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Test Microflows Using the Unit Testing Module

Last modified: August 19, 2024

Introduction

To smarten up your app with business logic you can use microflows. To verify that your microflow works as expected you can create unit tests using the Unit Testing module. The Unit Testing module provides an easy to use interface to manage and run unit tests. The module supports unit tests that are created using microflows and unit tests that are created using JUnit.

This how-to teaches you how to do the following:

  • Set up the Unit Testing module
  • Create a microflow unit test

Preparation

Before you can start with this how-to, make sure you have completed the following prerequisites:

  • Download Mendix Studio Pro

  • Review the Marketplace components used in this how-to:

    Component Version Used in This How-to
    Unit Testing 8.0.0
    Community Commons Function Library 8.1.0
    Object Handling 3.0.0

The Unit Testing Module

In this chapter you will set up the unit testing module and run the example tests.

  1. Create a new project.

  2. Download the Unit Testing module.

  3. Download the Community Commons Function Library module.

  4. Download the Object Handling module.

  5. Open the Settings of the project:

  6. Click the Runtime tab.

  7. Click the Select button to select an After startup microflow:

  8. Select the Startup microflow from Unit Testing > USE ME > Microflows:

  9. Click OK.

  10. Open the Navigation of the project.

  11. Click New item to add a new item to the menu.

  12. Enter UnitTestOverview in the Caption field.

  13. Select Call a microflow for the On click action, and then select the UnitTestOverview microflow:

  14. Click OK:

  15. Run the project locally.

  16. Go to http://localhost:8080/index.html.

  17. Click UnitTestOverview in the navigation.

    On the left side of the page, two buttons are shown. When you click Run all module tests, all the unit tests are executed (with check mark icons). When you click Reset all tests, the status of the tests change to not executed (with question mark icons).

    Beneath these buttons, the modules that contain unit tests are shown. To begin with and in this scenario, Unit Testing is the only module that contains unit tests. When you click a module, all the unit tests of the module are shown.

    If you want to save all the changes made in the microflow to the database, you need to clear the Rollback microflow tests after execution box. Keep the box checked if you want to roll back all the changes.

    On the right side of the page, the unit tests of the selected module are shown. In this scenario, five main unit tests are shown. When you click Run module tests, all the unit tests are executed. When you click Run test next to a unit test, only that unit test is executed.

  18. Click Run Test for UnitTesting.Test_ValidUnitTest. The color of the test case changes to red if failed and to green if passed:

  19. Click Details for Unit Testing.TestValidUnitTest to see the relevant details of the test case:

Creating a Microflow Test

In this section, you will learn how to create a microflow test. To create a new microflow test in a module, you need to add a microflow with a name that starts with Test. A test microflow should have no input arguments and a Boolean or string as the result type. For a Boolean result type, true means success, false means the test failed. For a string result type, any non-empty string indicates a failed test.

Creating a Microflow

To create the microflow, follow these steps:

  1. Create a new enumeration and name it Level with three enumeration values: Junior, Medior, and Senior.

  2. Open the domain model of MyFirstModule.

  3. Create a new entity, name it Employee, and add two attributes: Name (of the String type) and Level ( of the Enumeration > Level type).

  4. Create a microflow called Promote that looks like this:

Creating a Unit Test

  1. Add a new folder to MyFirstModule and name it UnitTests.

  2. Add a new microflow to the UnitTests folder and name it Test_PromoteEmployeeToJunior.

  3. Add one input parameter to the microflow for Employee.

  4. Add a new Create object activity for the Employee entity and set Commit to Yes.

  5. Add a new Member with John set for Name:

  6. Now, you need to call the Promote microflow with the Employee object you just created. So, add a new activity of the Microflow call type, select the Promote microflow, and enter $NewEmployee for the argument:

  7. Now, the employee needs to be promoted to the right level. Add a new activity of the Microflow call type and select theUnitTesting.AssertTrue1 microflow.

  8. Set the argument of ValueToAssert parameter to $NewEmployee/Level = MyFirstModule.Level.Junior:

  9. Right-click the AssertTrue1 activity you just configured, select Edit caption, then enter Promoted to Junior? for the new caption.

  10. For failed tests, the last step information can be very useful. You can provide this information in your microflow by calling the ReportStep sub-microflow. So, add a new activity of the Microflow call type between Create Employee and Promote and select the UnitTesting.ReportStep microflow.

  11. Set the argument of parameter Message to 'Employee created'.

  12. Add a new activity of the Microflow call type between Promote and Promoted to Junior? and select the UnitTesting.ReportStep microflow .

  13. Set the argument of parameter Message to 'Employee promoted'.

  14. Double-click the End event, select Boolean as the return Type, and enter true as the Return value.

  15. The microflow should look like the model below:

  16. Create three more test microflows as shown below:

  17. Run the app locally and view it.

  18. Click UnitTestOverview in the navigation, and click MyFirstModule in the list of modules that contain one or more test cases:

    This will display all the test cases for MyFirstModule.

  19. Verify the Rollback microflow tests after execution box is checked.

  20. Click Run all module tests. All the test cases should pass.

Congratulations! You created your first unit tests using the Unit Testing module.

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