Does Spring #DirtiesContext reload Spring context? - spring

Question

I have a test class that looks like
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration(locations = {"classpath:/test-context.xml"})
#DirtiesContext(classMode = ClassMode.AFTER_EACH_TEST_METHOD)
public abstract class TestClass {
#Rule #Resource public JUnitRuleMockery jMockContext;
public void test1() {
//Expectations and test
}
public void test2() {
//Expectations and test
}
}
and in test-context.xml I define the JUnitRuleMockery plus several mock objects through a factory-method, like
<bean id="mockContextFactory" class="MockContextFactory" />
<bean id="jMockContext" factory-bean="mockContextFactory" factory-method="getContext" scope="prototype" />
<bean id="firstMock" factory-bean="mockContextFactory" factory-method="getFirstMock" />
<bean id="secondMock" factory-bean="mockContextFactory" factory-method="getSecondMock" />
MockContextFactory is
public class MockContextFactory
{
private JUnitRuleMockery jUnitRuleMockery;
public MockContextFactory() {
jUnitRuleMockery = new JUnitRuleMockery();
jUnitRuleMockery.setThreadingPolicy(new Synchroniser());
}
public JUnitRuleMockery getContext() {
return jUnitRuleMockery;
}
public FirstMock getFirstMock() {
return jUnitRuleMockery.mock(FirstMock.class);
}
//others getter
}
In TestClass I have several test methods and, due to the annotations #DirtiesContext, I am expecting the Spring context to be reloaded after each test execution (since each test sets expectations on mock objects, I have to reload Spring context every time). See #DirtiesContext from here. However, it appears that the Spring context is not reloaded: in fact, entering in debug mode at the beginning of test2 (supposedly test1 has been executed earlier) I can see jMockContext still holding expectations, execution list and errors (if any) from test1.
So, to end up with few questions, does #DirtiesContext really cause Spring context to be reloaded (as I understood from Spring Docs) or did I misunderstand the annotation? In the first case, what am I doing wrong? In the latter case, how can I force Spring context to be reloaded for every test?
EDIT, to delimit the problem: I had a code like the sample above running from few days, then today I created a new test in which I added an expectation which failed. Then, I saw all the other tests in the class failing for the same reason (while they where green until today). Debugging, I found out that jMockContext was never cleared, which means all tests were adding expectations to the same pool: of course, as long as no expectation failed, that was transparent and I did not notice it (test1 adds and passes few expectations, test2 takes a not-empty pool of expectations ALREADY passed and adds its own so there was no problem), but I do not like the previous situation and I would like to start each test with no previous set expectations at all.

Answer 1

Here is my solution. I do not know if this is limited to Spring 3.2 or if it is a general misunderstanding, but simply using #DirtiesContext(classMode = ClassMode.AFTER_EACH_TEST_METHOD) is not enough to cause the entire Spring context to be reloaded for each test. I had to add also the DirtiesContextTestExecutionListener in #TestExecutionListeners.
So, in the end, what worked for me was just to change the annotation of my TestClass to
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration(locations = {"classpath:/test-context.xml"})
#DirtiesContext(classMode = ClassMode.AFTER_EACH_TEST_METHOD)
#TestExecutionListeners({DirtiesContextTestExecutionListener.class})
public abstract class TestClass
Nothing else has to change.