SQL | EclipseCon - Eclipse Foundation

Challenges and perils of testing database manipulation code

Csaba Nagy (Software Institute - USI, Lugano)

Do you have tests for your database manipulation code? We know the answer. Developers face many challenges. Do integration or unit tests need to be written? Should mocks be implemented or an in-memory database be used? How should a database be reset or repopulated between tests? These are only a few examples. We briefly introduce an Eclipse plugin to analyze database manipulation code and we show examples of interesting prevalent problems in testing this critical code.

Experience level:

Beginner

All Things Quality & Security

Testing practices of database communication in open-source projects

Csaba Nagy (Software Institute - USI, Lugano)

Database communication has a distinctive role in the codebase. We have to deal with libraries dedicated to specific databases, and we often use query languages such as SQL. It is tempting to avoid touching such code, and when it comes to testing, we face many challenges. To mention only a few examples: Will we mock or use an in-memory database? Do we need to write an integration test or a unit test? How do we know which code is responsible for database communication?

Experience level:

Intermediate

Other Cool Stuff

DBeaver: efficient way to work with SQL and NoSQL from Eclipse IDE.

Tatiana Krupenya (dbeaver.com)

Serge Rider (dbeaver.com)

Most of us, developers, use databases quite regularly.
SQL, NoSQL, flat-files, spreadsheets - it does not matter. We change our databases frequently. But we don't like to change our tools, we prefer to have one solid interface. Best option if our tools are integrated into our favorite IDE.

Experience level:

Beginner

Tools & IDEs