Contents
- What can it be used for?
- Documentation
- Getting started
- How to get it
- Podcasts
- Examples
- Approved File Artifacts
- More Info
- LICENSE
- Developer notes
ApprovalTests.Java
Capturing Human Intelligence - ApprovalTests is an open source assertion/verification library to aid unit testing.
It is compatible with JUnit 3, 4 & 5 and TestNG.
The jars can be used from JDK 1.8 on up until JDK 18.
What can it be used for?
Approval Tests can be used for verifying objects that require more than a simple assert. They also come prepackaged with utilities for some common java scenarios including
- HashMaps & Collections
- Long Strings
- Log Files
- JPanels
- Xml
- Html
- Json
- Getting Legacy Code under tests
Documentation
Missing Documentation?
If there is documentation you wish existed, please add a page request to this issue.
Getting started
New Projects
The best way to get started is download and open one of the starter projects:
These are standard projects and can be imported into any editor or IDE.
They also all have CI with Github actions.
Docs
You might also want to check out the Getting Started Overview
Learning
A great way to learn Approval Tests if you are new to it is to try out the Koans.
How to get it
It's on Maven Central, search for 'approvaltests'.
Maven
If you're using Maven, add this to your pom file:
<dependency>
<groupId>com.approvaltests</groupId>
<artifactId>approvaltests</artifactId>
<version>18.7.1</version>
</dependency>Gradle
dependencies {
testImplementation("com.approvaltests:approvaltests:18.7.1")
}or download the jars from maven central repository
Video Tutorials
You can watch a bunch of short videos on getting started and using ApprovalTests in Java at youtube.
Note: There are a lot of videos about ApprovalTests in .Net They are equally useful for understanding the concepts despite being in a different programming language.
Podcasts
If you prefer auditory learning, you might enjoy the following podcast (Note: Some of these talk about the .net side)
Examples
ApprovalTests eats it own dogfood, so the best examples are in the source code itself.
None the less, Here's a quick look
public class SampleArrayTest
{
@Test
public void testList()
{
String[] names = {"Llewellyn", "James", "Dan", "Jason", "Katrina"};
Arrays.sort(names);
Approvals.verifyAll("", names);
}
}Will Produce a File SampleArrayTest.testList.received.txt
[0] = Dan
[1] = James
[2] = Jason
[3] = Katrina
[4] = LlewellynSimply rename this to SampleTest.testList.approved.txt and the test will now pass.
Approved File Artifacts
The *.approved.* files must be checked into source your source control.
This can be an issue with git as it will change the line endings.
The suggested fix is to add
*.approved.* binary to your .gitattributes
More Info
No Checked Exceptions Philosophy
Approval Tests follows the no checked exceptions" philosophy. That is, our API only throws runtime exceptions.
LICENSE
Questions?
twitter: @LlewellynFalco or #ApprovalTests
Developer notes
The suggested way to contribute to ApprovalTests is to pair with Llewellyn
However, if you are set on forking please read these notes