Knapsack Pro

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

Google Puppeteer

https://developers.google.com/web/tools/puppeteer

Needle

http://needle.spree.de/
Programming language

JavaScript

Java

Category

Browser Automation

Unit Testing

General info

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides browser automation for chrome and chromium

Puppeteer runs headless by default, but can be configured to run full (non-headless) Chrome or Chromium; It provides a high-level API to control Chromium or Chrome over the DevTools Protocol

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
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

Most things you can do manually in the browser can be done using puppeteer, therefore you can create a testing environment for your tests to run directly. You can test front-end functionality such as UI testing with puppeteer

Yes

You can test front-end components and functionality by testing individual front-end classes and functions
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

No

Yes

You can test back-end components and functionality.one of needles features is database testing via a JPA (Java Persistence API) like hibernate
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

N/A

Yes

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

N/A

Yes

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

No

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

Apache License 2.0

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

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)

No

Yes

One of needle's features is automatic injection of mock objects, it supports EasyMock and Mockito out of the box
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

No

N/A

Other
Other useful information about the testing framework