Creating a Unit test

To create a unit test run the grails create-unit-test command, which will place the file in <project>/test/unit. Below is an example of completely trivial unit test:

class FooTests extends GroovyTestCase {
   void testBar() {
       assert 1 != 2
   }
}

Creating a Integration test

An integration test, unlike a unit test, provides you with access to the dynamic methods and properties injected by Grails which would otherwise have to be mocked with a mock library. Mocking should be used in unit tests rather than turning your test into an integration test just for the sake of it.

For example unit tests are not able to access domain class dynamic methods like validate(), findAllByXXX and so on. Integration tests bootstrap the Grails environment for your application and as a result take longer to run.

To create an integration test run the grails create-integration-test command, which will place the file in <project>/test/integration.

class BookTests extends GroovyTestCase {

    void testValid() {
        def b = new Book(title:"Groovy in Action", author:"Dierk Koenig")

        assert b.validate()
    }
}

Running Tests

Tests can be run by using the grails test-app command. This will produce output such as:

-------------------------------------------------------
Running Unit Tests...
Running test FooTests...FAILURE
Unit Tests Completed in 464ms ...
-------------------------------------------------------

Tests failed: 0 errors, 1 failures

To run an individual test, type the name of the test, without the "Tests" suffix, after the test-app command. For example:

grails test-app Foo

The above will run the test/unit/FooTests.groovy test mentioned at the top of the page.

Note: Since 1.0-RC1 tests can be grouped into sub-folders, however the test class name must be unique across both integration and unit tests. Secondly, the tests are currently parsed as scripts and as such package declarations will cause compilation errors.

Note: The data for all the referenced domain classes is deleted between tests so that tests can be run independently without needing to manage a common state for the database.  

Testing Different Artifact Types

• Testing Controllers
• Testing Tag Libraries
• Testing Services
• Testing Domain Classes
• Testing Codecs