Separate DB just for JUnit tests in Spring app - spring

Question

I am writing unit tests for my Spring application using in-file HSQL db. I don't want to pollute this db with test data, so I am trying to set up another in-memory HSQL db instance to be used in tests.
In my abstract testing class I import test application context XML configuration:
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration("/testingContext.xml")
#Transactional
public abstract class AbstractDaoForTesting {
testingContext.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:jdbc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/jdbc"
xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx" xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/jdbc http://www.springframework.org/schema/jdbc/spring-jdbc.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop.xsd
">
<jdbc:embedded-database id="dataSource" type="HSQL" />
<bean id="myEmf" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean">
<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
<property name="packagesToScan" value="com.se.micom" />
<property name="jpaVendorAdapter">
<bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.HibernateJpaVendorAdapter" />
</property>
<property name="jpaProperties">
<props>
<prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">create-drop</prop>
<prop key="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect</prop>
</props>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager">
<property name="entityManagerFactory" ref="myEmf" />
</bean>
<tx:annotation-driven />
<bean id="persistenceExceptionTranslationPostProcessor" class="org.springframework.dao.annotation.PersistenceExceptionTranslationPostProcessor" />
<bean id="characteristicDao" class="com.se.micom.dao.CharacteristicDaoImpl"/>
<bean id="functionalityDao" class="com.se.micom.dao.FunctionalityDaoImpl"/>
<bean id="segmentDao" class="com.se.micom.dao.SegmentDaoImpl"/>
<bean id="segmentService" class="com.se.micom.service.SegmentServiceImpl"/>
<bean id="functionalityService" class="com.se.micom.service.FunctionalityServiceImpl"/>
<bean id="characteristicService" class="com.se.micom.service.CharacteristicServiceImpl" />
</beans>
Up to now in-memory HSQL db is working fine in test.
However, as soon as I introduce in my project persistence.xml in src/main/resources/META-INF unit tests start to use this persistence unit and not the one from testingContext.xml.
persistence.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<persistence version="2.0" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_0.xsd">
<persistence-unit name="micomPU" transaction-type="RESOURCE_LOCAL">
<provider>org.eclipse.persistence.jpa.PersistenceProvider</provider>
<class>com.se.micom.dao.domain.Characteristic</class>
<class>com.se.micom.dao.domain.Functionality</class>
<class>com.se.micom.dao.domain.Segment</class>
<exclude-unlisted-classes>false</exclude-unlisted-classes>
<properties>
<property name="javax.persistence.jdbc.url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:file:D:\workspace_java\Micom2\db\micom"/>
<property name="javax.persistence.jdbc.password" value=""/>
<property name="javax.persistence.jdbc.driver" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"/>
<property name="javax.persistence.jdbc.user" value="sa"/>
</properties>
</persistence-unit>
</persistence>
What's wrong with this configuration? Why tests "prefer" to use db defined in persistence.xml?

Answer 1

Your problem is a perfect example for Spring profiles. It is always problematic to have multiple beans doing the same thing in your context at once if you want a certain one to be used.
You should have two different profiles, "prod" and "test", and wrap your bean declaration in the xml config accordingly with <beans profile="XYZ"> ... </beans>. A more extensive example can be found here.
You can then annotate your test with #Profile("test") and it should use the correct database.