Understanding Java JUnit AssertionError

If you make use of the JUnit assert methods from the org.junit package, you will get an java.lang.AssertionError when your test case fails (indicates an assertion has failed)

List of assert methods from org.junit.Assert class

• assertEquals(expected, actual)
• assertNotEquals(unexpected, actual)
• assertTrue(condition)
• assertFalse(condition)
• assertNull(object)
• assertNotNull(object)
• assertSame(expected, actual)
• assertNotSame(unexpected, actual)

Understand with an example:

import org.junit.Test;
import static org.junit.Assert.*;

public class TestJunit {

    @Test
    public void test1() {

        int expectedResult =  20;
        int actualResult = 20;

        assertEquals(expectedResult,actualResult); //pass
    }

    @Test
    public void test2() {

        int expectedResult =  20;
        int actualResult = 19; 

        assertEquals(expectedResult,actualResult); //fails
    }


}

As you can see the test2 method will fail as the expected result and the actual result does not match.

java.lang.AssertionError: 
Expected :20
Actual   :19
<Click to see difference>


	at org.junit.Assert.fail(Assert.java:89)
	at org.junit.Assert.failNotEquals(Assert.java:835)
	at org.junit.Assert.assertEquals(Assert.java:647)
	at org.junit.Assert.assertEquals(Assert.java:633)
	at TestJunit.test2(TestJunit.java:21)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:568)
	at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:59)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
	at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:56)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:306)
	at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner$1.evaluate(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:100)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:366)
	at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:103)
	at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:63)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$4.run(ParentRunner.java:331)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:79)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:329)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$100(ParentRunner.java:66)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:293)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:306)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:413)
	at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
	at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:69)
	at com.intellij.rt.junit.IdeaTestRunner$Repeater$1.execute(IdeaTestRunner.java:38)
	at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.TestsRepeater.repeat(TestsRepeater.java:11)
	at com.intellij.rt.junit.IdeaTestRunner$Repeater.startRunnerWithArgs(IdeaTestRunner.java:35)
	at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:235)
	at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:54)