How To Use @RepeatedTest Annotation In JUnit 5

The JUnit framework is a popular test automation framework for unit testing in Java. The latest version of JUnit, i.e., JUnit 5 (also known as Jupiter), offers a number of improvements over JUnit 4. However, the community of JUnit users are often divided on this new release, with some favoring the stability of JUnit 4 and others preferring the new features being introduced with each release of JUnit 5. If you have been using JUnit 4, you can check the JUnit4 vs JUnit 5 comparison to understand the difference between them.

While JUnit 5 has introduced a lot of new and useful annotations, @RepeatedTest in JUnit 5 is one of the most powerful JUnit 5 annotations in the list. As an automation tester, we often get into a situation where we want to repeat a test case execution. If we have a flexible automation framework, we can pass such information through configuration in specific cases. Having said that, it is always good to have a feature that exclusively supports this requirement and can be instrumental while performing Selenium automation testing.

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What is RepeatedTest in JUnit 5?

RepeatedTest, as the name suggests, is a test that is repeated during the test execution a certain no. of times. Let’s not confuse this with the parameterized test in JUnit. A parameterized test repeatedly executes with different input data, while a repeated test repeatedly executes with the same input data.

What is the use of RepeatedTest ?

As a QA engineer, the first question that comes to mind is “Why do we need to repeat a test multiple times?”. First, there can be many scenarios where we need to do so. For example, a specific link on a web page results in an environment error, but this error disappears after two clicks. This is a known issue and you do not want your test case to fail for such a known issue.

Another scenario can be automating an application and clicking a link or navigating from one page to another. It always takes different load times, which sometimes results in timeout exceptions for the test case. In this case, we might want to execute the test case multiple times to get an average load time. And then pass that average load time as the threshold for the timeout.

Basically, most of the time, repetition is required when there is some randomness in the test case.

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How to use JUnit 5 @RepeatedTest annotation

JUnit Jupiter @RepeatedTest annotation is used to repeat the test case for specified no. of times. Each invocation of the test case behaves like a regular @Test method, so it has support for the same lifecycle callbacks and extensions in JUnit 5.

The following example declares myTest() to repeat execution five times:

There are certain rules associated with the method @RepeatedTest in JUnit 5.

• The @RepeatedTest in JUnit 5 can not be private and static.
• The return type for @RepeatedTest in JUnit 5 must be void.

Let’s see how it is used in the test case with a basic example-

Test Case

1. Launch the URL- https://www.amazon.com/
2. Click on the navigation menu item- “BestSellers.”
3. Validate that the page opened has the heading-“Amazon BestSellers.”
4. Repeat the same test case 5 times.

Following is the output of the above code:

As we can see, by default, JUnit displays the repetition number along with the total number of repetitions. We can also modify the display name, which we will discuss later. For now, let us do a code walk-through.

As it is quite evident that @RepeatedTest in JUnit 5 is treated as @Test annotation by JUnit 5, the lifecycle is also the same. For example, @BeforeEach and @AfterEach methods will be invoked before and after each invocation of the @RepeatedTest method in JUnit 5.

Also Read – JUnit Asserts With Examples

How to configure the custom test display name using @RepeatedTest annotation in JUnit 5

@RepeatedTest in JUnit 5 supports DisplayName placeholder to give a custom display name to the test. It returns the value provided in the annotation @DisplayName for the test method. If there is no @DisplayName annotation given, it returns the method name itself.

Syntax

The annotation supports two display name patterns.

1. SHORT_DISPLAY_NAME
2. LONG_DISPLAY_NAME

SHORT_DISPLAY_NAME is the default placeholder. When used, JUnit displays the following pattern-

repetition {currentRepetition} of {totalRepetitions}

LONG_DISPLAY_NAME when used, JUnit display the following pattern-

{displayName}:: repetition {currentRepetition} of {totalRepetitions}

Where the placeholders-

{currentRepetition}: is the current repetition count

{totalRepetitions}: is the total number of repetitions

Customized display names in JUnit 5

We can also provide a string value and the supported placeholders to make it more meaningful. Let’s modify the above code to demonstrate the custom display name.

In the above example, the displayName is passed as a parameter, and it would replace the value of @displayName annotation at the run time. Therefore, the output of the above code would be something as shown below:

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How to use RepeatedTest: RepetitionInfo Interface in JUnit 5

RepetitionInfo interface defines methods to retrieve the information about the current repetition and the total no. of repetitions. Here’s how we can use it.

• RepetitionInfo.getCurrentRepetition() returns current repetition.
• RepetitionInfo.getTotalRepetitions() returns total no. of repetitions.

How to use RepeatedTest : RepeatedTest Interface in JUnit 5

RepeatedTest interface defines methods to get attributes of the annotation @RepeatedTest of the test method. Here’s how we can use it-

1. RepeatedTest.name() returns the name value passed as a parameter in @RepeatedTest Annotation.
2. RepeatedTest.name() returns the name value passed as a parameter in @RepeatedTest Annotation.

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Also Read – Parallel Testing With JUnit 5 And Selenium [Tutorial]

Conclusion

In this Selenium JUnit 5 tutorial, we have covered the annotation @RepeatedTest in JUnit 5 along with its use case. As we discussed, the annotation is particularly useful when we want to ascertain a scenario. In addition, the advantage of having an exclusive functionality for such a case is wonderful. So, what’s your use case for this annotation? Let us discuss this in the comments.

Happy Testing!