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SpecFlow vs ExUnit comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between SpecFlow and ExUnit?

SpecFlow

https://specflow.org/

ExUnit

https://hexdocs.pm/ex_unit/ExUnit.html
Programming language

.NET

Elixir

Category

Acceptance Testing

Unit Testing

General info

SpecFlow is a test automation solution for .NET

SpecFlow is a test automation solution for .NET which follows the BDD paradigm, and is part of the Cucumber family. SpecFlow tests are written with Gherkin, using the official Gherkin parser which allows you to write test cases using natural languages and supports over 70 languages.

Unit testing framework for Elixir.

Elixir comes bundled with ExUnit allowing developers to use all elixir features without compromising unit tests. It uses a TDD workflow, and shows one message per test
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

Yes

xUnit has the ExUnit framework as an instance
Client-side
Allows testing code execution on the client, such as a web browser

Yes

Front-end behaviour is tested. With specflow specifications of the expected behaviours are made and specflow tests against this

Yes

Front-end code can be tested using ExUnit, Phoenix front-end framework for Elixir uses ExUnit as the default testing framework
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

Back-end behaviour is tested. Specifications of the expected behaviours are made and specflow tests against them

Yes

ExUnit tests backend code. Typically Unit tests will be written not to interact with the browser, but with ExUnit you can test whichever part of your application
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

BeforeTestRun and AfterTestRun are executed once for each thread which is a limitation of the current architecture.

Yes

ExUnit has a library called ExUnitFixtures fixtures are functions that are run before a test is run to setup the test environment or provide the test with data
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

Group fixures are possible with this library
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.

Yes

SpecFlow contains a generator component. The SpecFlow IDE integration tries to locate the generator component in your project structure, in order to use the generator version matching the SpecFlow runtime in your project

Yes

Generators are found in the StreamData module
Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

BSD license

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

Specflow intergrates well with mock to give it excellent mocking capabilities

Yes

Mocks are available for use with ExUnit through the Mock module. Also available through the use of third party libraries like mecktest
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

You can create test suites with specflow

Yes

Using the 'describe' function which goups tests together. Every describe block recieves a name which is used as a prefix for upcoming tests
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework