Test data generator for JPA or Hibernate

Question

Are there any tools or libraries that can be used to generate test data using JPA or entity beans? I believe this will be very helpful for unit testing where we can have an in memory database with data dynamically generated just when we start our testing. So, there will be no communication with actual DB servers and not any waste of time.

I was only able to find JPAMock. But it is still under development. It would be nice if someone could provide a good pointer.

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

I use DBUnit in conjunction with H2 database and untils & Spring. Works nicely:

@SpringApplicationContext({ "classpath:test-context-dbunit.xml" })
@Transactional(TransactionMode.ROLLBACK)
@DataSet
public class ApplicationDaoTest extends UnitilsTestNG {

    @SpringBeanByType
    private ApplicationDao applicationDao;

    @Test
    public void findAll() throws Exception {
        List<Application> actual = applicationDao.findAll();
        assertNotNull(actual);
        assertEquals(actual.size(), 3);
    }
}

The data is set in an XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<dataset>
    <APPLICATION APPLICATION_ID="1" name="APP3" enabled="1" application_type="TRADE" api_key="AK1" auto_create_topics="1" />
    <APPLICATION APPLICATION_ID="2" name="APP1" enabled="1" application_type="TRADE" api_key="AK2" auto_create_topics="1" />
    <APPLICATION APPLICATION_ID="3" name="APP2" enabled="0" application_type="TRADE" api_key="AK3" auto_create_topics="1" />
</dataset> 

In Spring test context you define your datasource as such:

<bean id="dataSource" class="org.unitils.database.UnitilsDataSourceFactoryBean"/>

As dialect you use: org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect

Finally a unitils.properties in your classpath like:

database.driverClassName=org.h2.Driver
database.url=jdbc:h2:mem:test
database.user=sa
database.password=
database.schemaNames=public
database.dialect=hsqldb

---

UPDATE

<bean id="sessionFactory"
    class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.annotation.AnnotationSessionFactoryBean">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
    <property name="packagesToScan" value="..."/>
    <property name="hibernateProperties">
        <props>
            <prop key="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">true</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">create-drop</prop>
        </props>
    </property>
</bean>

Answer 2

You could use one of the Quickcheck implementations. The quickcheck approach is independent from JPA/Hibernate. You would generate domain object instances based on Quickcheck and persist them or mock the persistence layer.

Answer 3

You could try out Random-JPA, a framework designed to generate random data. The setup is minimal.

I developed it and have been using it for over an year on our production tests. It works perfectly fine. Though it currently supports Oracle, MySQL & MSSQL with full feature.

Code: https://github.com/kuros/random-jpa

Tutorial: https://kuros.in/random-jpa