Fixture setup through object notation for implicit test fixtures

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to the development of fixture setup code through an objects notation that is applied on implicit test fixtures. This approach is integrated with a management mechanism to call the fixture setup code from the JUnit test framework. The objective of this work is to enable the reuse of fixtures across multiple test classes avoiding the management and the creation of fixtures within the test itself. The evaluation of this proposal was performed during test-driven development of a Web-based system. Results present approximately 190 fixture setups with a reutilization average of about 13 times, observed in an analysis with 2200 h of development. Initial results show the growing reutilization of fixture setups during test development, with significant test code volume reduction.