Writing Unit Tests and Integration Tests for Spring Boot Applications

Unit tests and integration tests play a crucial role in the development process of Spring Boot applications. They help ensure that the code we write behaves as expected, catches any issues before they make their way into production, and allows for easier maintenance and refactoring. This article will guide you through writing effective unit tests and integration tests for your Spring Boot applications.

Unit Tests

Unit testing focuses on testing individual units of code, such as classes or methods, in isolation. In a Spring Boot application, this means testing specific functionality without external dependencies.

Setting Up Unit Tests

To write unit tests for a Spring Boot application, you need to include the necessary testing dependencies in your build configuration. These dependencies typically include JUnit and Mockito.

In a Maven project, add the following dependencies to your pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
    <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

If you're using Gradle, add the following dependencies to your build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'
    testImplementation 'org.mockito:mockito-core'
}

Once you have the required dependencies, you can start writing unit tests for your Spring Boot application.

Writing Unit Tests

In Spring Boot, unit tests are typically written using JUnit and Mockito. JUnit provides a framework for writing and running tests, while Mockito allows for mocking dependencies.

Let's say we have a simple Spring Boot application with a UserService that contains a getAllUsers method:

@Service
public class UserService {
    @Autowired
    private UserRepository userRepository;

    public List<User> getAllUsers() {
        return userRepository.findAll();
    }
}

To test this method in isolation, we can create a unit test using JUnit and Mockito:

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
public class UserServiceTest {
    @InjectMocks
    private UserService userService;

    @Mock
    private UserRepository userRepository;

    @Test
    public void testGetAllUsers() {
        List<User> users = new ArrayList<>();
        users.add(new User("John"));
        users.add(new User("Jane"));

        Mockito.when(userRepository.findAll()).thenReturn(users);

        List<User> result = userService.getAllUsers();

        Assert.assertEquals(2, result.size());
        Assert.assertEquals("John", result.get(0).getName());
        Assert.assertEquals("Jane", result.get(1).getName());
    }
}

In this example, we use @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class) to run the test using Mockito, @InjectMocks to inject the userService instance, and @Mock to create a mock object for UserRepository.

We then use Mockito.when to specify the behavior of the mocked userRepository and assert the expected results.

Integration Tests

Integration tests focus on testing how different components of an application work together. In a Spring Boot application, this means testing the interaction between multiple layers, such as controllers, services, and repositories.

Setting Up Integration Tests

To write integration tests for a Spring Boot application, you need to include the necessary dependencies for testing web applications. These dependencies typically include Spring Test, JUnit, and Mockito.

In a Maven project, add the following dependencies to your pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
    <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

If you're using Gradle, add the following dependencies to your build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'
    testImplementation 'org.mockito:mockito-core'
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
}

Once you have the required dependencies, you can start writing integration tests for your Spring Boot application.

Writing Integration Tests

In Spring Boot, integration tests are typically written using JUnit and Mockito. However, since integration tests involve testing the entire application's stack, we use Spring Test's @SpringBootTest annotation to load the Spring context.

Let's say we have a simple Spring Boot application with a UserController that interacts with a UserService:

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/users")
public class UserController {
    @Autowired
    private UserService userService;

    @GetMapping
    public List<User> getAllUsers() {
        return userService.getAllUsers();
    }
}

To test this controller using an integration test, we can create a test class using JUnit and Mockito:

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@SpringBootTest(webEnvironment = SpringBootTest.WebEnvironment.RANDOM_PORT)
public class UserControllerIntegrationTest {
    @Autowired
    private TestRestTemplate restTemplate;

    @MockBean
    private UserService userService;

    @Test
    public void testGetAllUsers() {
        List<User> users = new ArrayList<>();
        users.add(new User("John"));
        users.add(new User("Jane"));

        Mockito.when(userService.getAllUsers()).thenReturn(users);

        ResponseEntity<List<User>> response = restTemplate.exchange(
                "/users", HttpMethod.GET, null,
                new ParameterizedTypeReference<List<User>>() {});

        List<User> result = response.getBody();

        Assert.assertEquals(HttpStatus.OK, response.getStatusCode());
        Assert.assertEquals(2, result.size());
        Assert.assertEquals("John", result.get(0).getName());
        Assert.assertEquals("Jane", result.get(1).getName());
    }
}

In this example, we use @RunWith(SpringRunner.class) to run the test with the Spring context, @SpringBootTest to load the Spring context, and @MockBean to create a mock object for UserService.

We then use Mockito.when to specify the behavior of the mocked userService, make a request using TestRestTemplate, and assert the expected results.

Conclusion

Writing unit tests and integration tests are essential for ensuring the correctness and reliability of Spring Boot applications. These tests help catch bugs early on, enable more confident refactoring, and provide documentation for the expected behavior of our code. By following the guidelines in this article, you can effectively write thorough tests for your Spring Boot applications, leading to more robust and maintainable codebases.