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Running tests

The utPLSQL framework provides two main entry points to run unit tests from within the database:

  • ut.run procedures and functions
  • ut_runner.run procedures

These two entry points differ in purpose and behavior. Most of the time you will want to use ut.run as ut_runner is designed for API integration and does not output the results to the screen directly.

utPLSQL-sql-cli

If you are considering running your tests from a command line or from a CI server like Jenkins/Teamcity, the best way is to use the utPLSQL-sql-cli. You may download the latest release of the command line client automatically using the command below (Unix).

#!/bin/bash
# Get the url to latest release "zip" file
DOWNLOAD_URL=$(curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/utPLSQL/utPLSQL-sql-cli/releases/latest | awk '/zipball_url/ { print $2 }' | sed -r 's/"|,//g')
# Download the latest release "zip" file
curl -Lk "${DOWNLOAD_URL}" -o utplsql-sql-cli.zip
# Extract downloaded "zip" file
unzip -q utplsql-sql-cli.zip

ut.run

The ut package contains overloaded run procedures and functions. The run API is designed to be called directly by a developer when using an IDE/SQL console to execute unit tests. The main benefit of using this API is it's simplicity. A single line call is enough to execute a set of tests from one or more schemes.

The procedures execute the specified tests and produce output to DBMS_OUTPUT using the specified reporter. The functions can only be used in SELECT statements. They execute the specified tests and produce outputs as a pipelined data stream to be consumed by a select statement.

ut.run procedures

The examples below illustrate different ways and options to invoke ut.run procedures.

alter session set current_schema=hr;
begin
  ut.run();
end;
Executes all tests in current schema (HR).

begin
  ut.run('HR');
end;
Executes all tests in specified schema (HR).

begin
  ut.run('hr:com.my_org.my_project');
end;

Executes all tests from all packages that are on the com.my_org.my_project suitepath. Check the annotations documentation to find out about suitepaths and how they can be used to organize test packages for your project.

begin
  ut.run('hr.test_apply_bonus');
end;
Executes all tests from package hr.test_apply_bonus. 

begin
  ut.run('hr.test_apply_bonus.bonus_cannot_be_negative');
end;
Executes single test procedure hr.test_apply_bonus.bonus_cannot_be_negative.

begin
  ut.run(ut_varcahr2_list('hr.test_apply_bonus','cust'));
end;
Executes all tests from package hr.test_apply_bonus and all tests from schema cust.

Using a list of items to execute allows you to execute a fine-grained set of tests.

Note:

ut_documentation_reporter is the default reporter for all APIs defined for running unit tests.

The ut.run procedures and functions accept a_reporter attribute that defines the reporter to be used in the run. You can execute any set of tests with any of the predefined reporters.

begin
  ut.run('hr.test_apply_bonus', ut_xunit_reporter());
end;
Executes all tests from package HR.TEST_APPLY_BONUS and provide outputs to DBMS_OUTPUT using the XUnit reporter.

For details on build-in reporters look at reporters documentation.

ut.run functions

The ut.run functions provide exactly the same functionality as the ut.run procedures. You may use the same sets of parameters with both functions and procedures. The only difference is the output of the results. Functions provide output as a pipelined stream and therefore need to be executed as select statements.

Example. 

select * from table(ut.run('hr.test_apply_bonus', ut_xunit_reporter()));

ut_runner.run procedures

The ut_runner package provides an API for integrating utPLSQL with other products. Maven, Jenkins, SQL Develper, PL/SQL Developer, TOAD and others can leverage this API to call utPLSQL.

The main difference compared to the ut.run API is that ut_runner.run does not print output to the screen.

ut_runner.run accepts multiple reporters. Each reporter pipes to a separate output (uniquely identified by output_id). Outputs of multiple reporters can be consumed in parallel. This allows for live reporting of test execution progress with threads and several database sessions.

The concept is pretty simple.

  • in the main thread (session), define the reporters to be used. Each reporter has it's output_id and so you need to extract and store those output_ids.
  • as a separate thread, start ut_runner.run and pass reporters with previously defined output_ids.
  • for each reporter start a separate thread and read outputs from the ut_output_buffer.get_lines table function by providing the output_id defined in the main thread.
Last update: June 11, 2017 21:32:58
Created: February 26, 2017 02:13:22