[FIXED] junit assert in thread throws exception

Issue

What am I doing wrong that an exception is thrown instead of showing a failure, or should I not have assertions inside threads?

 @Test
 public void testComplex() throws InterruptedException {
  int loops = 10;
  for (int i = 0; i < loops; i++) {
   final int j = i;
   new Thread() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
     ApiProxy.setEnvironmentForCurrentThread(env);//ignore this
     new CounterFactory().getCounter("test").increment();//ignore this too
     int count2 = new CounterFactory().getCounter("test").getCount();//ignore
     assertEquals(j, count2);//here be exceptions thrown. this is line 75
    }
   }.start();
  }
  Thread.sleep(5 * 1000);
  assertEquals(loops, new CounterFactory().getCounter("test").getCount());
}

StackTrace

Exception in thread "Thread-26" junit.framework.AssertionFailedError: expected:<5> but was:<6>
    at junit.framework.Assert.fail(Assert.java:47)
    at junit.framework.Assert.failNotEquals(Assert.java:277)
    at junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals(Assert.java:64)
    at junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals(Assert.java:195)
    at junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals(Assert.java:201)
    at com.bitdual.server.dao.ShardedCounterTest$3.run(ShardedCounterTest.java:77)

Solution

The JUnit framework captures only assertion errors in the main thread running the test. It is not aware of exceptions from within new spawn threads. In order to do it right, you should communicate the thread's termination state to the main thread. You should synchronize the threads correctly, and use some kind of shared variable to indicate the nested thread's outcome.

EDIT:

Here is a generic solution that can help:

class AsynchTester{
    private Thread thread;
    private AssertionError exc; 

    public AsynchTester(final Runnable runnable){
        thread = new Thread(new Runnable(){
            public void run(){
                try{            
                    runnable.run();
                }catch(AssertionError e){
                    exc = e;
                }
            }
        });
    }

    public void start(){
        thread.start();
    }

    public void test() throws InterruptedException{
        thread.join();
        if (exc != null)
            throw exc;
    }
}

You should pass it the runnable in the constructor, and then you simply call start() to activate, and test() to validate. The test method will wait if necessary, and will throw the assertion error in the main thread's context.

Answered By - Eyal Schneider
Answer Checked By - Pedro (JavaFixing Volunteer)