How do I run a spring-boot-rest application from a different module eg: in CI build via Maven? - spring-boot

Question

|--Integration tests
|--Spring boot rest application
I have two modules,
Spring boot application is where I have the end points,
it runs on its own embedded tomcat, I want to be able to run it as a part of Integration test's maven build and run integration tests on it.
My question is, is there a way to run spring boot application from a different module via maven?
On Spring boot's website I can only see an example of running a spring-boot application through its own pom by using spring-boot-maven-plugin, but not by running the application as a part of different module by specifiying a jar file with in the execution.

Answer 1

Yes, there are several ways to do what you ask, for example:
use the #SpringBootTest annotation on your test classes (since Spring Boot 1.4);
programmatically start the Spring Boot application from within your test.
The first is my favorite one and the simpler one as well but it only works in the context of unit tests, of course. Here's an example.
Let's assume that you have a class named Application annotated with #SpringBootApplication in your REST module. You can test the endpoints by just defining a test like this inside your Integration test module:
#RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
#SpringBootTest(classes = Application.class, properties = {"my.overriden.property=true"} )
public class RestEndpointTest
{
// ...
}
By doing so, the entire context of the application will start. You can then further configure your test depending on your needs, also overriding some properties (see my.overridden.property).
Alternatively, you can define your own configuration inside the test module, referencing any required class from the other module, for example:
#Configuration
#ComponentScan(basePackageClasses = {BaseClass.class})
#EnableJpaRepositories
#EntityScan
#EnableAutoConfiguration
public class SupportConfiguration
{
#Bean
public ARequiredBean bean()
{
return new ARequiredBean();
}
// etc...
}
and the using it just like you would do with any other context:
#RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration(classes = SupportConfiguration.class)
public class CustomTest
{
// ...
}
The other method would be to programmatically start an instance of your REST application, with something like this:
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
{
try (ConfigurableApplicationContext context = SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args))
{
log.info("Server Started. Press <Enter> to shutdown...");
context.registerShutdownHook();
BufferedReader inReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
inReader.readLine();
log.info("Closing application context...");
context.stop();
}
log.info("Context closed, shutting down. Bye.");
System.exit(0);
}