TestNG

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Cédric Beust (cedric at beust.com)
Current version: 5.10
Created: April 27th, 2004
Last Modified: November 7th, 2009

TestNG is a testing framework inspired from JUnit and NUnit but introducing some new functionalities that make it more powerful and easier to use, such as:

JDK 5 Annotations (JDK 1.4 is also supported with JavaDoc annotations).
Flexible test configuration.
Support for data-driven testing (with @DataProvider).
Support for parameters.
Allows distribution of tests on slave machines.
Powerful execution model (no more TestSuite).
Supported by a variety of tools and plug-ins (Eclipse, IDEA, Maven, etc...).
Embeds BeanShell for further flexibility.
Default JDK functions for runtime and logging (no dependencies).
Dependent methods for application server testing.

TestNG is designed to cover all categories of tests: unit, functional, end-to-end, integration, etc...

I started TestNG out of frustration for some JUnit deficiencies which I have documented on my weblog here and here Reading these entries might give you a better idea of the goal I am trying to achieve with TestNG. You can also check out a quick overview of the main features and an article describing a very concrete example where the combined use of several TestNG's features provides for a very intuitive and maintainable testing design.

Here is a very simple test:

package example1;

import org.testng.annotations.*;

public class SimpleTest {

 @BeforeClass
 public void setUp() {
   // code that will be invoked when this test is instantiated
 }

 @Test(groups = { "fast" })
 public void aFastTest() {
   System.out.println("Fast test");
 }

 @Test(groups = { "slow" })
 public void aSlowTest() {
    System.out.println("Slow test");
 }

}

The method setUp() will be invoked after the test class has been built and before any test method is run. In this example, we will be running the group fast, so aFastTest() will be invoked while aSlowTest() will be skipped.

Things to note:

No need to extend a class or implement an interface.
Even though the example above uses the JUnit conventions, our methods can be called any name you like, it's the annotations that tell TestNG what they are.
A test method can belong to one or several groups.

Once you have compiled your test class into the build directory, you can invoke your test with the command line, an ant task (shown below) or an XML file:

<project default="test">

 <path id="cp">
   <pathelement location="lib/testng-testng-4.4-jdk15.jar"/>
   <pathelement location="build"/>
 </path>

 <taskdef name="testng" classpathref="cp"
          classname="org.testng.TestNGAntTask" />

 <target name="test">
   <testng classpathref="cp" groups="fast">
     <classfileset dir="build" includes="example1/*.class"/>
   </testng>
 </target>

</project>

Use ant to invoke it:

c:> ant
Buildfile: build.xml

test:
[testng] Fast test
[testng] ===============================================
[testng] Suite for Command line test
[testng] Total tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
[testng] ===============================================


BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 4 seconds

Then you can browse the result of your tests:

start test-output\index.html (on Windows)

Requirements

TestNG runs on JDK 1.4 and 5. The examples shown in this documentation assume JDK 5 and therefore, use JDK 5 annotations, but they can easily be translated to JDK 1.4 JavaDoc-type annotations. See the JDK 1.4 section for details.

Mailing-lists

The users mailing-list can be found in two different places:

As an email mailing-list on Google Groups.
As a Web forum, kindly hosted by Open Symphony.

The Web forum and the mailing-list are connected to each other, so you only need to subscribe to one.

Locations of the projects

If you are interested in contributing to TestNG or one of the IDE plug-ins, you will find them in the following locations:

Bug reports

The TestNG project is administered by OpenSymphony's JIRA.

For more information, you can either download TestNG, read the manual or browse the links at the top.