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

StoryPlayer

http://datasift.github.io/storyplayer/

Needle

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

PHP

Java

Category

Unit testing, Functional Testing

Unit Testing

General info

Storyplayer is a full-stack testing framework

Storyplayer follows a TDD testing approach and makes it possible to write end-to-end tests for an entire platform. It has support for creating and destroying test environments on demand

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

By running a 'user story' which is a simple statement that describes one action, and who can perform that action then record of the conversations about this action, this is how you would test front-end functionality and components

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

Yes

By writing a 'service story' which is a 'userstory' except it describes the behaviour of your back-end systems

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

Yes

Storyplayer has fixtures that can create and destroy test environments on demand

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.

Yes

It supports group fixtures

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.

Yes

foreach(hostWithRole()) is a generator allows you to easily perform actions against all hosts in your test environment without having to hard-code the host IDs or hostnames into your story.

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

New BSD License

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)

By using a library like mockery which intergrates well with storyplayer

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

Yes

Storyplayer’s job is to execute a suite of functional tests

N/A

Other
Other useful information about the testing framework