org.scalatest

FeatureSpec

trait FeatureSpec extends Suite

A suite of tests in which each test represents one scenario of a feature. FeatureSpec is intended for writing tests that are "higher level" than unit tests, for example, integration tests, functional tests, and acceptance tests. You can use FeatureSpec for unit testing if you prefer, however. Here's an example:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import org.scalatest.GivenWhenThen
import scala.collection.mutable.Stack

class StackFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec with GivenWhenThen {

  feature("The user can pop an element off the top of the stack") {

    info("As a programmer")
    info("I want to be able to pop items off the stack")
    info("So that I can get them in last-in-first-out order")

    scenario("pop is invoked on a non-empty stack") {

      given("a non-empty stack")
      val stack = new Stack[Int]
      stack.push(1)
      stack.push(2)
      val oldSize = stack.size

      when("when pop is invoked on the stack")
      val result = stack.pop()

      then("the most recently pushed element should be returned")
      assert(result === 2)

      and("the stack should have one less item than before")
      assert(stack.size === oldSize - 1)
    }

    scenario("pop is invoked on an empty stack") {

      given("an empty stack")
      val emptyStack = new Stack[String]

      when("when pop is invoked on the stack")
      then("NoSuchElementException should be thrown")
      intercept[NoSuchElementException] {
        emptyStack.pop()
      }

      and("the stack should still be empty")
      assert(emptyStack.isEmpty)
    }
  }
}

A FeatureSpec contains feature clauses and scenarios. You define a feature clause with feature, and a scenario with scenario. Both feature and scenario are methods, defined in FeatureSpec, which will be invoked by the primary constructor of StackFeatureSpec. A feature clause describes a feature of the subject (class or other entity) you are specifying and testing. In the previous example, the subject under specification and test is a stack. The feature being specified and tested is the ability for a user (a programmer in this case) to pop an element off the top of the stack. With each scenario you provide a string (the spec text) that specifies the behavior of the subject for one scenario in which the feature may be used, and a block of code that tests that behavior. You place the spec text between the parentheses, followed by the test code between curly braces. The test code will be wrapped up as a function passed as a by-name parameter to scenario, which will register the test for later execution.

A FeatureSpec's lifecycle has two phases: the registration phase and the ready phase. It starts in registration phase and enters ready phase the first time run is called on it. It then remains in ready phase for the remainder of its lifetime.

Scenarios can only be registered with the scenario method while the FeatureSpec is in its registration phase. Any attempt to register a scenario after the FeatureSpec has entered its ready phase, i.e., after run has been invoked on the FeatureSpec, will be met with a thrown TestRegistrationClosedException. The recommended style of using FeatureSpec is to register tests during object construction as is done in all the examples shown here. If you keep to the recommended style, you should never see a TestRegistrationClosedException.

Each scenario represents one test. The name of the test is the spec text passed to the scenario method. The feature name does not appear as part of the test name. In a FeatureSpec, therefore, you must take care to ensure that each test has a unique name (in other words, that each scenario has unique spec text).

When you run a FeatureSpec, it will send Formatters in the events it sends to the Reporter. ScalaTest's built-in reporters will report these events in such a way that the output is easy to read as an informal specification of the subject being tested. For example, if you ran StackFeatureSpec from within the Scala interpreter:

scala> (new StackFeatureSpec).execute()

You would see:

Feature: The user can pop an element off the top of the stack
  As a programmer
  I want to be able to pop items off the stack
  So that I can get them in last-in-first-out order
  Scenario: pop is invoked on a non-empty stack
    Given a non-empty stack
    When when pop is invoked on the stack
    Then the most recently pushed element should be returned
    And the stack should have one less item than before
  Scenario: pop is invoked on an empty stack
    Given an empty stack
    When when pop is invoked on the stack
    Then NoSuchElementException should be thrown
    And the stack should still be empty

Shared fixtures

A test fixture is objects or other artifacts (such as files, sockets, database connections, etc.) used by tests to do their work. You can use fixtures in FeatureSpecs with the same approaches suggested for Suite in its documentation. The same text that appears in the test fixture section of Suite's documentation is repeated here, with examples changed from Suite to FeatureSpec.

If a fixture is used by only one test, then the definitions of the fixture objects can be local to the test function, such as the objects assigned to stack and emptyStack in the previous StackFeatureSpec examples. If multiple tests need to share a fixture, the best approach is to assign them to instance variables. Here's a (very contrived) example, in which the object assigned to shared is used by multiple test functions:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec

class ArithmeticFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  // Sharing immutable fixture objects via instance variables
  val shared = 5

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    scenario("addition") {
      val sum = 2 + 3
      assert(sum === shared)
    }

    scenario("subtraction") {
      val diff = 7 - 2
      assert(diff === shared)
    }
  }
}

In some cases, however, shared mutable fixture objects may be changed by tests such that they need to be recreated or reinitialized before each test. Shared resources such as files or database connections may also need to be created and initialized before, and cleaned up after, each test. JUnit offers methods setUp and tearDown for this purpose. In ScalaTest, you can use the BeforeAndAfterEach trait, which will be described later, to implement an approach similar to JUnit's setUp and tearDown, however, this approach often involves reassigning vars between tests. Before going that route, you should consider some approaches that avoid vars. One approach is to write one or more create-fixture methods that return a new instance of a needed object (or a tuple or case class holding new instances of multiple objects) each time it is called. You can then call a create-fixture method at the beginning of each test that needs the fixture, storing the fixture object or objects in local variables. Here's an example:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer

class MyFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  // create objects needed by tests and return as a tuple
  def createFixture = (
    new StringBuilder("ScalaTest is "),
    new ListBuffer[String]
  )

  feature("The create-fixture approach") {

    scenario("shared fixture objects are mutated by a test") {
      val (builder, lbuf) = createFixture
      builder.append("easy!")
      assert(builder.toString === "ScalaTest is easy!")
      assert(lbuf.isEmpty)
      lbuf += "sweet"
    }

    scenario("test gets a fresh copy of the shared fixture") {
      val (builder, lbuf) = createFixture
      builder.append("fun!")
      assert(builder.toString === "ScalaTest is fun!")
      assert(lbuf.isEmpty)
    }
  }
}

If different tests in the same FeatureSpec require different fixtures, you can create multiple create-fixture methods and call the method (or methods) needed by each test at the begining of the test. If every test requires the same set of mutable fixture objects, one other approach you can take is make them simply vals and mix in trait OneInstancePerTest. If you mix in OneInstancePerTest, each test will be run in its own instance of the FeatureSpec, similar to the way JUnit tests are executed.

Although the create-fixture and OneInstancePerTest approaches take care of setting up a fixture before each test, they don't address the problem of cleaning up a fixture after the test completes. In this situation, one option is to mix in the BeforeAndAfterEach trait. BeforeAndAfterEach's beforeEach method will be run before, and its afterEach method after, each test (like JUnit's setUp and tearDown methods, respectively). For example, you could create a temporary file before each test, and delete it afterwords, like this:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterEach
import java.io.FileReader
import java.io.FileWriter
import java.io.File

class FileIoFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {

  private val FileName = "TempFile.txt"
  private var reader: FileReader = _

  // Set up the temp file needed by the test
  override def beforeEach() {
    val writer = new FileWriter(FileName)
    try {
      writer.write("Hello, test!")
    }
    finally {
      writer.close()
    }

    // Create the reader needed by the test
    reader = new FileReader(FileName)
  }

  // Close and delete the temp file
  override def afterEach() {
    reader.close()
    val file = new File(FileName)
    file.delete()
  }

  feature("Reading and writing files") {

    scenario("reading from a temp file") {
      var builder = new StringBuilder
      var c = reader.read()
      while (c != -1) {
        builder.append(c.toChar)
        c = reader.read()
      }
      assert(builder.toString === "Hello, test!")
    }

    scenario("reading first char of a temp file") {
      assert(reader.read() === 'H')
    }

    scenario("no fixture is passed") {
      assert(1 + 1 === 2)
    }
  }
}

In this example, the instance variable reader is a var, so it can be reinitialized between tests by the beforeEach method.

Although the BeforeAndAfterEach approach should be familiar to the users of most test other frameworks, ScalaTest provides another alternative that also allows you to perform cleanup after each test: overriding withFixture(NoArgTest). To execute each test, Suite's implementation of the runTest method wraps an invocation of the appropriate test method in a no-arg function. runTest passes that test function to the withFixture(NoArgTest) method, which is responsible for actually running the test by invoking the function. Suite's implementation of withFixture(NoArgTest) simply invokes the function, like this:

// Default implementation
protected def withFixture(test: NoArgTest) {
  test()
}

The withFixture(NoArgTest) method exists so that you can override it and set a fixture up before, and clean it up after, each test. Thus, the previous temp file example could also be implemented without mixing in BeforeAndAfterEach, like this:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterEach
import java.io.FileReader
import java.io.FileWriter
import java.io.File

class FileIoFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  private var reader: FileReader = _

  override def withFixture(test: NoArgTest) {

    val FileName = "TempFile.txt"

    // Set up the temp file needed by the test
    val writer = new FileWriter(FileName)
    try {
      writer.write("Hello, test!")
    }
    finally {
      writer.close()
    }

    // Create the reader needed by the test
    reader = new FileReader(FileName)

    try {
      test() // Invoke the test function
    }
    finally {
      // Close and delete the temp file
      reader.close()
      val file = new File(FileName)
      file.delete()
    }
  }

  feature("Reading and writing files") {

    scenario("reading from a temp file") {
      var builder = new StringBuilder
      var c = reader.read()
      while (c != -1) {
        builder.append(c.toChar)
        c = reader.read()
      }
      assert(builder.toString === "Hello, test!")
    }

    scenario("reading first char of a temp file") {
      assert(reader.read() === 'H')
    }

    scenario("no fixture is passed") {
      assert(1 + 1 === 2)
    }
  }
}

If you prefer to keep your test classes immutable, one final variation is to use the FixtureFeatureSpec trait from the org.scalatest.fixture package. Tests in an org.scalatest.fixture.FixtureFeatureSpec can have a fixture object passed in as a parameter. You must indicate the type of the fixture object by defining the Fixture type member and define a withFixture method that takes a one-arg test function. (A FixtureFeatureSpec has two overloaded withFixture methods, therefore, one that takes a OneArgTest and the other, inherited from Suite, that takes a NoArgTest.) Inside the withFixture(OneArgTest) method, you create the fixture, pass it into the test function, then perform any necessary cleanup after the test function returns. Instead of invoking each test directly, a FixtureFeatureSpec will pass a function that invokes the code of a test to withFixture(OneArgTest). Your withFixture(OneArgTest) method, therefore, is responsible for actually running the code of the test by invoking the test function. For example, you could pass the temp file reader fixture to each test that needs it by overriding the withFixture(OneArgTest) method of a FixtureFeatureSpec, like this:

import org.scalatest.fixture.FixtureFeatureSpec
import java.io.FileReader
import java.io.FileWriter
import java.io.File

class MySuite extends FixtureFeatureSpec {

  type FixtureParam = FileReader

  def withFixture(test: OneArgTest) {

    val FileName = "TempFile.txt"

    // Set up the temp file needed by the test
    val writer = new FileWriter(FileName)
    try {
      writer.write("Hello, test!")
    }
    finally {
      writer.close()
    }

    // Create the reader needed by the test
    val reader = new FileReader(FileName)

    try {
      // Run the test using the temp file
      test(reader)
    }
    finally {
      // Close and delete the temp file
      reader.close()
      val file = new File(FileName)
      file.delete()
    }
  }

  feature("Reading and writing files") {

    scenario("reading from a temp file") { reader =>
      var builder = new StringBuilder
      var c = reader.read()
      while (c != -1) {
        builder.append(c.toChar)
        c = reader.read()
      }
      assert(builder.toString === "Hello, test!")
    }

    scenario("reading first char of a temp file") { reader =>
      assert(reader.read() === 'H')
    }

    scenario("no fixture is passed") { () =>
      assert(1 + 1 === 2)
    }
  }
}

It is worth noting that the only difference in the test code between the mutable BeforeAndAfterEach approach shown here and the immutable FixtureFeatureSpec approach shown previously is that two of the FixtureFeatureSpec's test functions take a FileReader as a parameter via the "reader =>" at the beginning of the function. Otherwise the test code is identical. One benefit of the explicit parameter is that, as demonstrated by the "no fixture passed" scenario, a FixtureFeatureSpec test need not take the fixture. So you can have some tests that take a fixture, and others that don't. In this case, the FixtureFeatureSpec provides documentation indicating which tests use the fixture and which don't, whereas the BeforeAndAfterEach approach does not. (If you have want to combine tests that take different fixture types in the same FeatureSpec, you can use MultipleFixtureFeatureSpec.)

If you want to execute code before and after all tests (and nested suites) in a suite, such as you could do with @BeforeClass and @AfterClass annotations in JUnit 4, you can use the beforeAll and afterAll methods of BeforeAndAfterAll. See the documentation for BeforeAndAfterAll for an example.

Shared scenarios

Sometimes you may want to run the same test code on different fixture objects. In other words, you may want to write tests that are "shared" by different fixture objects. To accomplish this in a FeatureSpec, you first place shared tests (i.e., shared scenarios) in behavior functions. These behavior functions will be invoked during the construction phase of any FeatureSpec that uses them, so that the scenarios they contain will be registered as scenarios in that FeatureSpec. For example, given this stack class:

import scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer

class Stack[T] {

  val MAX = 10
  private var buf = new ListBuffer[T]

  def push(o: T) {
    if (!full)
      o +: buf
    else
      throw new IllegalStateException("can't push onto a full stack")
  }

  def pop(): T = {
    if (!empty)
      buf.remove(0)
    else
      throw new IllegalStateException("can't pop an empty stack")
  }

  def peek: T = {
    if (!empty)
      buf(0)
    else
      throw new IllegalStateException("can't pop an empty stack")
  }

  def full: Boolean = buf.size == MAX
  def empty: Boolean = buf.size == 0
  def size = buf.size

  override def toString = buf.mkString("Stack(", ", ", ")")
}

You may want to test the Stack class in different states: empty, full, with one item, with one item less than capacity, etc. You may find you have several scenarios that make sense any time the stack is non-empty. Thus you'd ideally want to run those same scenarios for three stack fixture objects: a full stack, a stack with a one item, and a stack with one item less than capacity. With shared tests, you can factor these scenarios out into a behavior function, into which you pass the stack fixture to use when running the tests. So in your FeatureSpec for stack, you'd invoke the behavior function three times, passing in each of the three stack fixtures so that the shared scenarios are run for all three fixtures.

You can define a behavior function that encapsulates these shared scenarios inside the FeatureSpec that uses them. If they are shared between different FeatureSpecs, however, you could also define them in a separate trait that is mixed into each FeatureSpec that uses them. For example, here the nonEmptyStack behavior function (in this case, a behavior method) is defined in a trait along with another method containing shared scenarios for non-full stacks:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import org.scalatest.GivenWhenThen
import org.scalatestexamples.helpers.Stack

trait FeatureSpecStackBehaviors { this: FeatureSpec with GivenWhenThen =>

  def nonEmptyStack(createNonEmptyStack: => Stack[Int], lastItemAdded: Int) {

    scenario("empty is invoked on this non-empty stack: " + createNonEmptyStack.toString) {

      given("a non-empty stack")
      val stack = createNonEmptyStack

      when("empty is invoked on the stack")
      then("empty returns false")
      assert(!stack.empty)
    }

    scenario("peek is invoked on this non-empty stack: " + createNonEmptyStack.toString) {

      given("a non-empty stack")
      val stack = createNonEmptyStack
      val size = stack.size

      when("peek is invoked on the stack")
      then("peek returns the last item added")
      assert(stack.peek === lastItemAdded)

      and("the size of the stack is the same as before")
      assert(stack.size === size)
    }

    scenario("pop is invoked on this non-empty stack: " + createNonEmptyStack.toString) {

      given("a non-empty stack")
      val stack = createNonEmptyStack
      val size = stack.size

      when("pop is invoked on the stack")
      then("pop returns the last item added")
      assert(stack.pop === lastItemAdded)

      and("the size of the stack one less than before")
      assert(stack.size === size - 1)
    }
  }

  def nonFullStack(createNonFullStack: => Stack[Int]) {

    scenario("full is invoked on this non-full stack: " + createNonFullStack.toString) {

      given("a non-full stack")
      val stack = createNonFullStack

      when("full is invoked on the stack")
      then("full returns false")
      assert(!stack.full)
    }

    scenario("push is invoked on this non-full stack: " + createNonFullStack.toString) {

      given("a non-full stack")
      val stack = createNonFullStack
      val size = stack.size

      when("push is invoked on the stack")
      stack.push(7)

      then("the size of the stack is one greater than before")
      assert(stack.size === size + 1)

      and("the top of the stack contains the pushed value")
      assert(stack.peek === 7)
    }
  }
}

Given these behavior functions, you could invoke them directly, but FeatureSpec offers a DSL for the purpose, which looks like this:

scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(stackWithOneItem, lastValuePushed))
scenariosFor(nonFullStack(stackWithOneItem))

If you prefer to use an imperative style to change fixtures, for example by mixing in BeforeAndAfterEach and reassigning a stack var in beforeEach, you could write your behavior functions in the context of that var, which means you wouldn't need to pass in the stack fixture because it would be in scope already inside the behavior function. In that case, your code would look like this:

scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack) // assuming lastValuePushed is also in scope inside nonEmptyStack
scenariosFor(nonFullStack)

The recommended style, however, is the functional, pass-all-the-needed-values-in style. Here's an example:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import org.scalatest.GivenWhenThen
import org.scalatestexamples.helpers.Stack

class StackFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec with GivenWhenThen with FeatureSpecStackBehaviors {

  // Stack fixture creation methods
  def emptyStack = new Stack[Int]

  def fullStack = {
    val stack = new Stack[Int]
    for (i <- 0 until stack.MAX)
      stack.push(i)
    stack
  }

  def stackWithOneItem = {
    val stack = new Stack[Int]
    stack.push(9)
    stack
  }

  def stackWithOneItemLessThanCapacity = {
    val stack = new Stack[Int]
    for (i <- 1 to 9)
      stack.push(i)
    stack
  }

  val lastValuePushed = 9

  feature("A Stack is pushed and popped") {

    scenario("empty is invoked on an empty stack") {

      given("an empty stack")
      val stack = emptyStack

      when("empty is invoked on the stack")
      then("empty returns true")
      assert(stack.empty)
    }

    scenario("peek is invoked on an empty stack") {

      given("an empty stack")
      val stack = emptyStack

      when("peek is invoked on the stack")
      then("peek throws IllegalStateException")
      intercept[IllegalStateException] {
        stack.peek
      }
    }

    scenario("pop is invoked on an empty stack") {

      given("an empty stack")
      val stack = emptyStack

      when("pop is invoked on the stack")
      then("pop throws IllegalStateException")
      intercept[IllegalStateException] {
        emptyStack.pop
      }
    }

    scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(stackWithOneItem, lastValuePushed))
    scenariosFor(nonFullStack(stackWithOneItem))

    scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(stackWithOneItemLessThanCapacity, lastValuePushed))
    scenariosFor(nonFullStack(stackWithOneItemLessThanCapacity))

    scenario("full is invoked on a full stack") {

      given("an full stack")
      val stack = fullStack

      when("full is invoked on the stack")
      then("full returns true")
      assert(stack.full)
    }

    scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(fullStack, lastValuePushed))

    scenario("push is invoked on a full stack") {

      given("an full stack")
      val stack = fullStack

      when("push is invoked on the stack")
      then("push throws IllegalStateException")
      intercept[IllegalStateException] {
        stack.push(10)
      }
    }
  }
}

If you load these classes into the Scala interpreter (with scalatest's JAR file on the class path), and execute it, you'll see:

scala> (new StackFeatureSpec).execute()
Feature: A Stack is pushed and popped
  Scenario: empty is invoked on an empty stack
    Given an empty stack
    When empty is invoked on the stack
    Then empty returns true
  Scenario: peek is invoked on an empty stack
    Given an empty stack
    When peek is invoked on the stack
    Then peek throws IllegalStateException
  Scenario: pop is invoked on an empty stack
    Given an empty stack
    When pop is invoked on the stack
    Then pop throws IllegalStateException
  Scenario: empty is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When empty is invoked on the stack
    Then empty returns false
  Scenario: peek is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When peek is invoked on the stack
    Then peek returns the last item added
    And the size of the stack is the same as before
  Scenario: pop is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When pop is invoked on the stack
    Then pop returns the last item added
    And the size of the stack one less than before
  Scenario: full is invoked on this non-full stack: Stack(9)
    Given a non-full stack
    When full is invoked on the stack
    Then full returns false
  Scenario: push is invoked on this non-full stack: Stack(9)
    Given a non-full stack
    When push is invoked on the stack
    Then the size of the stack is one greater than before
    And the top of the stack contains the pushed value
  Scenario: empty is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When empty is invoked on the stack
    Then empty returns false
  Scenario: peek is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When peek is invoked on the stack
    Then peek returns the last item added
    And the size of the stack is the same as before
  Scenario: pop is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When pop is invoked on the stack
    Then pop returns the last item added
    And the size of the stack one less than before
  Scenario: full is invoked on this non-full stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
    Given a non-full stack
    When full is invoked on the stack
    Then full returns false
  Scenario: push is invoked on this non-full stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
    Given a non-full stack
    When push is invoked on the stack
    Then the size of the stack is one greater than before
    And the top of the stack contains the pushed value
  Scenario: full is invoked on a full stack
    Given an full stack
    When full is invoked on the stack
    Then full returns true
  Scenario: empty is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When empty is invoked on the stack
    Then empty returns false
  Scenario: peek is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When peek is invoked on the stack
    Then peek returns the last item added
    And the size of the stack is the same as before
  Scenario: pop is invoked on this non-empty stack: Stack(9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0)
    Given a non-empty stack
    When pop is invoked on the stack
    Then pop returns the last item added
    And the size of the stack one less than before
  Scenario: push is invoked on a full stack
    Given an full stack
    When push is invoked on the stack
    Then push throws IllegalStateException

One thing to keep in mind when using shared tests is that in ScalaTest, each test in a suite must have a unique name. If you register the same tests repeatedly in the same suite, one problem you may encounter is an exception at runtime complaining that multiple tests are being registered with the same test name. In a FeatureSpec there is no nesting construct analogous to Spec's describe clause. Therefore, you need to do a bit of extra work to ensure that the test names are unique. If a duplicate test name problem shows up in a FeatureSpec, you'll need to pass in a prefix or suffix string to add to each test name. You can pass this string the same way you pass any other data needed by the shared tests, or just call toString on the shared fixture object. This is the approach taken by the previous FeatureSpecStackBehaviors example.

Given this FeatureSpecStackBehaviors trait, calling it with the stackWithOneItem fixture, like this:

scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(stackWithOneItem, lastValuePushed))

yields test names:

Whereas calling it with the stackWithOneItemLessThanCapacity fixture, like this:

scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(stackWithOneItemLessThanCapacity, lastValuePushed))

yields different test names:

Tagging tests

A FeatureSpec's tests may be classified into groups by tagging them with string names. As with any suite, when executing a FeatureSpec, groups of tests can optionally be included and/or excluded. To tag a FeatureSpec's tests, you pass objects that extend abstract class org.scalatest.Tag to methods that register tests, test and ignore. Class Tag takes one parameter, a string name. If you have created Java annotation interfaces for use as group names in direct subclasses of org.scalatest.Suite, then you will probably want to use group names on your FeatureSpecs that match. To do so, simply pass the fully qualified names of the Java interfaces to the Tag constructor. For example, if you've defined Java annotation interfaces with fully qualified names, com.mycompany.groups.SlowTest and com.mycompany.groups.DbTest, then you could create matching groups for FeatureSpecs like this:

import org.scalatest.Tag

object SlowTest extends Tag("com.mycompany.groups.SlowTest")
object DbTest extends Tag("com.mycompany.groups.DbTest")

Given these definitions, you could place FeatureSpec tests into groups like this:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec

class ArithmeticFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  // Sharing fixture objects via instance variables
  val shared = 5

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    scenario("addition", SlowTest) {
      val sum = 2 + 3
      assert(sum === shared)
    }

    scenario("subtraction", SlowTest, DbTest) {
      val diff = 7 - 2
      assert(diff === shared)
    }
  }
}

This code marks both tests, "addition" and "subtraction," with the com.mycompany.groups.SlowTest tag, and test "subtraction" with the com.mycompany.groups.DbTest tag.

The primary run method takes a Filter, whose constructor takes an optional Set[String]s called tagsToInclude and a Set[String] called tagsToExclude. If tagsToInclude is None, all tests will be run except those those belonging to tags listed in the tagsToExclude Set. If tagsToInclude is defined, only tests belonging to tags mentioned in the tagsToInclude set, and not mentioned in tagsToExclude, will be run.

Ignored tests

To support the common use case of “temporarily” disabling a test, with the good intention of resurrecting the test at a later time, FeatureSpec provides registration methods that start with ignore instead of scenario. For example, to temporarily disable the test named addition, just change “scenario” into “ignore,” like this:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec

class ArithmeticFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  // Sharing fixture objects via instance variables
  val shared = 5

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    ignore("addition") {
      val sum = 2 + 3
      assert(sum === shared)
    }

    scenario("subtraction") {
      val diff = 7 - 2
      assert(diff === shared)
    }
  }
}

If you run this version of ArithmeticFeatureSpec with:

scala> (new ArithmeticFeatureSpec).execute()

It will run only subtraction and report that addition was ignored:

Feature: Integer arithmetic
  Scenario: addition !!! IGNORED !!!
  Scenario: subtraction

Informers

One of the parameters to the primary run method is a Reporter, which will collect and report information about the running suite of tests. Information about suites and tests that were run, whether tests succeeded or failed, and tests that were ignored will be passed to the Reporter as the suite runs. Most often the reporting done by default by FeatureSpec's methods will be sufficient, but occasionally you may wish to provide custom information to the Reporter from a test. For this purpose, an Informer that will forward information to the current Reporter is provided via the info parameterless method. You can pass the extra information to the Informer via its apply method. The Informer will then pass the information to the Reporter via an InfoProvided event. Here's an example:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec

class ArithmeticFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    scenario("addition") {
      val sum = 2 + 3
      assert(sum === 5)
      info("Addition seems to work")
    }

    scenario("subtraction") {
      val diff = 7 - 2
      assert(diff === 5)
    }
  }
}

If you run this ArithmeticFeatureSpec from the interpreter, you will see the following message included in the printed report:

Feature: Integer arithmetic
  Scenario: addition
    Addition seems to work

One use case for the Informer is to pass more information about a scenario to the reporter. For example, the GivenWhenThen trait provides methods that use the implicit info provided by FeatureSpec to pass such information to the reporter. Here's an example:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
import org.scalatest.GivenWhenThen

class ArithmeticSpec extends FeatureSpec with GivenWhenThen {

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    scenario("addition") {

      given("two integers")
      val x = 2
      val y = 3

      when("they are added")
      val sum = x + y

      then("the result is the sum of the two numbers")
      assert(sum === 5)
    }

    scenario("subtraction") {

      given("two integers")
      val x = 7
      val y = 2

      when("one is subtracted from the other")
      val diff = x - y

      then("the result is the difference of the two numbers")
      assert(diff === 5)
    }
  }
}

If you run this FeatureSpec from the interpreter, you will see the following messages included in the printed report:

scala> (new ArithmeticFeatureSpec).execute()
Feature: Integer arithmetic
  Scenario: addition
    Given two integers
    When they are added
    Then the result is the sum of the two numbers
  Scenario: subtraction
    Given two integers
    When one is subtracted from the other
    Then the result is the difference of the two numbers

Pending tests

A pending test is one that has been given a name but is not yet implemented. The purpose of pending tests is to facilitate a style of testing in which documentation of behavior is sketched out before tests are written to verify that behavior (and often, the before the behavior of the system being tested is itself implemented). Such sketches form a kind of specification of what tests and functionality to implement later.

To support this style of testing, a test can be given a name that specifies one bit of behavior required by the system being tested. The test can also include some code that sends more information about the behavior to the reporter when the tests run. At the end of the test, it can call method pending, which will cause it to complete abruptly with TestPendingException. Because tests in ScalaTest can be designated as pending with TestPendingException, both the test name and any information sent to the reporter when running the test can appear in the report of a test run. (In other words, the code of a pending test is executed just like any other test.) However, because the test completes abruptly with TestPendingException, the test will be reported as pending, to indicate the actual test, and possibly the functionality, has not yet been implemented. You can mark tests as pending in a FeatureSpec like this:

import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec

class ArithmeticFeatureSpec extends FeatureSpec {

  // Sharing fixture objects via instance variables
  val shared = 5

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    scenario("addition") {
      val sum = 2 + 3
      assert(sum === shared)
    }

    scenario("subtraction") (pending)
  }
}

(Note: "(pending)" is the body of the test. Thus the test contains just one statement, an invocation of the pending method, which throws TestPendingException.) If you run this version of ArithmeticFeatureSpec with:

scala> (new ArithmeticFeatureSpec).execute()

It will run both tests, but report that subtraction is pending. You'll see:

Feature: Integer arithmetic
  Scenario: addition
  Scenario: subtraction (pending)

One difference between an ignored test and a pending one is that an ignored test is intended to be used during a significant refactorings of the code under test, when tests break and you don't want to spend the time to fix all of them immediately. You can mark some of those broken tests as ignored temporarily, so that you can focus the red bar on just failing tests you actually want to fix immediately. Later you can go back and fix the ignored tests. In other words, by ignoring some failing tests temporarily, you can more easily notice failed tests that you actually want to fix. By contrast, a pending test is intended to be used before a test and/or the code under test is written. Pending indicates you've decided to write a test for a bit of behavior, but either you haven't written the test yet, or have only written part of it, or perhaps you've written the test but don't want to implement the behavior it tests until after you've implemented a different bit of behavior you realized you need first. Thus ignored tests are designed to facilitate refactoring of existing code whereas pending tests are designed to facilitate the creation of new code.

One other difference between ignored and pending tests is that ignored tests are implemented as a test tag that is excluded by default. Thus an ignored test is never executed. By contrast, a pending test is implemented as a test that throws TestPendingException (which is what calling the pending method does). Thus the body of pending tests are executed up until they throw TestPendingException. The reason for this difference is that it enables your unfinished test to send InfoProvided messages to the reporter before it completes abruptly with TestPendingException, as shown in the previous example on Informers that used the GivenWhenThen trait. For example, the following snippet in a FeatureSpec:

  feature("Integer arithmetic") {

    scenario("addition") {
      given("two integers")
      when("they are added")
      then("the result is the sum of the two numbers")
      pending
    }
    // ...

Would yield the following output when run in the interpreter:

Feature: Integer arithmetic
  Scenario: addition (pending)
    Given two integers
    When they are added
    Then the result is the sum of the two numbers

Self Type
FeatureSpec
Linear Supertypes
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  4. Assertions
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Type Members

  1. class Equalizer extends AnyRef

    Class used via an implicit conversion to enable any two objects to be compared with === in assertions in tests.

  2. trait NoArgTest extends () ⇒ Unit

    A test function taking no arguments, which also provides a test name and config map.

Value Members

  1. def != (arg0: AnyRef): Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  2. def != (arg0: Any): Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Any
  3. def ## (): Int

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef → Any
  4. def == (arg0: AnyRef): Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  5. def == (arg0: Any): Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Any
  6. def asInstanceOf [T0] : T0

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Any
  7. def assert (o: Option[String]): Unit

    Assert that an Option[String] is None.

    Assert that an Option[String] is None. If the condition is None, this method returns normally. Else, it throws TestFailedException with the String value of the Some included in the TestFailedException's detail message.

    This form of assert is usually called in conjunction with an implicit conversion to Equalizer, using a === comparison, as in:

    assert(a === b)
    

    For more information on how this mechanism works, see the documentation for Equalizer.

    o

    the Option[String] to assert

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  8. def assert (o: Option[String], clue: Any): Unit

    Assert that an Option[String] is None.

    Assert that an Option[String] is None. If the condition is None, this method returns normally. Else, it throws TestFailedException with the String value of the Some, as well as the String obtained by invoking toString on the specified message, included in the TestFailedException's detail message.

    This form of assert is usually called in conjunction with an implicit conversion to Equalizer, using a === comparison, as in:

    assert(a === b, "extra info reported if assertion fails")
    

    For more information on how this mechanism works, see the documentation for Equalizer.

    o

    the Option[String] to assert

    clue

    An objects whose toString method returns a message to include in a failure report.

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  9. def assert (condition: Boolean, clue: Any): Unit

    Assert that a boolean condition, described in String message, is true.

    Assert that a boolean condition, described in String message, is true. If the condition is true, this method returns normally. Else, it throws TestFailedException with the String obtained by invoking toString on the specified message as the exception's detail message.

    condition

    the boolean condition to assert

    clue

    An objects whose toString method returns a message to include in a failure report.

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  10. def assert (condition: Boolean): Unit

    Assert that a boolean condition is true.

    Assert that a boolean condition is true. If the condition is true, this method returns normally. Else, it throws TestFailedException.

    condition

    the boolean condition to assert

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  11. def clone (): AnyRef

    Attributes
    protected[lang]
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
    Annotations
    @throws()
  12. implicit def convertToEqualizer (left: Any): Equalizer

    Implicit conversion from Any to Equalizer, used to enable assertions with === comparisons.

    Implicit conversion from Any to Equalizer, used to enable assertions with === comparisons.

    For more information on this mechanism, see the documentation for Equalizer.

    Because trait Suite mixes in Assertions, this implicit conversion will always be available by default in ScalaTest Suites. This is the only implicit conversion that is in scope by default in every ScalaTest Suite. Other implicit conversions offered by ScalaTest, such as those that support the matchers DSL or invokePrivate, must be explicitly invited into your test code, either by mixing in a trait or importing the members of its companion object. The reason ScalaTest requires you to invite in implicit conversions (with the exception of the implicit conversion for === operator) is because if one of ScalaTest's implicit conversions clashes with an implicit conversion used in the code you are trying to test, your program won't compile. Thus there is a chance that if you are ever trying to use a library or test some code that also offers an implicit conversion involving a === operator, you could run into the problem of a compiler error due to an ambiguous implicit conversion. If that happens, you can turn off the implicit conversion offered by this convertToEqualizer method simply by overriding the method in your Suite subclass, but not marking it as implicit:

    // In your Suite subclass
    override def convertToEqualizer(left: Any) = new Equalizer(left)
    

    left

    the object whose type to convert to Equalizer.

    Attributes
    implicit
    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  13. def eq (arg0: AnyRef): Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  14. def equals (arg0: Any): Boolean

    Definition Classes
    AnyRef → Any
  15. def execute (testName: String, configMap: Map[String, Any]): Unit

    Executes the test specified as testName in this Suite with the specified configMap, printing results to the standard output.

    Executes the test specified as testName in this Suite with the specified configMap, printing results to the standard output.

    This method implementation calls run on this Suite, passing in:

    • testName - Some(testName)
    • reporter - a reporter that prints to the standard output
    • stopper - a Stopper whose apply method always returns false
    • filter - a Filter constructed with None for tagsToInclude and Set() for tagsToExclude
    • configMap - the specified configMap Map[String, Any]
    • distributor - None
    • tracker - a new Tracker

    This method serves as a convenient way to execute a single test, passing in some objects via the configMap, especially from within the Scala interpreter.

    Note: In ScalaTest, the terms "execute" and "run" basically mean the same thing and can be used interchangably. The reason this convenience method and its three overloaded forms aren't named run is described the documentation of the overloaded form that takes no parameters: execute().

    testName

    the name of one test to run.

    configMap

    a Map of key-value pairs that can be used by the executing Suite of tests.

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Suite
  16. def execute (testName: String): Unit

    Executes the test specified as testName in this Suite, printing results to the standard output.

    Executes the test specified as testName in this Suite, printing results to the standard output.

    This method implementation calls run on this Suite, passing in:

    • testName - Some(testName)
    • reporter - a reporter that prints to the standard output
    • stopper - a Stopper whose apply method always returns false
    • filter - a Filter constructed with None for tagsToInclude and Set() for tagsToExclude
    • configMap - an empty Map[String, Any]
    • distributor - None
    • tracker - a new Tracker

    This method serves as a convenient way to run a single test, especially from within the Scala interpreter.

    Note: In ScalaTest, the terms "execute" and "run" basically mean the same thing and can be used interchangably. The reason this convenience method and its three overloaded forms aren't named run is described the documentation of the overloaded form that takes no parameters: execute().

    testName

    the name of one test to run.

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Suite
  17. def execute (configMap: Map[String, Any]): Unit

    Executes this Suite with the specified configMap, printing results to the standard output.

    Executes this Suite with the specified configMap, printing results to the standard output.

    This method implementation calls run on this Suite, passing in:

    • testName - None
    • reporter - a reporter that prints to the standard output
    • stopper - a Stopper whose apply method always returns false
    • filter - a Filter constructed with None for tagsToInclude and Set() for tagsToExclude
    • configMap - the specified configMap Map[String, Any]
    • distributor - None
    • tracker - a new Tracker

    This method serves as a convenient way to execute a Suite, passing in some objects via the configMap, especially from within the Scala interpreter.

    Note: In ScalaTest, the terms "execute" and "run" basically mean the same thing and can be used interchangably. The reason this convenience method and its three overloaded forms aren't named run is described the documentation of the overloaded form that takes no parameters: execute().

    configMap

    a Map of key-value pairs that can be used by the executing Suite of tests.

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Suite
  18. def execute (): Unit

    Executes this Suite, printing results to the standard output.

    Executes this Suite, printing results to the standard output.

    This method implementation calls run on this Suite, passing in:

    • testName - None
    • reporter - a reporter that prints to the standard output
    • stopper - a Stopper whose apply method always returns false
    • filter - a Filter constructed with None for tagsToInclude and Set() for tagsToExclude
    • configMap - an empty Map[String, Any]
    • distributor - None
    • tracker - a new Tracker

    This method serves as a convenient way to execute a Suite, especially from within the Scala interpreter.

    Note: In ScalaTest, the terms "execute" and "run" basically mean the same thing and can be used interchangably. The reason this convenience method and its three overloaded forms aren't named run is because junit.framework.TestCase declares a run method that takes no arguments but returns a junit.framework.TestResult. That run method would not overload with this method if it were named run, because it would have the same parameters but a different return type than the one defined in TestCase. To facilitate integration with JUnit 3, therefore, these convenience "run" methods are named execute. In particular, this allows trait org.scalatest.junit.JUnit3Suite to extend both org.scalatest.Suite and junit.framework.TestCase, which enables the creating of classes that can be run with either ScalaTest or JUnit 3.

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Suite
  19. def expect (expected: Any)(actual: Any): Unit

    Expect that the value passed as expected equals the value passed as actual.

    Expect that the value passed as expected equals the value passed as actual. If the actual value equals the expected value (as determined by ==), expect returns normally. Else, expect throws an TestFailedException whose detail message includes the expected and actual values.

    expected

    the expected value

    actual

    the actual value, which should equal the passed expected value

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  20. def expect (expected: Any, clue: Any)(actual: Any): Unit

    Expect that the value passed as expected equals the value passed as actual.

    Expect that the value passed as expected equals the value passed as actual. If the actual equals the expected (as determined by ==), expect returns normally. Else, if actual is not equal to expected, expect throws an TestFailedException whose detail message includes the expected and actual values, as well as the String obtained by invoking toString on the passed message.

    expected

    the expected value

    clue

    An object whose toString method returns a message to include in a failure report.

    actual

    the actual value, which should equal the passed expected value

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  21. def expectedTestCount (filter: Filter): Int

    The total number of tests that are expected to run when this Suite's run method is invoked.

    The total number of tests that are expected to run when this Suite's run method is invoked.

    This trait's implementation of this method returns the sum of:

    • the size of the testNames List, minus the number of tests marked as ignored
    • the sum of the values obtained by invoking expectedTestCount on every nested Suite contained in nestedSuites
    filter

    a Filter with which to filter tests to count based on their tags

    Definition Classes
    SuiteAbstractSuite
  22. def fail (cause: Throwable): Nothing

    Throws TestFailedException, with the passed Throwable cause, to indicate a test failed.

    Throws TestFailedException, with the passed Throwable cause, to indicate a test failed. The getMessage method of the thrown TestFailedException will return cause.toString().

    cause

    a Throwable that indicates the cause of the failure.

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  23. def fail (message: String, cause: Throwable): Nothing

    Throws TestFailedException, with the passed String message as the exception's detail message and Throwable cause, to indicate a test failed.

    Throws TestFailedException, with the passed String message as the exception's detail message and Throwable cause, to indicate a test failed.

    message

    A message describing the failure.

    cause

    A Throwable that indicates the cause of the failure.

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  24. def fail (message: String): Nothing

    Throws TestFailedException, with the passed String message as the exception's detail message, to indicate a test failed.

    Throws TestFailedException, with the passed String message as the exception's detail message, to indicate a test failed.

    message

    A message describing the failure.

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  25. def fail (): Nothing

    Throws TestFailedException to indicate a test failed.

    Throws TestFailedException to indicate a test failed.

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  26. def feature (description: String)(f: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Describe a “subject” being specified and tested by the passed function value.

    Describe a “subject” being specified and tested by the passed function value. The passed function value may contain more describers (defined with describe) and/or tests (defined with it). This trait's implementation of this method will register the description string and immediately invoke the passed function.

    Attributes
    protected
  27. def finalize (): Unit

    Attributes
    protected[lang]
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
    Annotations
    @throws()
  28. def getClass (): java.lang.Class[_]

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  29. def hashCode (): Int

    Definition Classes
    AnyRef → Any
  30. def ignore (specText: String)(testFun: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Register a test to ignore, which has the given spec text and test function value that takes no arguments.

    Register a test to ignore, which has the given spec text and test function value that takes no arguments. This method will register the test for later ignoring via an invocation of one of the execute methods. This method exists to make it easy to ignore an existing test by changing the call to it to ignore without deleting or commenting out the actual test code. The test will not be executed, but a report will be sent that indicates the test was ignored. The name of the test will be a concatenation of the text of all surrounding describers, from outside in, and the passed spec text, with one space placed between each item. (See the documenation for testNames for an example.) The resulting test name must not have been registered previously on this Spec instance.

    specText

    the specification text, which will be combined with the descText of any surrounding describers to form the test name

    testFun

    the test function

    Attributes
    protected
  31. def ignore (specText: String, testTags: Tag*)(testFun: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Register a test to ignore, which has the given spec text, optional tags, and test function value that takes no arguments.

    Register a test to ignore, which has the given spec text, optional tags, and test function value that takes no arguments. This method will register the test for later ignoring via an invocation of one of the execute methods. This method exists to make it easy to ignore an existing test by changing the call to it to ignore without deleting or commenting out the actual test code. The test will not be executed, but a report will be sent that indicates the test was ignored. The name of the test will be a concatenation of the text of all surrounding describers, from outside in, and the passed spec text, with one space placed between each item. (See the documenation for testNames for an example.) The resulting test name must not have been registered previously on this Spec instance.

    specText

    the specification text, which will be combined with the descText of any surrounding describers to form the test name

    testTags

    the optional list of tags for this test

    testFun

    the test function

    Attributes
    protected
  32. implicit def info : Informer

    Returns an Informer that during test execution will forward strings (and other objects) passed to its apply method to the current reporter.

    Returns an Informer that during test execution will forward strings (and other objects) passed to its apply method to the current reporter. If invoked in a constructor, it will register the passed string for forwarding later during test execution. If invoked while this FeatureSpec is being executed, such as from inside a test function, it will forward the information to the current reporter immediately. If invoked at any other time, it will throw an exception. This method can be called safely by any thread.

    Attributes
    protected implicit
  33. def intercept [T <: AnyRef] (f: ⇒ Any)(implicit manifest: Manifest[T]): T

    Intercept and return an exception that's expected to be thrown by the passed function value.

    Intercept and return an exception that's expected to be thrown by the passed function value. The thrown exception must be an instance of the type specified by the type parameter of this method. This method invokes the passed function. If the function throws an exception that's an instance of the specified type, this method returns that exception. Else, whether the passed function returns normally or completes abruptly with a different exception, this method throws TestFailedException.

    Note that the type specified as this method's type parameter may represent any subtype of AnyRef, not just Throwable or one of its subclasses. In Scala, exceptions can be caught based on traits they implement, so it may at times make sense to specify a trait that the intercepted exception's class must mix in. If a class instance is passed for a type that could not possibly be used to catch an exception (such as String, for example), this method will complete abruptly with a TestFailedException.

    f

    the function value that should throw the expected exception

    manifest

    an implicit Manifest representing the type of the specified type parameter.

    returns

    the intercepted exception, if it is of the expected type

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  34. def isInstanceOf [T0] : Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Any
  35. def ne (arg0: AnyRef): Boolean

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  36. def nestedSuites : List[Suite]

    A List of this Suite object's nested Suites.

    A List of this Suite object's nested Suites. If this Suite contains no nested Suites, this method returns an empty List. This trait's implementation of this method returns an empty List.

    Definition Classes
    SuiteAbstractSuite
  37. def notify (): Unit

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  38. def notifyAll (): Unit

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  39. def pending : PendingNothing

    Throws TestPendingException to indicate a test is pending.

    Throws TestPendingException to indicate a test is pending.

    A pending test is one that has been given a name but is not yet implemented. The purpose of pending tests is to facilitate a style of testing in which documentation of behavior is sketched out before tests are written to verify that behavior (and often, the before the behavior of the system being tested is itself implemented). Such sketches form a kind of specification of what tests and functionality to implement later.

    To support this style of testing, a test can be given a name that specifies one bit of behavior required by the system being tested. The test can also include some code that sends more information about the behavior to the reporter when the tests run. At the end of the test, it can call method pending, which will cause it to complete abruptly with TestPendingException. Because tests in ScalaTest can be designated as pending with TestPendingException, both the test name and any information sent to the reporter when running the test can appear in the report of a test run. (In other words, the code of a pending test is executed just like any other test.) However, because the test completes abruptly with TestPendingException, the test will be reported as pending, to indicate the actual test, and possibly the functionality it is intended to test, has not yet been implemented.

    Note: This method always completes abruptly with a TestPendingException. Thus it always has a side effect. Methods with side effects are usually invoked with parentheses, as in pending(). This method is defined as a parameterless method, in flagrant contradiction to recommended Scala style, because it forms a kind of DSL for pending tests. It enables tests in suites such as FunSuite or Spec to be denoted by placing "(pending)" after the test name, as in:

    test("that style rules are not laws") (pending)
    

    Readers of the code see "pending" in parentheses, which looks like a little note attached to the test name to indicate it is pending. Whereas "(pending()) looks more like a method call, "(pending)" lets readers stay at a higher level, forgetting how it is implemented and just focusing on the intent of the programmer who wrote the code.

    Definition Classes
    Suite
  40. def pendingUntilFixed (f: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Execute the passed block of code, and if it completes abruptly, throw TestPendingException, else throw TestFailedException.

    Execute the passed block of code, and if it completes abruptly, throw TestPendingException, else throw TestFailedException.

    This method can be used to temporarily change a failing test into a pending test in such a way that it will automatically turn back into a failing test once the problem originally causing the test to fail has been fixed. At that point, you need only remove the pendingUntilFixed call. In other words, a pendingUntilFixed surrounding a block of code that isn't broken is treated as a test failure. The motivation for this behavior is to encourage people to remove pendingUntilFixed calls when there are no longer needed.

    This method facilitates a style of testing in which tests are written before the code they test. Sometimes you may encounter a test failure that requires more functionality than you want to tackle without writing more tests. In this case you can mark the bit of test code causing the failure with pendingUntilFixed. You can then write more tests and functionality that eventually will get your production code to a point where the original test won't fail anymore. At this point the code block marked with pendingUntilFixed will no longer throw an exception (because the problem has been fixed). This will in turn cause pendingUntilFixed to throw TestFailedException with a detail message explaining you need to go back and remove the pendingUntilFixed call as the problem orginally causing your test code to fail has been fixed.

    f

    a block of code, which if it completes abruptly, should trigger a TestPendingException

    Definition Classes
    Suite
  41. def run (testName: Option[String], reporter: Reporter, stopper: Stopper, filter: Filter, configMap: Map[String, Any], distributor: Option[Distributor], tracker: Tracker): Unit

    Runs this suite of tests.

    Runs this suite of tests.

    If testName is None, this trait's implementation of this method calls these two methods on this object in this order:

    • runNestedSuites(report, stopper, tagsToInclude, tagsToExclude, configMap, distributor)
    • runTests(testName, report, stopper, tagsToInclude, tagsToExclude, configMap)

    If testName is defined, then this trait's implementation of this method calls runTests, but does not call runNestedSuites. This behavior is part of the contract of this method. Subclasses that override run must take care not to call runNestedSuites if testName is defined. (The OneInstancePerTest trait depends on this behavior, for example.)

    Subclasses and subtraits that override this run method can implement them without invoking either the runTests or runNestedSuites methods, which are invoked by this trait's implementation of this method. It is recommended, but not required, that subclasses and subtraits that override run in a way that does not invoke runNestedSuites also override runNestedSuites and make it final. Similarly it is recommended, but not required, that subclasses and subtraits that override run in a way that does not invoke runTests also override runTests (and runTest, which this trait's implementation of runTests calls) and make it final. The implementation of these final methods can either invoke the superclass implementation of the method, or throw an UnsupportedOperationException if appropriate. The reason for this recommendation is that ScalaTest includes several traits that override these methods to allow behavior to be mixed into a Suite. For example, trait BeforeAndAfterEach overrides runTestss. In a Suite subclass that no longer invokes runTests from run, the BeforeAndAfterEach trait is not applicable. Mixing it in would have no effect. By making runTests final in such a Suite subtrait, you make the attempt to mix BeforeAndAfterEach into a subclass of your subtrait a compiler error. (It would fail to compile with a complaint that BeforeAndAfterEach is trying to override runTests, which is a final method in your trait.)

    testName

    an optional name of one test to run. If None, all relevant tests should be run. I.e., None acts like a wildcard that means run all relevant tests in this Suite.

    reporter

    the Reporter to which results will be reported

    stopper

    the Stopper that will be consulted to determine whether to stop execution early.

    filter

    a Filter with which to filter tests based on their tags

    configMap

    a Map of key-value pairs that can be used by the executing Suite of tests.

    distributor

    an optional Distributor, into which to put nested Suites to be run by another entity, such as concurrently by a pool of threads. If None, nested Suites will be run sequentially.

    tracker

    a Tracker tracking Ordinals being fired by the current thread.

    Definition Classes
    FeatureSpecSuiteAbstractSuite
  42. def runNestedSuites (reporter: Reporter, stopper: Stopper, filter: Filter, configMap: Map[String, Any], distributor: Option[Distributor], tracker: Tracker): Unit

    Run zero to many of this Suite's nested Suites.

    Run zero to many of this Suite's nested Suites.

    If the passed distributor is None, this trait's implementation of this method invokes run on each nested Suite in the List obtained by invoking nestedSuites. If a nested Suite's run method completes abruptly with an exception, this trait's implementation of this method reports that the Suite aborted and attempts to run the next nested Suite. If the passed distributor is defined, this trait's implementation puts each nested Suite into the Distributor contained in the Some, in the order in which the Suites appear in the List returned by nestedSuites, passing in a new Tracker obtained by invoking nextTracker on the Tracker passed to this method.

    Implementations of this method are responsible for ensuring SuiteStarting events are fired to the Reporter before executing any nested Suite, and either SuiteCompleted or SuiteAborted after executing any nested Suite.

    reporter

    the Reporter to which results will be reported

    stopper

    the Stopper that will be consulted to determine whether to stop execution early.

    filter

    a Filter with which to filter tests based on their tags

    configMap

    a Map of key-value pairs that can be used by the executing Suite of tests.

    distributor

    an optional Distributor, into which to put nested Suites to be run by another entity, such as concurrently by a pool of threads. If None, nested Suites will be run sequentially.

    tracker

    a Tracker tracking Ordinals being fired by the current thread.

    Attributes
    protected
    Definition Classes
    SuiteAbstractSuite
  43. def runTest (testName: String, reporter: Reporter, stopper: Stopper, configMap: Map[String, Any], tracker: Tracker): Unit

    Run a test.

    Run a test. This trait's implementation runs the test registered with the name specified by testName. Each test's name is a concatenation of the text of all describers surrounding a test, from outside in, and the test's spec text, with one space placed between each item. (See the documenation for testNames for an example.)

    testName

    the name of one test to execute.

    reporter

    the Reporter to which results will be reported

    stopper

    the Stopper that will be consulted to determine whether to stop execution early.

    configMap

    a Map of properties that can be used by this Spec's executing tests.

    tracker

    a Tracker tracking Ordinals being fired by the current thread.

    Attributes
    protected
    Definition Classes
    FeatureSpecSuiteAbstractSuite
  44. def runTests (testName: Option[String], reporter: Reporter, stopper: Stopper, filter: Filter, configMap: Map[String, Any], distributor: Option[Distributor], tracker: Tracker): Unit

    Run zero to many of this FeatureSpec's tests.

    Run zero to many of this FeatureSpec's tests.

    This method takes a testName parameter that optionally specifies a test to invoke. If testName is Some, this trait's implementation of this method invokes runTest on this object, passing in:

    • testName - the String value of the testName Option passed to this method
    • reporter - the Reporter passed to this method, or one that wraps and delegates to it
    • stopper - the Stopper passed to this method, or one that wraps and delegates to it
    • configMap - the configMap passed to this method, or one that wraps and delegates to it

    This method takes a Set of tag names that should be included (tagsToInclude), and a Set that should be excluded (tagsToExclude), when deciding which of this Suite's tests to execute. If tagsToInclude is empty, all tests will be executed except those those belonging to tags listed in the tagsToExclude Set. If tagsToInclude is non-empty, only tests belonging to tags mentioned in tagsToInclude, and not mentioned in tagsToExclude will be executed. However, if testName is Some, tagsToInclude and tagsToExclude are essentially ignored. Only if testName is None will tagsToInclude and tagsToExclude be consulted to determine which of the tests named in the testNames Set should be run. For more information on trait tags, see the main documentation for this trait.

    If testName is None, this trait's implementation of this method invokes testNames on this Suite to get a Set of names of tests to potentially execute. (A testNames value of None essentially acts as a wildcard that means all tests in this Suite that are selected by tagsToInclude and tagsToExclude should be executed.) For each test in the testName Set, in the order they appear in the iterator obtained by invoking the elements method on the Set, this trait's implementation of this method checks whether the test should be run based on the tagsToInclude and tagsToExclude Sets. If so, this implementation invokes runTest, passing in:

    • testName - the String name of the test to run (which will be one of the names in the testNames Set)
    • reporter - the Reporter passed to this method, or one that wraps and delegates to it
    • stopper - the Stopper passed to this method, or one that wraps and delegates to it
    • configMap - the configMap passed to this method, or one that wraps and delegates to it
    testName

    an optional name of one test to run. If None, all relevant tests should be run. I.e., None acts like a wildcard that means run all relevant tests in this Suite.

    reporter

    the Reporter to which results will be reported

    stopper

    the Stopper that will be consulted to determine whether to stop execution early.

    filter

    a Filter with which to filter tests based on their tags

    configMap

    a Map of key-value pairs that can be used by the executing Suite of tests.

    distributor

    an optional Distributor, into which to put nested Suites to be run by another entity, such as concurrently by a pool of threads. If None, nested Suites will be run sequentially.

    tracker

    a Tracker tracking Ordinals being fired by the current thread.

    Attributes
    protected
    Definition Classes
    FeatureSpecSuiteAbstractSuite
  45. def scenario (specText: String)(testFun: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Register a test with the given spec text and test function value that takes no arguments.

    Register a test with the given spec text and test function value that takes no arguments.

    This method will register the test for later execution via an invocation of one of the execute methods. The name of the test will be a concatenation of the text of all surrounding describers, from outside in, and the passed spec text, with one space placed between each item. (See the documenation for testNames for an example.) The resulting test name must not have been registered previously on this Spec instance.

    specText

    the specification text, which will be combined with the descText of any surrounding describers to form the test name

    testFun

    the test function

    Attributes
    protected
  46. def scenario (specText: String, testTags: Tag*)(testFun: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Register a test with the given spec text, optional tags, and test function value that takes no arguments.

    Register a test with the given spec text, optional tags, and test function value that takes no arguments. An invocation of this method is called an “example.”

    This method will register the test for later execution via an invocation of one of the execute methods. The name of the test will be a concatenation of the text of all surrounding describers, from outside in, and the passed spec text, with one space placed between each item. (See the documenation for testNames for an example.) The resulting test name must not have been registered previously on this Spec instance.

    specText

    the specification text, which will be combined with the descText of any surrounding describers to form the test name

    testTags

    the optional list of tags for this test

    testFun

    the test function

    Attributes
    protected
  47. def scenariosFor (unit: Unit): Unit

    Registers shared scenarios.

    Registers shared scenarios.

    This method enables the following syntax for shared scenarios in a FeatureSpec:

    scenariosFor(nonEmptyStack(lastValuePushed))
    

    This method just provides syntax sugar intended to make the intent of the code clearer. Because the parameter passed to it is type Unit, the expression will be evaluated before being passed, which is sufficient to register the shared scenarios. For examples of shared scenarios, see the Shared scenarios section in the main documentation for this trait.

    Attributes
    protected
  48. def suiteName : String

    A user-friendly suite name for this Suite.

    A user-friendly suite name for this Suite.

    This trait's implementation of this method returns the simple name of this object's class. This trait's implementation of runNestedSuites calls this method to obtain a name for Reports to pass to the suiteStarting, suiteCompleted, and suiteAborted methods of the Reporter.

    returns

    this Suite object's suite name.

    Definition Classes
    Suite
  49. def synchronized [T0] (arg0: ⇒ T0): T0

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
  50. def tags : Map[String, Set[String]]

    A Map whose keys are String tag names to which tests in this Spec belong, and values the Set of test names that belong to each tag.

    A Map whose keys are String tag names to which tests in this Spec belong, and values the Set of test names that belong to each tag. If this FeatureSpec contains no tags, this method returns an empty Map.

    This trait's implementation returns tags that were passed as strings contained in Tag objects passed to methods test and ignore.

    Definition Classes
    FeatureSpecSuiteAbstractSuite
  51. def testNames : Set[String]

    An immutable Set of test names.

    An immutable Set of test names. If this FeatureSpec contains no tests, this method returns an empty Set.

    This trait's implementation of this method will return a set that contains the names of all registered tests. The set's iterator will return those names in the order in which the tests were registered. Each test's name is composed of the concatenation of the text of each surrounding describer, in order from outside in, and the text of the example itself, with all components separated by a space. For example, consider this FeatureSpec:

    import org.scalatest.FeatureSpec
    
    class StackSpec extends FeatureSpec {
      feature("A Stack") {
        scenario("(when not empty) must allow me to pop") {}
        scenario("(when not full) must allow me to push") {}
      }
    }
    

    Invoking testNames on this Spec will yield a set that contains the following two test name strings:

    "A Stack (when not empty) must allow me to pop"
    "A Stack (when not full) must allow me to push"
    

    Definition Classes
    FeatureSpecSuiteAbstractSuite
  52. def toString (): String

    Definition Classes
    AnyRef → Any
  53. def wait (): Unit

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
    Annotations
    @throws()
  54. def wait (arg0: Long, arg1: Int): Unit

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
    Annotations
    @throws()
  55. def wait (arg0: Long): Unit

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    AnyRef
    Annotations
    @throws()
  56. def withClue (clue: Any)(fun: ⇒ Unit): Unit

    Executes the block of code passed as the second parameter, and, if it completes abruptly with a ModifiableMessage exception, prepends the "clue" string passed as the first parameter to the beginning of the detail message of that thrown exception, then rethrows it.

    Executes the block of code passed as the second parameter, and, if it completes abruptly with a ModifiableMessage exception, prepends the "clue" string passed as the first parameter to the beginning of the detail message of that thrown exception, then rethrows it. If clue does not end in a white space character, one space will be added between it and the existing detail message (unless the detail message is not defined).

    This method allows you to add more information about what went wrong that will be reported when a test fails. Here's an example:

    withClue("(Employee's name was: " + employee.name + ")") {
      intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
        employee.getTask(-1)
      }
    }
    

    If an invocation of intercept completed abruptly with an exception, the resulting message would be something like:

    (Employee's name was Bob Jones) Expected IllegalArgumentException to be thrown, but no exception was thrown
    

    Definition Classes
    Assertions
  57. def withFixture (test: NoArgTest): Unit

    Run the passed test function in the context of a fixture established by this method.

    Run the passed test function in the context of a fixture established by this method.

    This method should set up the fixture needed by the tests of the current suite, invoke the test function, and if needed, perform any clean up needed after the test completes. Because the NoArgTest function passed to this method takes no parameters, preparing the fixture will require side effects, such as reassigning instance vars in this Suite or initializing a globally accessible external database. If you want to avoid reassigning instance vars you can use FixtureSuite.

    This trait's implementation of runTest invokes this method for each test, passing in a NoArgTest whose apply method will execute the code of the test.

    This trait's implementation of this method simply invokes the passed NoArgTest function.

    test

    the no-arg test function to run with a fixture

    Attributes
    protected
    Definition Classes
    SuiteAbstractSuite
  58. def groups : Map[String, Set[String]]

    The groups methods has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version of ScalaTest. Please call (and override) tags instead.

    The groups methods has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version of ScalaTest. Please call (and override) tags instead.

    Attributes
    final
    Definition Classes
    Suite
    Annotations
    @deprecated
    Deprecated

    scala.this.deprecated.init$default$1

Inherited from Suite

Inherited from AbstractSuite

Inherited from Assertions

Inherited from AnyRef

Inherited from Any