Unit Testing is essential for evaluating small sections of code independently to verify correctness. It's critical for identifying bugs early in the development process, reducing the cost of bug fixes as the software progresses. Traditionally, developers handle unit testing, but with Agile and DevOps, QA professionals are increasingly involved, using tools like PractiTest’s FireCracker for integration.
Integration Testing ensures seamless interaction between software units or modules. It's crucial for large organizations, especially Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), to validate compatibility between various off-the-shelf software solutions.
Unit Testing is a type of software testing in which a small piece of code is tested to see if the code works as expected. The name is derived from the fact that tests are done on a unit by unit basis. The goal of Unit testing is to help reduce the cost of bug fixes, as this way, bugs or errors in the code level are identified early in the development lifecycle. The cost of fixing bugs rises exponentially as it progresses into the later stages of the Software Development Lifecycle, which makes unit testing a critical element and money saving for the company.
Traditionally, unit testing was not considered part of the QA team responsibility, as it is mostly performed at the development phase of an application or a product and is typically performed by the software developer.
However, with the transition into Agile and DevOps methodologies and dimentals of traditional teams, where now QA professionals’ role is responsibility on the overall product quality, this is gradually changing. Using PractiTest’s FireCracker tool you can now integrate your Unit testing results automatically into PractiTest so you can integrate them as part of your overall testing coverage and reporting
Integration testing, as its name implies, verifies that the interface between two software units or modules works correctly. It is a broader type of testing that covers connection between 2 or more moduled and can also in some cases, cover the whole application.
In the end-to-end process of software testing, Integration Testing will be performed after the Unit Testing and before System Testing.
It is a very common activity in large organizations, that are not Independent software vendors (ISVs) which means that their main business doesn’t involve software development, to perform integration testing, to ensure different off-the-shelf softwares can work seamlessly together, without harming each other’s functionality.
- Integration testing involves testing the integration of different parts of the system together. Two different parts or modules of the system are first integrated and then integration testing is performed.
| Unit Testing | Integration Testing |
|---|---|
| It tests small modules or a piece of code of an application or a product | Two or more units of a program are combined and tested as a group |
| It's a quick write-and-run test | It is slower to run |
| Typically performed by a software developer | It is traditionally carried out by a separate team of testers |
| It can be performed at any time | It is usually carried out after Unit Testing but before the overall system testing |
| It has very low maintenance | It has very high maintenance |
| It has very limited in scope, as it only covers a piece of code | It has wider scope as it covers broader part of the application or the product |
| It focus on one single module | It pays attention to integration among two or more modules |
| Finding errors is relatively easy | Finding errors is more difficult |
| Test executor knows the internal design of the software | Testers don't know the internal design of the software |
| It is white box testing | It is a black box testing |
| Tests the single component of the whole system i.e. tests a unit in isolation. | Tests the system components working together i.e. test the collaboration of multiple units. |
|---|---|
| Faster to execute | Can run slow |
| No external dependency. Any external dependency is mocked or stubbed out. | Requires interaction with external dependencies (e.g. Database, hardware, etc.) |
| Simple | Complex |
| Conducted by developer | Conducted by tester |
"Given, When, Then" is a format often used in software development, particularly in behavior-driven development (BDD) and test-driven development (TDD). It helps in writing clear and concise test cases. Here's what each part means:
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Given: This section sets up the initial state or context for the test. It describes the preconditions necessary for the test to be executed.
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When: This section describes the action or event that is being tested. It specifies what action is taken on the system or application under test.
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Then: This section describes the expected outcome or result of the action described in the "When" section. It specifies what should happen as a result of the action taken.
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@Disable: This annotation is typically used in testing frameworks like JUnit to disable a test method or a test class. When a test method or class is marked with
@Disabled, it will not be executed during the test suite run. This is useful when certain tests are not yet implemented, are known to be failing, or are not relevant under certain conditions. -
@Test: This annotation is used to denote that the method it is attached to is a test method. It is commonly used in testing frameworks like JUnit and TestNG to identify the methods that should be executed as part of the test suite.
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@MockBean: This annotation is used in Spring Boot tests to mock a bean when performing unit testing or integration testing. It is typically used when you want to isolate the component being tested by replacing its dependencies with mock objects.
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@BeforeEach: This annotation is used in JUnit 5 to signal that the annotated method should be executed before each test method in the test class. It is often used to set up the common state or environment needed for each individual test method.
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@BeforeAll: This annotation, also from JUnit 5, indicates that the annotated method should be executed once before all test methods in the test class. It is commonly used for setup tasks that need to be performed only once before running any tests in the class.
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@WebMvcTest: This annotation is used in Spring Boot applications to test the MVC controllers without starting the full application context. It focuses only on testing the web layer by configuring only the relevant parts of the Spring application context, such as controllers, filters, and handlers. This can help in testing the web layer in isolation, which can lead to faster and more focused tests.