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Needle vs TestNG comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between Needle and TestNG?

Needle

http://needle.spree.de/

TestNG

https://testng.org/doc/documentation-main.html
Programming language

Java

Java

Category

Unit Testing

Unit Testing, Intergration Testing, End-to-End Testing

General info

Needle is a lightweight framework for testing Java EE components outside of the container in isolation

Needle reduces the test setup code by analysing dependencies and has automatic injection of mock objects by default. Therefore It will maximize the speed of development as well as the execution of unit tests

TestNG is a testing framework for the Java programming language inspired by JUnit and NUnit

TestNG is similar to JUnit and NUnit but with newer functionalities such as: annotations, test that your code is multithread safe, flexible test configuration, support for data-driven testing (with @DataProvider), support for parameters, powerful execution model (no more TestSuite) and more... It's also designed to cover all categories of tests unit, functional, end-to-end, intergration... etc
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

No

Client-side
Allows testing code execution on the client, such as a web browser

Yes

You can test front-end components and functionality by testing individual front-end classes and functions

Yes

The scope of testing with testNg is wide and you can test various front-end functionalities and behaviours with it
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

You can test back-end components and functionality.one of needles features is database testing via a JPA (Java Persistence API) like hibernate

Yes

You can test server-side functionalities and behaviours with TestNg
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

It has setUp() and tearDown() functions which are mostly used to execute database operations

Yes

Fixtures are inbuilt into testNG, these are the annotations which are: @BeforeSuite, @AfterSuite, @BeforeTest, @AfterTest, @BeforeGroups, @AfterGroups, @BeforeClass, @AfterClass, @BeforeMethod, @AfterMethod
Group fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data for a group of tests (group-fixtures). This ensures specific environment for a given group of tests.

Yes

The setUp() and tearDown functions can be used to define an environment for a group of tests

Yes

You can use various fixtures to setup environments for group tests
Generators
Supports data generators for tests. Data generators generate input data for test. The test is then run for each input data produced in this way.

N/A

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

Apache License 2.0

Mocks
Mocks are objects that simulate the behavior of real objects. Using mocks allows testing some part of the code in isolation (with other parts mocked when needed)

Yes

One of needle's features is automatic injection of mock objects, it supports EasyMock and Mockito out of the box

Yes

By Use of an external library like mockit which intergrates well with testNG
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

N/A

Yes

Multiple test cases can be grouped more easily by converting them into testng.xml file, in which you can make priorities which test case should be executed first
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework