populator.setSeparator("@@")
	populator.execute(dataSource)
	// run code that uses the test schema and data
}

Note that ResourceDatabasePopulator internally delegates to ScriptUtils for parsing and running SQL scripts. Similarly, the executeSqlScript(..) methods in AbstractTransactionalJUnit4SpringContextTests and AbstractTransactionalTestNGSpringContextTests internally use a ResourceDatabasePopulator to run SQL scripts. See the Javadoc for the various executeSqlScript(..) methods for further details.

Executing SQL scripts declaratively with @Sql

In addition to the aforementioned mechanisms for running SQL scripts programmatically, you can declaratively configure SQL scripts in the Spring TestContext Framework. Specifically, you can declare the @Sql annotation on a test class or test method to configure individual SQL statements or the resource paths to SQL scripts that should be run against a given database before or after an integration test method. Support for @Sql is provided by the SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener, which is enabled by default.

Method-level @Sql declarations override class-level declarations by default. As of Spring Framework 5.2, however, this behavior may be configured per test class or per test method via @SqlMergeMode. See Merging and Overriding Configuration with @SqlMergeMode for further details.

Path Resource Semantics

Each path is interpreted as a Spring Resource. A plain path (for example, "schema.sql") is treated as a classpath resource that is relative to the package in which the test class is defined. A path starting with a slash is treated as an absolute classpath resource (for example, "/org/example/schema.sql"). A path that references a URL (for example, a path prefixed with classpath:, file:, http:) is loaded by using the specified resource protocol.

The following example shows how to use @Sql at the class level and at the method level within a JUnit Jupiter based integration test class:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@SpringJUnitConfig
@Sql("/test-schema.sql")
class DatabaseTests {

	@Test
	void emptySchemaTest() {
		// run code that uses the test schema without any test data
	}

	@Test
	@Sql({"/test-schema.sql", "/test-user-data.sql"})
	void userTest() {
		// run code that uses the test schema and test data
	}
}
@SpringJUnitConfig
@Sql("/test-schema.sql")
class DatabaseTests {

	@Test
	fun emptySchemaTest() {
		// run code that uses the test schema without any test data
	}

	@Test
	@Sql("/test-schema.sql", "/test-user-data.sql")
	fun userTest() {
		// run code that uses the test schema and test data
	}
}

Default Script Detection

If no SQL scripts or statements are specified, an attempt is made to detect a default script, depending on where @Sql is declared. If a default cannot be detected, an IllegalStateException is thrown.

  • Class-level declaration: If the annotated test class is com.example.MyTest, the corresponding default script is classpath:com/example/MyTest.sql.

  • Method-level declaration: If the annotated test method is named testMethod() and is defined in the class com.example.MyTest, the corresponding default script is classpath:com/example/MyTest.testMethod.sql.

Declaring Multiple @Sql Sets

If you need to configure multiple sets of SQL scripts for a given test class or test method but with different syntax configuration, different error handling rules, or different execution phases per set, you can declare multiple instances of @Sql. With Java 8, you can use @Sql as a repeatable annotation. Otherwise, you can use the @SqlGroup annotation as an explicit container for declaring multiple instances of @Sql.

The following example shows how to use @Sql as a repeatable annotation with Java 8:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Test
@Sql(scripts = "/test-schema.sql", config = @SqlConfig(commentPrefix = "`"))
@Sql("/test-user-data.sql")
void userTest() {
	// run code that uses the test schema and test data
}
// Repeatable annotations with non-SOURCE retention are not yet supported by Kotlin

In the scenario presented in the preceding example, the test-schema.sql script uses a different syntax for single-line comments.

The following example is identical to the preceding example, except that the @Sql declarations are grouped together within @SqlGroup. With Java 8 and above, the use of @SqlGroup is optional, but you may need to use @SqlGroup for compatibility with other JVM languages such as Kotlin.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Test
@SqlGroup({
	@Sql(scripts = "/test-schema.sql", config = @SqlConfig(commentPrefix = "`")),
	@Sql("/test-user-data.sql")
)}
void userTest() {
	// run code that uses the test schema and test data
}
@Test
@SqlGroup(
	Sql("/test-schema.sql", config = SqlConfig(commentPrefix = "`")),
	Sql("/test-user-data.sql"))
fun userTest() {
	// Run code that uses the test schema and test data
}

Script Execution Phases

By default, SQL scripts are run before the corresponding test method. However, if you need to run a particular set of scripts after the test method (for example, to clean up database state), you can use the executionPhase attribute in @Sql, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Test
@Sql(
	scripts = "create-test-data.sql",
	config = @SqlConfig(transactionMode = ISOLATED)
)
@Sql(
	scripts = "delete-test-data.sql",
	config = @SqlConfig(transactionMode = ISOLATED),
	executionPhase = AFTER_TEST_METHOD
)
void userTest() {
	// run code that needs the test data to be committed
	// to the database outside of the test's transaction
}
@Test
@SqlGroup(
	Sql("create-test-data.sql",
		config = SqlConfig(transactionMode = ISOLATED)),
	Sql("delete-test-data.sql",
		config = SqlConfig(transactionMode = ISOLATED),
		executionPhase = AFTER_TEST_METHOD))
fun userTest() {
	// run code that needs the test data to be committed
	// to the database outside of the test's transaction
}

Note that ISOLATED and AFTER_TEST_METHOD are statically imported from Sql.TransactionMode and Sql.ExecutionPhase, respectively.

Script Configuration with @SqlConfig

You can configure script parsing and error handling by using the @SqlConfig annotation. When declared as a class-level annotation on an integration test class, @SqlConfig serves as global configuration for all SQL scripts within the test class hierarchy. When declared directly by using the config attribute of the @Sql annotation, @SqlConfig serves as local configuration for the SQL scripts declared within the enclosing @Sql annotation. Every attribute in @SqlConfig has an implicit default value, which is documented in the javadoc of the corresponding attribute. Due to the rules defined for annotation attributes in the Java Language Specification, it is, unfortunately, not possible to assign a value of null to an annotation attribute. Thus, in order to support overrides of inherited global configuration, @SqlConfig attributes have an explicit default value of either "" (for Strings), {} (for arrays), or DEFAULT (for enumerations). This approach lets local declarations of @SqlConfig selectively override individual attributes from global declarations of @SqlConfig by providing a value other than "", {}, or DEFAULT. Global @SqlConfig attributes are inherited whenever local @SqlConfig attributes do not supply an explicit value other than "", {}, or DEFAULT. Explicit local configuration, therefore, overrides global configuration.

The configuration options provided by @Sql and @SqlConfig are equivalent to those supported by ScriptUtils and ResourceDatabasePopulator but are a superset of those provided by the <jdbc:initialize-database/> XML namespace element. See the javadoc of individual attributes in @Sql and @SqlConfig for details.

Transaction management for @Sql

By default, the SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener infers the desired transaction semantics for scripts configured by using @Sql. Specifically, SQL scripts are run without a transaction, within an existing Spring-managed transaction (for example, a transaction managed by the TransactionalTestExecutionListener for a test annotated with @Transactional), or within an isolated transaction, depending on the configured value of the transactionMode attribute in @SqlConfig and the presence of a PlatformTransactionManager in the test’s ApplicationContext. As a bare minimum, however, a javax.sql.DataSource must be present in the test’s ApplicationContext.

If the algorithms used by SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener to detect a DataSource and PlatformTransactionManager and infer the transaction semantics do not suit your needs, you can specify explicit names by setting the dataSource and transactionManager attributes of @SqlConfig. Furthermore, you can control the transaction propagation behavior by setting the transactionMode attribute of @SqlConfig (for example, whether scripts should be run in an isolated transaction). Although a thorough discussion of all supported options for transaction management with @Sql is beyond the scope of this reference manual, the javadoc for @SqlConfig and SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener provide detailed information, and the following example shows a typical testing scenario that uses JUnit Jupiter and transactional tests with @Sql:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@SpringJUnitConfig(TestDatabaseConfig.class)
@Transactional
class TransactionalSqlScriptsTests {

	final JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate;

	@Autowired
	TransactionalSqlScriptsTests(DataSource dataSource) {
		this.jdbcTemplate = new JdbcTemplate(dataSource);
	}

	@Test
	@Sql("/test-data.sql")
	void usersTest() {
		// verify state in test database:
		assertNumUsers(2);
		// run code that uses the test data...
	}

	int countRowsInTable(String tableName) {
		return JdbcTestUtils.countRowsInTable(this.jdbcTemplate, tableName);
	}

	void assertNumUsers(int expected) {
		assertEquals(expected, countRowsInTable("user"),
			"Number of rows in the [user] table.");
	}
}
@SpringJUnitConfig(TestDatabaseConfig::class)
@Transactional
class TransactionalSqlScriptsTests @Autowired constructor(dataSource: DataSource) {

	val jdbcTemplate: JdbcTemplate = JdbcTemplate(dataSource)

	@Test
	@Sql("/test-data.sql")
	fun usersTest() {
		// verify state in test database:
		assertNumUsers(2)
		// run code that uses the test data...
	}

	fun countRowsInTable(tableName: String): Int {
		return JdbcTestUtils.countRowsInTable(jdbcTemplate, tableName)
	}

	fun assertNumUsers(expected: Int) {
		assertEquals(expected, countRowsInTable("user"),
				"Number of rows in the [user] table.")
	}
}

Note that there is no need to clean up the database after the usersTest() method is run, since any changes made to the database (either within the test method or within the /test-data.sql script) are automatically rolled back by the TransactionalTestExecutionListener (see transaction management for details).

Merging and Overriding Configuration with @SqlMergeMode

As of Spring Framework 5.2, it is possible to merge method-level @Sql declarations with class-level declarations. For example, this allows you to provide the configuration for a database schema or some common test data once per test class and then provide additional, use case specific test data per test method. To enable @Sql merging, annotate either your test class or test method with @SqlMergeMode(MERGE). To disable merging for a specific test method (or specific test subclass), you can switch back to the default mode via @SqlMergeMode(OVERRIDE). Consult the @SqlMergeMode annotation documentation section for examples and further details.