Passing arguments to Spring tests

Question

We have a standard Spring test class which loads an application context:

@ContextConfiguration(locations = {"classpath:app-context.xml" })
@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
public class AppTest {
   ...
}

The XML context uses standard placeholders e.g.: ${key} When the full application is run normally (not as a test), the main class will load the application context as follows so that the command line arguments are seen by Spring :

PropertySource ps = new SimpleCommandLinePropertySource(args);
context.getEnvironment().getPropertySources().addLast(ps);
context.load("classpath:META-INF/app-context.xml");
context.refresh();
context.start();

When running the Spring test, what code needs to be added to ensure that program arguments (e.g. --key=value): are passed from the IDE (in our case Eclipse) into the application context?

Thanks

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 08 '23 at 13:39

I don't think this is possible, not because of Spring, see this other question on SO with an explanation:

Passing JUnit command line parameters in eclipse

If you decide to use JVM arguments (-Dkey=value format) in Eclipse instead, it's easy in Spring to use those values:

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;

@ContextConfiguration(locations = {"classpath:app-context.xml" })
@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
public class AppTest {
   
    @Value("#{systemProperties[key]}")
    private String argument1;

    ...

}

Or, without @Value and just using a property placeholder:

@ContextConfiguration(locations = {"classpath:META-INF/spring/test-app-context.xml" })
@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
public class ExampleConfigurationTests {
    
    @Autowired
    private Service service;

    @Test
    public void testSimpleProperties() throws Exception {
        System.out.println(service.getMessage());
    }
    
}

where test-app-context.xml is

<bean class="com.foo.bar.ExampleService">
    <property name="arg" value="${arg1}" />
</bean>

<context:property-placeholder />

and ExampleService is:

@Component
public class ExampleService implements Service {
    
    private String arg;
    
    public String getArg() {
        return arg;
    }

    public void setArg(String arg) {
        this.arg = arg;
    }

    public String getMessage() {
        return arg; 
    }
}

and the argument passed to the test is a VM argument (specified like -Darg1=value1) and not a Program argument.

Both in Eclipse accessed with Right-Click on the test class -> Run As -> Run Configurations -> JUnit -> Arguments tab -> VM Arguments.

The problem with that I think is that the while it allows the test program to get the variables passeed in using -D, they will not be loaded into the Spring context. — user1052610, Jul 31 '14 at 10:39
Does not work. The first thing the Spring test will do is load the app-context.xml. Spring will then throw an IllegalStateException as one of the ${} placeholder variables will not have been defined. Declaring the variables themselves in the test itself using @Value therefore does not help. — user1052610, Jul 31 '14 at 11:12
That's strange. Works for me. I've updated my answer with another code sample. — Andrei Stefan, Jul 31 '14 at 11:22
Thanks Andrei. Problem was thst I was passing in args using 'program arguments', and not VM arguments — user1052610, Jul 31 '14 at 11:53

Passing arguments to Spring tests

1 Answers1