Useful reference for the most used Metadata tags in FlexUnit

There are a lot of Metadata tags used in FlexUnit, and if you're still new to the framework it can be a bit overwhelming to know what to use and what can be included inside them. Here's a comprehensive list of the commonly used tags with a brief explanation of where they can be used. You should be able to find reference to most of these in the code examples listed in this wiki.

BeforeClass

– Used to specify a static method within a TestCase should run one time, before the constructor and all test cases, this only happens once per TestCase, per case execution, regardless of how many tests are in the test case. It's most commonly a BeforeClass marked method would be used to create tables, or connect to a database that would be used in a group of tests. For more information about BeforeClass see Sequences

  • ''Attributes:'' order, description, timeout, async, ui, user defined

AfterClass

– Used to specify a static method within a TestCase should run once, after all of the tests in a given test case are complete. In other words, when all of the tests in a test case are complete, before proceeding to the next testcase, this method executes. Conversely to a BeforeClass method AfterClass should preform cleanup on created tables, disconnect from databases, etc. For more information about AfterClass see Sequences

  • ''Attributes:'' order, description, timeout, async, ui, user defined

Before

– Used to specify a method with a TestCase should be run before every [Test] in that class. For more information about Before see Sequences

  • ''Attributes:'' order, description, timeout, async, ui, user defined

After

– Used to specify a method with a TestCase should be run after every [Test] in that class. For more information about After see Sequences

  • ''Attributes:'' order, description, timeout, async, ui, user defined

Rule

– Used to define an advanced [Before]/[After] setup using an entire class allowing for increased reusability. For more information see Creating Rules

  • ''Attributes:'' order

Suite

– specifies that the class tagged is a Test Suite and will contain a list of public variables typed as the Test Cases or additional Test Suites you wish to run. This tag is commonly paired with the [RunWith] tag to know what runner to use on the tests within this class. (Note: The Suite tag by it self actually does nothing, and RunWith specified with the Suite runner is all you need to set to get a class to run as a suite.) For more information about test suites see Test Suite

  • ''Attributes:'' order, description, user defined

RunWith("fullyQualifiedName")

– Used to identify a specific runner that should be used for this class. Common uses include specifying a class to use the Suite runner or Theory runner. The class specified must be linked into the project and must implement the IRunner interface. For more information about runners see Runners and Builders

  • ''Attributes:'' none, other than the fully qualified class name of the runner.

Ignore

– Can be used to ignore a specific [Test] or [Theory], the test will still be built, but will be skipped over when running all tests in the TestCase. The test marked with this tag is still counted in the total tests count. For more information about Ignore see [Ignore]

  • ''Attributes:'' description, user defined

Test

– Is used to specify that a method in a TestCase is a method you want FlexUnit to test. There are additional attributes that can be added to this tag such as (async) which is needed if the test is using asyncronous events or (expects="flash.errors.IOError") which indicates that you expect the Test to throw an exception of the specified type and it should catch it. For more information see user defined metadata.

  • ''Attributes:'' expects, order, description, timeout, async, ui, user defined, dataProvider

DataPoint(s)

– Used on a public static variable or public static function to return testing data. These are then used in conjunction with a Theory by running the Theory once for each item in that particular [DataPoint]'s range. If DataPoints is used, then the tag [ArrayElementType] must also be used to define the type of data the array contains. For more information see Theories, Datapoints, and Assumptions

  • ''Attributes:'' description, user defined, loader

Parameters

– Parameters allow for a multitude of values to be passed into a constructor of a TestCase. For more information about Parameterized testing seeParameterized Testing

  • ''Attributes:'' description, user defined, loader

Theory

– Used to test a full range of expected results with the help of DataPoint objects or functions. The Theory should specify accepted arguments of types matching to your declared DataPoints. FlexUnit will run all the theories for all possible combinations of arguments with the DataPoint objects that match argument types.
More info on Theories see Theories, Datapoints, and Assumptions

  • ''Attributes:'' description, user defined

Other tags:

ArrayElementType

– Used to define the associated object type contained with an Array, most specifically used with a static variable, or function, marked as a DataPoint. Keep in mind that this piece of metadata is not unique to FlexUnit 4, however is required by [ to function properly.

Meta Data Attributes:

expects

[Test(description="Ensure failure when two items are not strictly equal", expects="flexunit.framework.AssertionFailedError")]
public function testAssertStrictlyEqualsFails():void {
     Assert.assertStrictlyEquals( 5, "5" );
}

– adding this bit of metadata to your tag indicates to the runner that there is an expectation for an error to be thrown and if the error specified is caught then all is good, otherwise the test is a failure.

h2 order

[Before(order=1)]
public function setUp() : void
{
     panel = new Panel();
}

[Before(order=2, async, ui)]
public function otherSetUp() : void
{
     Async.proceedOnEvent(this, panel, FlexEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE);
         
     UIImpersonator.addChild(panel);
}

– adding this bit of metadata to your tag sets the sort order for this test in relation to all the tests within the test case. Keep in mind that if you override sorting by setting your own sort then you will have to identify what metadata you're going to use to calculate sorting. If you're looking for more information on setting up your own sorting see Sorting.

description

[Test(description="Ensure that the assertNull function correctly works when a value of null is provided")]
public function testAssertNull():void {
    Assert.assertNull( null );
}

– This bit of metadata on your tag is used generally to explain the functionality of your test method.

<b>Note:</b> Do not include '<', '>', '&', or '%'. signs in your descriptions, since metadata is parsed into xml and will as a result cause an error with your test. Instead you will need to replace them with their markup forms (< > & and % respectively).

timeout

[Test(async, ui, timeout="1000")]
public function eventWasNotDispatchedWithoutClick() : void 
{
     Async.failOnEvent(this, panel, "userEnteredText");
         
     panel.userText.text = "some text";
}

– indicates to the runner that this test needs to be run within the milliseconds indicated otherwise it is a failure.

async

[Test(async, ui, timeout="1000")]
public function eventWasNotDispatchedWithoutClick() : void 
{
     Async.failOnEvent(this, panel, "userEnteredText");
         
     panel.userText.text = "some text";
}

– indicates to the runner that this test needs to be monitored for asynchronous activity.

ui

[Before(async, ui)]
public function setUp() : void 
{
     panel = new Panel();
      
     Async.proceedOnEvent(this, panel, FlexEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE);
         
     UIImpersonator.addChild(panel);
}

– indicates to the runner that this test needs to instantiate new objects for the test environment. This attribute is needed if you wish to use the UIImpersonator class in your function.

User Defined Metadata

[Test(ticketNumber=5543242)]

[Theory(author="Bill Smith")]

– this is any other metadata attribute declared within your tag. This can be used to save information about the test, suite, theory, etc. Most often it is used to store author name or bug issue id. Anything can be added as a custom attribute and will simply act as reference with no effect on other attributes or the parent Metadata tag.

loader

– Indicates the loader instance that that is responsible for providing data to the specified variable.

public static var dataRetriever1:ParamDataHelper = new ParamDataHelper( "someFakeDataPath.stuff" );
        
[Parameters(loader="dataRetriever1")]
public static var someData:Array;

dataProvider

For parameterized tests, a data Provider is used to pass in a set of data from either an external or user specified source.


public static function dataTwo():Array {
    return [ [ 5, 10 ], [ 6, 12 ], [ 7, 14 ] ];
}

[Test(dataProvider="dataTwo")]
public function timesTwoTest( value:int, result:int ):void {
    assertEquals( 2*value, result );
}
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