[wtp-dev] JUnit tip: How to have your own workspace and log

[David M Williams <david_williams@xxxxxxxxxx>]

There is a "recommended pattern"
to use in our test.xml files ... that has not been widely adopted. It's
unlikely to really "fix" anything, but it might help in some
cases, and in any case, might help diagnose problems when they do occur.


An example of this pattern is the one
in the sse.core.tests, and I recently put in it one of our JUnit build
reference: 
http://wiki.eclipse.org/WTP_Adding_JUnits
or, to get the file directly from the
wiki 
http://wiki.eclipse.org/WTP_Adding_JUnits/ExampleTestXMLFile

(it's also in the cvs repository, of
course, in sse.core.tests). 

There's a few advantages to this pattern.


1. It makes sure your test suite runs
in a new, fresh workspace, with a recognizable name (based on the name
of  your test suite), which is what is usually desired. (Some tests
currently default, for example, to "jst-workspace" or some such
thing, and who knows what might have been left in there from a previous
test).

2. It purposely does not delete the
workspace after the suite finishes ... in case anyone every wants to peek
at (or get) the workspace after a JUnit run, to try and diagnose some problem.


3. It does a slightly better job of
capturing the log from your test suite. (linked from the test results page).


4. It minimizes the variables you need
to specify or worry about ... there's just 3, or 4 in some cases ... all
the rest should be fine to use as they are in the example file .. so, we'd
all be more consistent. 
Perhaps making it easier to transition
to new ways of doing tests ... I'm still waiting for someone to do this
as an extension point!  :) 

There's no rocket science here, but
might be a small improvement in consistent test results. If you think it
might help, please give it a try when you get a chance. 

Thanks,