Question

This is a relatively open question. If I have built an application in a project in Eclipse and I then want to test this project, should I create the JUnit code within the same project or create a separate project. For instance…

ShopSystem maybe the name of my main project – should I create a project called say, ShopSystemTest?

In general – how far “away” should the testing code be stored from the main project folder? If I store the testing code within the main project and then export the main project as a runnable jar it will take the testing code with it, which isn’t ideal…

Suggestions?

Answer 1

While there is no only right way, the usual approach is to keep unit tests in the same project.

You can create a second source folder (like test), where you put your test classes into the same packages as the classes under test. This also allows you to test package-private classes while not flooding your main source packages with test classes.

Your source folder/package structure would then look like this:

-sources
   -main
       -my.package
             -MyClass.java
   -test
       -my.package
             -MyClassTest.java

You can then configure your build to not include the test source folder when packing the JAR.