How to get rid of TemporaryFolder rule in Junit5

Question

I'm migrating unit tests from Junit4 to Junit5. In the test I'm using TemporaryFolder rule from Junit4 API. To keep the test working I added @EnableRuleMigrationSupport annotation:

@EnableRuleMigrationSupport
public final class SomeTest {

    @Rule
    public final TemporaryFolder tmp = new TemporaryFolder();

   // tests ...
}

As I understand, in Junit5 I need to use extensions instead of rules, but I can't find any replacement for TemporaryFolder in Junit5 extensions. Does it exist? How to correctly replace TemporaryFolder rule with extension?

Answer 1

You can use the @TempDir annotation (JUnit 5.4+), described in §2.20.1 of the JUnit 5 User Guide. From the user guide (emphasis mine):

The built-in TempDirectory extension is used to create and clean up a temporary directory for an individual test or all tests in a test class. It is registered by default. To use it, annotate a non-private field of type java.nio.file.Path or java.io.File with @TempDir or add a parameter of type java.nio.file.Path or java.io.File annotated with @TempDir to a lifecycle method or test method.

Note: This extension was added in version 5.4 and is currently (as of 5.7.2) experimental.

Example of using an instance field:

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
import java.nio.file.Path; // or use java.io.File

class SomeTests {

    @TempDir
    Path directory; // must be non-private

}

Example of using a parameter of a test method:

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
import java.nio.file.Path; // or use java.io.File

class SomeTests {

    @Test
    void testFoo(@TempDir Path directory) {
        // do test...
    }

}

Note: Constructor parameters are not supported.

When the directory is created and deleted is described in the Javadoc of @TempDir:

Temporary Directory Creation

The temporary directory is only created if a field in a test class or a parameter in a lifecycle method or test method is annotated with @TempDir. If the field type or parameter type is neither Path nor File or if the temporary directory cannot be created, an ExtensionConfigurationException or a ParameterResolutionException will be thrown as appropriate. In addition, a ParameterResolutionException will be thrown for a constructor parameter annotated with @TempDir.

Temporary Directory Scope

The scope of the temporary directory depends on where the first @TempDir annotation is encountered when executing a test class. The temporary directory will be shared by all tests in a class when the annotation is present on a static field or on a parameter of a @BeforeAll method. Otherwise — for example, when @TempDir is only used on instance fields or on parameters in test, @BeforeEach, or @AfterEach methods — each test will use its own temporary directory.

Temporary Directory Deletion

When the end of the scope of a temporary directory is reached, i.e. when the test method or class has finished execution, JUnit will attempt to recursively delete all files and directories in the temporary directory and, finally, the temporary directory itself. In case deletion of a file or directory fails, an IOException will be thrown that will cause the test or test class to fail.