org.easetech.easytest.annotation

Annotation Type DataLoader

@Retention(value=RUNTIME)
@Target(value={METHOD,TYPE})
@Inherited
public @interface DataLoader

A method or class level annotation providing users with the ability to specify a data Loader strategy for their test class. EasyTest supports CSV, EXCEL and XML based data loading. But it may not be sufficient in all the cases. Also EasyTest's Data Loading Strategy may not suit every user. In such a case, a user can write his own Custom Loader and pass it to the Data Loader annotation to supply its own custom Loader.
For eg. this is how you can use it :
@Test @DataLoader(loader=MyCustomDataLoader.class)
public void testGetItems(........

OR

@Test @DataLoader(filePaths={testData.json} , loader=MyCustomDataLoader.class)
public void testGetItems(........

OR
@Test @DataLoader(filePaths={testData.csv})
public void testGetItems(........

OR
@Test @DataLoader(filePaths={testDataExcel.xls})
public void testGetItems(........

Note that the custom Loader must implement the Loader interface and should have a no arg constructor.
The data loader annotation also supports the functionality for the user to specify whether the data should be written back to the test file or not using the attribute writeData(). Its default value is Boolean.TRUE.
A user can also specify whether the test data should be overrideen or should be appended in case the test data is present in more than one file. The user can do that using the appendData() attribute. If the value is True, then the data from different files is preserved and the test is run for each row of test data specified in each test data file. if the value is False(also the default value), then the test data in file 1 is overridden with test data in file 2.
A new System Property "testDataFiles" to provide a comma separated list of input test data files at runtime. In order to use this option simply specify @DataLoader annotation at the top of your class without any input data. Thus in such a case DataLoader annotation acts as a marker annotation telling the EasyTest system that it has to fetch the value of filePaths attribute from the system property "testDataFiles".
NOTE If a user has specified both "testDataFiles" System Property AND a value for "dataFiles" attribute, then the System Property files(specified using testDataFiles System Property) will override the files specified using the "dataFiles" attribute of DataLoader annotation.

Author:

Anuj Kumar

Optional Element Summary

Optional Elements

Modifier and Type	Optional Element and Description
boolean	appendData OPTIONAL Boolean identifying whether data specified in two different files for the same method should be appended or replaced.
String[]	filePaths OPTIONAL The list of file paths representing the input test data for the given test method.
Class<? extends Loader>	loader OPTIONAL The custom Loader class that will be used by EasyTest to load the test data.
LoaderType	loaderType OPTIONAL The type of file that contains the data.
boolean	writeData OPTIONAL Boolean identifying whether the data should be written back to the file or not.

Element Detail

filePaths

public abstract String[] filePaths

OPTIONAL The list of file paths representing the input test data for the given test method. In scenarios where the custom DataLoader represented by loader() attribute knows about the test data, this field can be left blank.
This attribute also takes variable path as input. for eg. a User can specify the file path to be something like :

Default:

{}

loaderType

public abstract LoaderType loaderType

OPTIONAL The type of file that contains the data. Defaults to "none". This attribute has become optional mostly because EasyTest can figure out the type of loader, based on the extension of the test-data file. It is mostly used to give hint to EasyTest. It is also used to specify that the loader is Custom and not a standard loader.

Default:

org.easetech.easytest.loader.LoaderType.NONE

loader

public abstract Class<? extends Loader> loader

OPTIONAL The custom Loader class that will be used by EasyTest to load the test data. In case of standard DataLoaders for Excel, CSV and XML, you dont have to provide any Loader. This attribute is used only when the LoaderType is Custom.

Default:

org.easetech.easytest.loader.EmptyLoader.class

writeData

public abstract boolean writeData

OPTIONAL Boolean identifying whether the data should be written back to the file or not. Default behavior is that the data will be written back to the file. Data from a test method is written back to the file only when the test method returns something. In case the test method returns void, then even though this attribute is set to true, nothing will be written back to the file.

Default:

true

appendData

public abstract boolean appendData

OPTIONAL Boolean identifying whether data specified in two different files for the same method should be appended or replaced. Default behavior is to replace the data present in one file from the other.

Returns:

whether data should be appended or not

Default:

false