Advanced Testing in Spring Boot

4 minute read

Introduction to Advanced Testing

Spring Boot provides a powerful and comprehensive testing framework that simplifies writing unit, integration, and end-to-end tests. While basic unit tests are essential, advanced techniques like test slices and container-based integration tests are crucial for building robust, production-ready applications.

Test Slices

Test slices allow you to test a specific layer or “slice” of your application in isolation. Instead of loading the entire application context, which can be slow, a test slice loads only the beans necessary for that specific layer. This results in faster and more focused tests.

The diagram below illustrates the difference between a full @SpringBootTest and focused test slices like @WebMvcTest and @DataJpaTest.

flowchart TD
    %% Top-level grouping for clarity
    subgraph Testing_Scopes["Testing Scopes"]
        direction LR

        subgraph FullContext["@SpringBootTest (Full Context)"]
            direction TB
            FullWeb[Web Layer]
            FullService[Service Layer]
            FullData[Data Layer]
            FullWeb --> FullService --> FullData
        end

        subgraph WebSlice["@WebMvcTest (Web Slice)"]
            direction TB
            SliceWeb[Web Layer]
            SliceService["(@MockBean) Service Layer"]
            SliceWeb --> SliceService
        end

        subgraph DataSliceGroup["@DataJpaTest (Data Slice)"]
            direction TB
            DataSlice[Data Layer]
            TestDB[(In-Memory DB)]
            DataSlice --> TestDB
        end
    end

    style FullWeb fill:#d1ecf1,stroke:#333
    style FullService fill:#d1ecf1,stroke:#333
    style FullData fill:#d1ecf1,stroke:#333

    style SliceWeb fill:#d4edda,stroke:#333
    style SliceService fill:#fff3cd,stroke:#333

    style DataSlice fill:#d4edda,stroke:#333
    style TestDB fill:#e2e3e5,stroke:#333

To use test slices, you use specific annotations provided by Spring Boot.

@WebMvcTest: Testing the Web Layer

@WebMvcTest is used for testing Spring MVC controllers. It focuses only on the web layer and does not load the full application context.

  • What it does:
    • Auto-configures Spring Security and MockMvc.
    • Loads only the specified controller(s) and related web-layer components (@Controller, @ControllerAdvice, @JsonComponent, etc.).
    • Disables full auto-configuration; services and repositories are not loaded unless explicitly imported.

  • When to use it: To verify that your controllers are handling HTTP requests correctly, validating input, and producing the expected JSON or view responses.

  • Example: You often need to mock the service layer dependencies using @MockBean.

    @WebMvcTest(UserController.class)
public class UserControllerTest {

    @Autowired
    private MockMvc mockMvc; // For making mock HTTP requests

    @MockBean
    private UserService userService; // Mock the service dependency

    @Test
    void whenGetUserById_thenReturnUser() throws Exception {
        // Given: Mock the service call
        User user = new User("1", "Nitin");
        given(userService.getUserById("1")).willReturn(Optional.of(user));

        // When & Then: Perform the request and assert the response
        mockMvc.perform(get("/users/1")
                .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON))
            .andExpect(status().isOk())
            .andExpect(jsonPath("$.name", is("Nitin")));
    }
}

@DataJpaTest: Testing the Persistence Layer

@DataJpaTest is used for testing the persistence layer, specifically JPA repositories.

  • What it does:
    • Configures an in-memory database (like H2) by default.
    • Scans for @Entity classes and configures Spring Data JPA repositories.
    • Runs each test in a transaction that is rolled back by default, ensuring tests are isolated.
    • Auto-configures TestEntityManager, a utility for persisting and finding entities in tests.

  • When to use it: To verify that your JPA repositories are working correctly, including custom queries.

  • Example:

    @DataJpaTest
public class UserRepositoryTest {

    @Autowired
    private TestEntityManager entityManager;

    @Autowired
    private UserRepository userRepository;

    @Test
    public void whenFindByUsername_thenReturnUser() {
        // Given: Persist a user to the test database
        User user = new User("Nitin", "nitin@test.com");
        entityManager.persist(user);
        entityManager.flush(); // Flush changes to the database

        // When: Call the repository method
        Optional<User> found = userRepository.findByUsername("Nitin");

        // Then: Assert that the user was found
        assertThat(found).isPresent();
        assertThat(found.get().getEmail()).isEqualTo("nitin@test.com");
    }
}

Other Test Slices

  • @JsonTest: For testing JSON serialization and deserialization. Useful for testing DTOs and custom JsonSerializer/JsonDeserializer implementations.
  • @RestClientTest: For testing REST clients (like RestTemplate or WebClient).
  • @DataMongoTest, @DataRedisTest, etc.: For testing other data technologies.

Integration Testing with Testcontainers

While in-memory databases are fast, they may not behave exactly like your production database. Testcontainers is a Java library that provides lightweight, throwaway instances of real databases, message brokers, or any other service that can run in a Docker container. This allows you to run true integration tests against the same technology you use in production.

How it Works

  1. You add the Testcontainers dependency to your project.
  2. You annotate your test class with @Testcontainers and declare a container field with @Container.
  3. Testcontainers will start the specified Docker container before your tests run and stop it afterward.
  4. You dynamically configure Spring Boot to connect to the running container.

Example: Integration Test with a Real PostgreSQL Database

  1. Dependencies (pom.xml): 
    <dependency>
    <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
    <artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
    <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
  2. Test Implementation: 
    @SpringBootTest(webEnvironment = SpringBootTest.WebEnvironment.RANDOM_PORT)
@Testcontainers
class UserServiceIntegrationTest {

    // This will start a PostgreSQL container for the test
    @Container
    static PostgreSQLContainer<?> postgres = new PostgreSQLContainer<>("postgres:13-alpine");

    // Dynamically set the datasource properties for Spring Boot
    @DynamicPropertySource
    static void configureProperties(DynamicPropertyRegistry registry) {
        registry.add("spring.datasource.url", postgres::getJdbcUrl);
        registry.add("spring.datasource.username", postgres::getUsername);
        registry.add("spring.datasource.password", postgres::getPassword);
        registry.add("spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto", () -> "create");
    }

    @Autowired
    private UserService userService;

    @Autowired
    private UserRepository userRepository;

    @Test
    void shouldSaveAndRetrieveUser() {
        // Given
        User user = new User("Nitin", "nitin@test.com");

        // When
        userService.saveUser(user);

        // Then
        Optional<User> foundUser = userRepository.findByUsername("Nitin");
        assertThat(foundUser).isPresent();
        assertThat(foundUser.get().getEmail()).isEqualTo("nitin@test.com");
    }
}

In this example, the test runs against a real PostgreSQL database inside a Docker container, providing a much higher level of confidence than an in-memory database.

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