Java is one of the most popular languages for programming & development and a wide range of applications is developed in this particular language. And when an individual opts for making a career in Java, he is required to acquire the knowledge of testing frameworks also to develop secure and efficient applications or software. The prime motive behind using these testing frameworks is to reduce any kind of possibility for committing an error, to enhance the speed, and to reduce the cost involved. In this article, we will be covering the most prominent frameworks that are used for testing in Java.
The list of several relevant testing frameworks for Java is mentioned below:
1. Selenium
Selenium is a free and open-source testing framework and is mostly used to test web applications based on various platforms. Its prime task is to employ automation testing for the web-apps. Selenium is not only a tool but a complete suite to complement an organization’s testing needs. The primary reason for such a wide acceptance of Selenium is because of the fact that it is free to use and open source. Also, it is platform-independent and can be used on various operating systems. Moreover, Selenium can run in conjugation with other tools in Java such as docker and maven.
Pros:
- Multi-browser support
- Multiple languages and framework support
- Easy to implement
- Better integration and reusability
- Frequent updates
Cons:
- Takes comparatively more time while creating test cases
- Absence of built-in reporting facility
- Works with web apps only
2. Serenity
Serenity also provides an open-source platform primarily for behavior-driven testing and was earlier known by the name Thucydides. Serenity helps you to write clean and structured acceptance criteria for test automation projects. Moreover, this framework has the ability to enhance the functionality of WebDriver and JUnit and it also allows you to create descriptive testing reports conveniently.
Pros:
- Supports multiple automated acceptance testing solutions
- Quite quick with document creation after the tests
- Can be easily integrated with various other frameworks
Cons:
- Feature files take a bit longer to create
- Constant communication is a must between the project participants
3. JUnit
This particular framework aims at performing unit testing where a code snippet can be passed in the path, via functions or methods. The unit test code is advised to be pre-written before writing any real code when a test-driven approach is being followed. After a developer writes any code, the test cases need to be executed before the code snippet can be run. Every time a new code is added, the test cases are run again to ensure all the test scenarios are passed and there is no issue in the code. This framework stands apart from others because of it being comparatively faster and efficient than other similar frameworks.
Pros:
- JUnit provides support for test assertions
- Test reporting is faster
- A simplified framework to deploy automated test scenarios
- Has an ability to write self-verifying test cases
Cons:
- Fails consistently when working with relatively larger testing suites
- No functionality to generate HTML reports post-testing
- No support for dependency testing
4. TestNG
TestNG is an open-source testing framework and inspired by the other two prominent frameworks – JUnit and NUnit with some new additional functionalities. Deriving from its name where NG stands for Next Generation, this framework doesn’t disappoint to prove its strength in testing. The process of testing here is also not very complex where we can test the scenarios by requesting through the framework to test the databases or maybe the front ends. An HTML report can also be extracted which is quite useful for the tests being performed.
Pros:
- Support for parallel testing
- Supports log generation
- Capable of creating post-testing HTML reports
- Underlying test cases can be grouped together
- Test case execution’s priority can be set
Cons:
- Setting up TestNG takes more time
- Not recommended if you don’t need to prioritize the test cases.
5. Cucumber
Cucumber is a testing framework written in Ruby that has been popular among testers because of the fact that it consolidates the documentation along with the specifications and delivers a single report document. Moreover, the specification gets updated automatically.
Pros:
- Better readability
- Supports step reusability that reduces the need for writing the same code again and again
- The tests can be automated using some example tables
Cons:
- The combination of cucumber with Gherkin increases the complexity
- Testers/developers focus more on writing the codes which are reusable in the scenarios where a simple generic code would do the job.
6. JBehave
This is a Java-based testing framework that is mostly found working in conjugation with selenium drivers and supports Behavior-driven development (BDD). It comes up with a reporting feature which implies that the reports can be generated in the XML, HTML, or Text format.
Pros:
- Helps users with great documentation
- Supports post-testing HTML reporting
- Efficient and easy to use
- Out of the box JUnit support
Cons:
- No support for the features, only stories are supported.
7. Mockito
Mockito is an open-source Java-based behavior-driven testing framework. The prime functionality of this framework is that mock objects are auto-created and there is no need to create them explicitly.
Pros:
- Support for exceptions
- Mocks can be created using annotations
- Underlying support for the return values
- Mock objects don’t need to be manually written
Cons:
- No support for local variable’s mocking
- No support for private and static methods
- For any subclass we write, there is no control over the private fields.