How to retrieve test method description in TestNG before and after execution?

TestNG supports native dependency injection. It allows to declare additional parameters in methods. At runtime, TestNG automatically fills these parameters with the correct values. Following is a set of native dependencies in TestNG −

ITestContext
XmlTest
Method
ITestResult

These dependencies help to retrieve the description of Test method, if written. A Test method name can be retrieved before or after the execution of the test.

If the user wants to get the description of a test method prior to its execution, then @BeforeMethod can be useful to retrieve it.
If the user wants to know the description of a Test method after it is executed, then @AfterMethod can be used.

The actual code can be written in either of these methods to retrieve the Test method description. @BeforeMethod and @AfterMethod supports all these native dependencies. The full access of these dependencies is given in the following table −

Annotation	ITestContext	XmlTest	Method	ITestResult
BeforeSuite	Yes	No	No	No
BeforeTest	Yes	Yes	No	No
BeforeGroups	Yes	Yes	No	No
BeforeClass	Yes	Yes	No	No
BeforeMethod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Test	Yes	No	No	No
AfterMethod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AfterClass	Yes	Yes	No	No
AfterGroups	Yes	Yes	No	No
AfterTest	Yes	Yes	No	No
AfterSuite	Yes	No	No	No

In this article, we will use Method dependency (in @BeforeMethod) and ITestResult (in @AfterMethod) to show how to retrieve the description of a Test method. However, any of these dependencies can be used for @BeforeMethod or @AfterMethod. The only change will be in import part where the corresponding library should be imported as per used native dependency.

Scenario 1

Suppose the user wants to retrieve the description of a Test method before the execution. In this case, the code will be written inside @BeforeMethod to retrieve the Test method description.

As @BeforeMethod executes each time before the @Test method, the Test method name and description will be printed before execution and after that, the Test method will be executed. In this scenario, we will implement Method dependency.

Approach/Algorithm to solve this problem

Step 1 − Create a TestNG class - OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG and write @BeforeMethod method.
Step 2 − Write the following code inside @BeforeMethod−

public void name(Method method) {
   System.out.println("Test name is " + method.getName());
   System.out.println("Test description is " + method.getAnnotation(Test.class).description());
}

Step 3 − Write two different @Test methods in the class - NewTestngClass.
Step 4 − Now create the testNG.xml as given below to run the TestNG classes.
Step 5 − Now, run the testNG.xml or directly testNG class in IDE or compile and run it using command line.

Example

The following code for common TestNG class - OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG

src/ OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG.java

import org.testng.annotations.*;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
public class OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG {
   // test case 1
   @Test(description="test case 1 to execute")
   public void testCase1() {
      System.out.println("in test case 1 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG");
   }
   // test case 2
   @Test(description="test case 2 to execute")
   public void testCase2() {
      System.out.println("in test case 2 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG");
   }
   @BeforeMethod()
   public void name(Method method) {
      System.out.println("Test name is: " + method.getName());
      System.out.println("Test description is: " +  method.getAnnotation(Test.class).description());
   }
}

testng.xml

This is a configuration file that is used to organize and run the TestNG test cases. It is very handy when limited tests are needed to execute rather than the full suite.

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd" >

<suite name = "Suite1">
   <test name = "test1">
      <classes>
         <class name = " OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG"/>
      </classes>
   </test>
</suite>

Output

Test name is: testCase1
Test description is: test case 1 to execute
in test case 1 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG
Test name is: testCase2
Test description is: test case 2 to execute
in test case 2 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG
===============================================
Suite1
Total tests run: 2, Passes: 2, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

Scenario 2

When the user wants to retrieve the description of test method after the execution. In this case, code will be written inside @AfterMethod to retrieve the test method description.

As @AfterMethod executes each time after the @Test method, test method name and description will be printed after execution of Test method. In this scenario, we will implement ITestResult dependency.

Approach/Algorithm to solve this problem:

Step 1 − Create a TestNG class - OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG and write @BeforeMethod method.
Step 2 − Write the following code inside @BeforeMethod −

public void name(ITestResult result){
   System.out.println("Test Name is: " +result.getMethod().getMethodName());
   System.out.println("Test description is: "+result.getMethod().getDescription());
}

Step 3 − Write 2 different @Test method in the class - OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG.
Step 4 − Now create the testNG.xml as given below to run the TestNG classes.
Step 5 − Now, run the testNG.xml or directly testNG class in IDE or compile and run it using command line.

Example

The following code for common TestNG class - OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG: src/ OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG.java

import org.testng.annotations.*;
import org.testng.ITestResult;
public class OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG {
   // test case 1
   @Test(description="test case 1 to execute")
   public void testCase1() {
      System.out.println("in test case 1 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG");
   }
   // test case 2
   @Test(description="test case 2 to execute")
   public void testCase2() {
      System.out.println("in test case 2 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG");
   }
   @AfterMethod
   public void name(ITestResult result){
      System.out.println("Test Name is:" +result.getMethod().getMethodName());
      System.out.println("Test description is:" +result.getMethod().getDescription());
   }
}

testng.xml

This is a configuration file that is used to organize and run the TestNG test cases. It is very handy when limited tests are needed to execute rather than the full suite.

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd" >

<suite name = "Suite1">
   <test name = "test1">
      <classes>
         <class name = " OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG"/>
      </classes>
   </test>
</suite>

Output

in test case 1 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG
Test Name is:testCase1
Test description is:test case 1 to execute
in test case 2 of OrderofTestExecutionInTestNG
Test Name is:testCase2
Test description is:test case 2 to execute
===============================================
Suite1
Total tests run: 2, Passes: 2, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================