Running End-to-End Tests With Gradle – Spock Edition

After we have finished this lesson, we:

• Know how we can configure the source and resource directories of our end-to-end tests.
• Can start our web application before our end-to-end tests are run and stop it after our end-to-end tests have been run.
• Understand how we can compile and run end-to-end tests which use Spock Framework.

The Requirements of Our Gradle Build

The requirements of our Gradle build are:

• Our end-to-end tests must have a separate source directory. The src/end-to-end-test/groovy directory must contain the source code of our end-to-end tests.
• Our end-to-end tests must have a separate resource directory. The src/end-to-end-test/resources directory must contain the resources of our end-to-end tests.
• We must be able to run either unit tests, integration tests, end-to-end tests, or all tests.
• If an end-to-end test fails, our build must fail as well.
• Unit, integration, and end-to-end tests must have different HTML report directories.

Next, we will find out how we can configure the source and resource directories of our end-to-end tests.

Configuring the Source and Resource Directories of Our End-to-End Tests

As we remember, we can configure the source and resource directories of our end-to-end tests by using the Gradle TestSets plugin.

Because we have already applied this plugin, we can configure the source and resource directories of our end-to-end tests by adding a new test set called endToEndTest to our Gradle build. When we add this test set to our Gradle build, we must ensure that the root directory of the created source set is: src/end-to-end-test.

After we have added a new test set to our Gradle build, it looks as follows:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath(
            'io.spring.gradle:dependency-management-plugin:1.0.0.RELEASE',
            'org.unbroken-dome.gradle-plugins:gradle-testsets-plugin:1.4.2'
        )
    }
}

apply plugin: 'groovy'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'io.spring.dependency-management'
apply plugin: 'org.unbroken-dome.test-sets'

testSets {
    endToEndTest { dirName = 'end-to-end-test' }
    integrationTest { dirName = 'integration-test' }
}

check.dependsOn integrationTest
integrationTest.mustRunAfter test

tasks.withType(Test) {
    reports.html.destination = file("${reporting.baseDir}/${name}")
}

//The dependency management section is excluded.

test {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.UnitTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

integrationTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.IntegrationTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

This configuration adds a source set called: endToEndTest to our build and configures the root directory of the source set. In other words, the src/end-to-end-test/groovy directory contains the source code of our our end-to-end tests and the src/end-to-end-test/resources directory contains the resources of our end-to-end tests.

Let’s move on and find out how we can configure the task that runs our end-to-end tests.

Configuring the Task That Runs Our End-to-End Tests

When we added a test set called endToEndTest to our build, the Gradle TestSets plugin created a task called endToEndTest that runs our end-to-end tests. However, because we need to fulfill the requirements of our Gradle build, we have to make some changes to its configuration. We can make these changes by following these steps:

First, we have to ensure that integration tests are run before end-to-end tests and that end-to-end tests are run when we invoke the build task. We can do this by following these steps:

1. Ensure that our end-to-end tests are run before the check task and that the check task fails the build if an end-to-end test fails.
2. Ensure that our integration tests are run before our end-to-end tests. This guarantees that our integration tests are run even if our end-to-end tests fail.

After we have made these changes, our build.gradle file looks as follows:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath(
            'io.spring.gradle:dependency-management-plugin:1.0.0.RELEASE',
            'org.unbroken-dome.gradle-plugins:gradle-testsets-plugin:1.4.2'
        )
    }
}

apply plugin: 'groovy'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'io.spring.dependency-management'
apply plugin: 'org.unbroken-dome.test-sets'

testSets {
    endToEndTest { dirName = 'end-to-end-test' }
    integrationTest { dirName = 'integration-test' }
}

check.dependsOn integrationTest
check.dependsOn endToEndTest
integrationTest.mustRunAfter test
endToEndTest.mustRunAfter integrationTest

tasks.withType(Test) {
    reports.html.destination = file("${reporting.baseDir}/${name}")
}

//The dependency management section is excluded.

test {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.UnitTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

integrationTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.IntegrationTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

Second, we have to configure the endToEndTest task by following these steps:

1. Ensure that our end-to-end tests are run by JUnit. Even though JUnit is enabled by default, we have to do this because we want to make changes to the JUnit configuration.
2. Configure JUnit to run only the feature methods that belong to the EndToEndTest category. We can do this by setting the fully qualified class name of the EndToEndTest interface as the value of the includeCategories JUnit configuration option.
3. Ensure that Gradle prints the information that is written to System.out or System.err when our end-to-end tests are run. By the way, we have to do this only if our end-to-end tests write information to System.out or System.err.

After we have configured the endToEndTest task, our build.gradle file looks as follows:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath(
            'io.spring.gradle:dependency-management-plugin:1.0.0.RELEASE',
            'org.unbroken-dome.gradle-plugins:gradle-testsets-plugin:1.4.2'
        )
    }
}

apply plugin: 'groovy'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'io.spring.dependency-management'
apply plugin: 'org.unbroken-dome.test-sets'

testSets {
    endToEndTest { dirName = 'end-to-end-test' }
    integrationTest { dirName = 'integration-test' }
}

check.dependsOn integrationTest
check.dependsOn endToEndTest
integrationTest.mustRunAfter test
endToEndTest.mustRunAfter integrationTest

tasks.withType(Test) {
    reports.html.destination = file("${reporting.baseDir}/${name}")
}

//The dependency management section is excluded.

test {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.UnitTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

integrationTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.IntegrationTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

endToEndTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.EndToEndTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

Let’s move on and find out how we can start and stop our web application.

Starting And Stopping Our Web Application

Before we can run our end-to-end tests, we have to start our web application before our end-to-end tests are run and stop it after our end-to-end tests have been run. If we are using Spring Framework, we can run our web application by using the Gretty Gradle plugin. We can configure this plugin by following these steps:

First, we have to declare the dependencies of our build script by following these steps:

1. Configure Gradle to use the Bintray’s JCenter Maven repository when it resolves the dependencies of our build script.
2. Add the Gretty Gradle plugin dependency to the classpath configuration.

After we have configured the dependencies of our build script, our build.gradle file looks as follows:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath(
            'io.spring.gradle:dependency-management-plugin:1.0.0.RELEASE',
            'org.unbroken-dome.gradle-plugins:gradle-testsets-plugin:1.4.2',
            'org.akhikhl.gretty:gretty:2.0.0'
        )
    }
}

apply plugin: 'groovy'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'io.spring.dependency-management'
apply plugin: 'org.unbroken-dome.test-sets'

testSets {
    endToEndTest { dirName = 'end-to-end-test' }
    integrationTest { dirName = 'integration-test' }
}

check.dependsOn integrationTest
check.dependsOn endToEndTest
integrationTest.mustRunAfter test
endToEndTest.mustRunAfter integrationTest

tasks.withType(Test) {
    reports.html.destination = file("${reporting.baseDir}/${name}")
}

//The dependency management section is excluded.

test {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.UnitTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

integrationTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.IntegrationTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

endToEndTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.EndToEndTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

Second, we have to apply the Gretty Gradle plugin. After we have done this, our build.gradle file looks as follows:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath(
            'io.spring.gradle:dependency-management-plugin:1.0.0.RELEASE',
            'org.unbroken-dome.gradle-plugins:gradle-testsets-plugin:1.4.2',
            'org.akhikhl.gretty:gretty:2.0.0'
        )
    }
}

apply plugin: 'groovy'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'io.spring.dependency-management'
apply plugin: 'org.unbroken-dome.test-sets'
apply plugin: 'org.akhikhl.gretty'

testSets {
    endToEndTest { dirName = 'end-to-end-test' }
    integrationTest { dirName = 'integration-test' }
}

check.dependsOn integrationTest
check.dependsOn endToEndTest
integrationTest.mustRunAfter test
endToEndTest.mustRunAfter integrationTest

tasks.withType(Test) {
    reports.html.destination = file("${reporting.baseDir}/${name}")
}

//The dependency management section is excluded.

test {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.UnitTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

integrationTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.IntegrationTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

endToEndTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.EndToEndTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

Third, we have to configure the Gretty Gradle plugin by following these steps:

1. Ensure that used servlet container listens to the port 8080.
2. Configure the context path of our web application.
3. Ensure that our web application is run by using Jetty 9.4.
4. Ensure that Gretty starts our web application before our end-to-end tests are run and stops it after our end-to-end tests have been run.

After we have configured the Gretty Gradle plugin, our build.gradle file looks as follows:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath(
            'io.spring.gradle:dependency-management-plugin:1.0.0.RELEASE',
            'org.unbroken-dome.gradle-plugins:gradle-testsets-plugin:1.4.2',
            'org.akhikhl.gretty:gretty:2.0.0'
        )
    }
}

apply plugin: 'groovy'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'io.spring.dependency-management'
apply plugin: 'org.unbroken-dome.test-sets'
apply plugin: 'org.akhikhl.gretty'

testSets {
    endToEndTest { dirName = 'end-to-end-test' }
    integrationTest { dirName = 'integration-test' }
}

check.dependsOn integrationTest
check.dependsOn endToEndTest
integrationTest.mustRunAfter test
endToEndTest.mustRunAfter integrationTest

tasks.withType(Test) {
    reports.html.destination = file("${reporting.baseDir}/${name}")
}

gretty {
    httpPort = 8080
    contextPath = '/'
    servletContainer = 'jetty9.4'
    integrationTestTask = 'endToEndTest'
}

//The dependency management section is excluded.

test {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.UnitTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

integrationTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.IntegrationTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

endToEndTest {
    useJUnit {
        includeCategories 'com.testwithspring.master.EndToEndTest'
    }
    testLogging {
        showStandardStreams = true
    }
}

We are now ready to run our end-to-end tests. Let’s find out how we can do it.

Running End-to-End Tests

We can run our end-to-end tests by using one of the following options:

First, we can run our end-to-end tests by using the command: gradle clean endToEndTest.

When we run this command at command prompt and our web application uses Spring Framework, we should see the following output:

21:31:32 INFO  Jetty 9.4.7.v20170914 started and listening on port 8080
21:31:32 INFO   runs at:
21:31:32 INFO    http://localhost:8080/

> Task :endToEndTest

com.testwithspring.master.message.ShowMessageTextSpec > Open message page STANDARD_OUT
    End-to-End Test: Should show the correct title

> Task :appAfterIntegrationTest
Server stopped.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 16s

This output reveals us three things:

1. The Gretty Gradle plugin starts our web application before our end-to-end tests are run.
2. Gradle runs our end-to-end tests when we run the endToEndTest task.
3. The Gretty Gradle plugin stops our web application after our end-to-end tests have been run.

Second, if we want to run all tests, we can use one of these two options:

1. We can run unit, integration, and end-to-end tests by running the command: gradle clean test integrationTest endToEndTest at command prompt.
2. We can run our build by running the command: gradle clean build at command prompt.

When we run all tests and our web application uses Spring Framework, we should see an output that looks as follows:

> Task :test

com.testwithspring.master.message.MessageControllerSpec > Show Message STANDARD_OUT
    Unit Test: Should render the show message view

> Task :integrationTest

com.testwithspring.master.message.ShowMessageSpec > Show Message STANDARD_OUT
    Integration Test: Should forward the user to the show message page

21:32:56 INFO  Jetty 9.4.7.v20170914 started and listening on port 8080
21:32:56 INFO   runs at:
21:32:56 INFO    http://localhost:8080/

> Task :endToEndTest

com.testwithspring.master.message.ShowMessageTextSpec > Open message page STANDARD_OUT
    End-to-End Test: Should show the correct title

> Task :appAfterIntegrationTest
Server stopped.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 14s

Let’s summarize what we learned from this lesson.

Summary

This lesson has taught us three things:

• If we are using Spring Framework, we can start and stop our web application by using the Gretty Gradle plugin.
• If we are using Spring Boot, we can start and stop our web application by using its testing support.
• We can run both integration and end-to-end tests by using the tasks created by the Gradle TestSets plugin.

Get the source code from Github