How can I ensure my whole stack is tested automatically?

[James Elsey]

Hi,

I've got a stripes/spring/jpa/jsp/hibernate/mysql stack web application. I'm looking to implement some sort of automated testing, but I'm really unsure of how to approach this.

I've had a look at JUnit as that seemed the natural choice, but how can I run tests on such simple code as below?

 @Override
    public void persistClient(Client client)
    {
        if (client.getId() != null)
        {
            getJpaTemplate().merge(client);
            getJpaTemplate().flush();
        } else
        {
            getJpaTemplate().persist(client);
        }
    }
   

For example, one of my JSPs looks like this, is there anyway I can test to make sure the variables are correct? Say I rename some attributes on my domain class, I'd like a test to fail if I forget to go through my JSPs and rename attributes

  <%@include file="/jsp/common/taglibs.jsp" %>

<stripes:layout-render name="/jsp/common/layout.jsp">
    <stripes:layout-component name="contents">


        <p>
            <jsp:include page="/jsp/common/menuClient.jsp"/>
        </p>
        <s:messages/>
        <p>
            <s:form beanclass="com.jameselsey.salestracker.action.ViewClientAction">
                <s:hidden name="client" value="${actionBean.client}"/>
                <fmt:message key="label.corporateInfo"/>
            <table>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.socialHousingStock"/> : </td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.socialHousingStock"/></td>
                </tr>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.numberOfTenants"/> : </td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.numberOfTenants"/></td>
                </tr>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.starRating"/> : </td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.starRating"/></td>
                </tr>
            </table>

            <fmt:message key="label.systems"/>
            <table>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.dms"/> : </td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.currentDMS"/></td>
                </tr>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.crm"/> : </td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.currentCRM"/></td>
                </tr>

            </table>

            <fmt:message key="label.timescalesAndProcurements"/>
            <table>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.crmProcurementDate"/></td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.crmProcurementDate"/></td>
                </tr>
                <tr>
                    <td><fmt:message key="label.dmsProcurementDate"/></td>
                    <td><s:text name ="client.marketResearch.dmsProcurementDate"/></td>
                </tr>
            </table>

            <s:submit name="save" value="save"/>
        </s:form>
    </stripes:layout-component>
</stripes:layout-render>  

Should I not be as concerned about testing? Testing is good practice, and so far I haven't done any, I really want to change this but could do with some advice

thanks

[David Newton]

The two things would (necessarily) be tested completely differently. If you want to test the output of a JSP you really want to do integration testing, driving a browser, and so on. Testing the first method can really depend: do you want to test your full JPA stack (also integration testing), or do you want to test what persistClient itself is doing, which is do one behavior if there's no ID, or a different one if there is?

[James Elsey]

I think the problem that I have, is that I'm not sure on what I should be testing

At the moment my application is a simple CRUD application, and I can't find anywhere that would be suitable for automated testing. For example there is no need for me to test .persist()

Maybe I should only be testing my action and service layers?

[David Newton]

James Elsey wrote:For example there is no need for me to test .persist()

Of course not--you didn't write it.

Maybe I should only be testing my action and service layers?

You should only be testing your own functionality--not that of your persistence or application framework, which should already be tested.

How deep to take that testing depends--in your example above, you're just testing ID v. no ID behavior.