Creating Unit Tests

Any method in a Java class can be a test method, as long as it is tagged with the @TestMethod annotation. Within the test method, use assert statements like this one to compare expected results to actual results: RunTest.assertEquals(expected, actual).

Here's a template for a test method:

<syntaxhighlight lang="java" enclose="div">

/**

* javadoc comment
*/

@TestMethod public void testSomeBehavior() throws Exception {

   String expect = "It's working!";         
   String actual = someBehavior();          // Invoke the method you're testing

   RunTest.assertEquals(expect, actual);

} </syntaxhighlight>

Tip: Give your test methods meaningful names that tell what the test was trying to do. That way, when you're reading a report that identifies a failure, the name will tell you a lot. For example: testTwoPlusTwoEqualsFour.

Considerations

• A single test method can contain multiple assertions.
• Each successful assertion adds to the success count and the count of total tests.
• A test method may contain no assertions at all. In that case, it runs to completion, but the test is not counted as a success.
• A test may fail either because an exception occurs, or because an assertion fails.
• In either case, the message is recorded. (For an exception, a stack trace is also recorded.)
• Whether an assertion succeeds or fails, the method continues running. It is only interrupted by an exception.
• If multiple assertions fail, all of the failure messages are reported.
• If one or more assertions fail, and then an exception occurs, all of the messages are reported, along with the exception.
• The test method (testSomeBehavior, above) must be public. If it isn't, an IllegalAccessException occurs when the @TestMethod annotation causes the Unit Test Framework to attempt execution.
• The RunTest.assertEquals() method takes Strings as arguments (and only Strings).

Important: When running tests, the UI is never affected. So your tests always run to completion without pausing for user interactions, regardless of the code contained in the executed methods. These cases in particular are executed without having any visible effect in the UI: Functions.showMessage - Ordinarily brings up a dialog. setTargetPage in a controller - Ordinarily specifies the next page the user will see. Any request sent from a controller - Ordinarily specifies the controller code or JSP page that will be visited next.