Unit Tests for SQL
Diomidis Spinellis (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
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Abstract
RDBUnit is a unit testing framework designed to test relational database queries, created out of a need for unit testing them while working on software analytics tasks. It is available as a Python package on PyPI and open-source software on GitHub. RDBUnit tests consist of three parts: setup, query, and expected result, with the input and output defined as table contents. The framework utilizes a domain-specific language (DSL) for test specifications, employs a simple parsing mechanism, and uses a class hierarchy for managing database differences. It evaluates test results through SQL code generated and handled by the database engine. RDBUnit supports SQLite, mySQL, and PostgreSQL, and is implemented as a command-line tool suitable for diverse operating systems and continuous integration environments. It has proved beneficial in identifying subtle bugs and facilitating a focused and efficient approach to experimenting with SQL queries, especially in big data scenarios, signifying the assurance provided by unit testing in SQL-centric tasks.