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Parasoft Releases New Unit Testing Assistant for Java

• By John K. Waters
• August 8, 2017

Software testing tools provider Parasoft has released a new unit testing tool for Java developers. Jtest Unit Testing Assistant (UTA) for Java is designed to help developers with the creation, assessment, and enhancement of unit tests. The company aims to reduce the "time and learning curve required to create and maintain effective tests" among software development team members.

Jtest is Parasoft's automated testing tool for Java. It's designed to automate a range of practices known to improve development team productivity and software quality. Jtest also integrates with the company's SOAtest solution, which is designed to enable end-to-end functional and load testing for complex distributed applications and transactions.

Mark Lambert, Parasoft's VP of Products, described the new UTA as "the next generation of unit testing technology, designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of valuable JUnit test cases."

JUnit is an open source unit testing framework for Java, part of the xUnit family of unit testing frameworks. It's designed to simplify the process of writing repeatable tests.

"We often hear from our customers that they are struggling to increase the amount of unit testing being performed," Lambert said in a statement, "because their development teams are constrained by both the time and expertise needed to create meaningful unit tests."

The UTA is designed to guide developers through the process of creating and analyzing unit tests, making it simple to construct the test itself, so they can focus on the business logic required to validate the code under test. "By analyzing the code, UTA can create fully functioning unit tests with the click of a button," the company claimed. The goal is to improve existing tests and ensure their quality and compliance with unit testing best practices.

The tool also provides recommendations and "hints" designed to help developers extend and customize high-coverage unit tests. UTA can also be customized to individual developer needs and preferences, and it supports a range or popular dev frameworks.

The list of features in the new unit testing assistant includes:

• The ability to create a runnable JUnit test instantly, and to seamlessly capture code coverage information during execution
• The ability to isolate the code under test from its dependencies with one-click mocking and runtime mocking hints and recommendations
• Immediate feedback on how to enhance and create stable unit tests using runtime recommendations
• The ability to run quickly through multiple test scenarios with parameterized unit tests using mutated input data stored in-code or in external sources (that is, CSV files).
• A bulk test creation feature for multiple classes and methods with a package or the entire project

Based in Monrovia, Calif., Parasoft has been in the software testing and QA business since 1987. The company develops automated defect prevention technologies that support the Automated Defect Prevention methodology developed by the late Adam Kolawa, one of the company's four co-founders. The company's products integrate static and runtime analysis; unit, functional, and API testing; and service virtualization.

A trial version of Jtest Unit Testing Assistant for Java is available on the company's Web site.