Developing Your First Spring Cloud Contract-based Application

This brief tour walks through using Spring Cloud Contract. It consists of the following topics:

On the Producer Side
On the Consumer Side

You can find an even more brief tour here.

For the sake of this example, the Stub Storage is Nexus/Artifactory.

The following UML diagram shows the relationship of the parts of Spring Cloud Contract:

On the Producer Side

To start working with Spring Cloud Contract, you can add the Spring Cloud Contract Verifier dependency and plugin to your build file, as the following example shows:

Click here to see the code

The following listing shows how to add the plugin, which should go in the build/plugins portion of the file:

<plugin>
	<groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
	<artifactId>spring-cloud-contract-maven-plugin</artifactId>
	<version>${spring-cloud-contract.version}</version>
	<extensions>true</extensions>
</plugin>

The easiest way to get started is to go to the Spring Initializr and add “Web” and “Contract Verifier” as dependencies. Doing so pulls in the previously mentioned dependencies and everything else you need in the pom.xml file (except for setting the base test class, which we cover later in this section). The following image shows the settings to use in the Spring Initializr:

Spring Initializr with Web and Contract Verifier

Now you can add files with REST/ messaging contracts expressed in either Groovy DSL or YAML to the contracts directory, which is set by the contractsDslDir property. By default, it is $rootDir/src/test/resources/contracts. Note that the file name does not matter. You can organize your contracts within this directory with whatever naming scheme you like.

For the HTTP stubs, a contract defines what kind of response should be returned for a given request (taking into account the HTTP methods, URLs, headers, status codes, and so on). The following example shows an HTTP stub contract in both Groovy and YAML:

groovy

org.springframework.cloud.contract.spec.Contract.make {
	request {
		method 'PUT'
		url '/fraudcheck'
		body([
			   "client.id": $(regex('[0-9]{10}')),
			   loanAmount: 99999
		])
		headers {
			contentType('application/json')
		}
	}
	response {
		status OK()
		body([
			   fraudCheckStatus: "FRAUD",
			   "rejection.reason": "Amount too high"
		])
		headers {
			contentType('application/json')
		}
	}
}

yaml

request:
  method: PUT
  url: /fraudcheck
  body:
    "client.id": 1234567890
    loanAmount: 99999
  headers:
    Content-Type: application/json
  matchers:
    body:
      - path: $.['client.id']
        type: by_regex
        value: "[0-9]{10}"
response:
  status: 200
  body:
    fraudCheckStatus: "FRAUD"
    "rejection.reason": "Amount too high"
  headers:
    Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8

If you need to use messaging, you can define:

The input and output messages (taking into account from where it was sent, the message body, and the header).
The methods that should be called after the message is received.
The methods that, when called, should trigger a message.

The following example shows a Camel messaging contract:

groovy

def contractDsl = Contract.make {
	name "foo"
	label 'some_label'
	input {
		triggeredBy('bookReturnedTriggered()')
	}
	outputMessage {
		sentTo('activemq:output')
		body('''{ "bookName" : "foo" }''')
		headers {
			header('BOOK-NAME', 'foo')
			messagingContentType(applicationJson())
		}
	}
}

yaml

label: some_label
input:
  triggeredBy: bookReturnedTriggered
outputMessage:
  sentTo: activemq:output
  body:
    bookName: foo
  headers:
    BOOK-NAME: foo
    contentType: application/json

Running ./mvnw clean install automatically generates tests that verify the application compliance with the added contracts. By default, the generated tests are under org.springframework.cloud.contract.verifier.tests..

The generated tests may differ, depending on which framework and test type you have set up in your plugin.

In the next listing, you can find:

The default test mode for HTTP contracts in MockMvc
A JAX-RS client with the JAXRS test mode
A WebTestClient-based test (this is particularly recommended while working with Reactive, Web-Flux-based applications) set with the WEBTESTCLIENT test mode

You need only one of these test frameworks. MockMvc is the default. To use one of the other frameworks, add its library to your classpath.

The following listing shows samples for all frameworks:

mockmvc

@Test
public void validate_shouldMarkClientAsFraud() throws Exception {
    // given:
        MockMvcRequestSpecification request = given()
                .header("Content-Type", "application/vnd.fraud.v1+json")
                .body("{\"client.id\":\"1234567890\",\"loanAmount\":99999}");

    // when:
        ResponseOptions response = given().spec(request)
                .put("/fraudcheck");

    // then:
        assertThat(response.statusCode()).isEqualTo(200);
        assertThat(response.header("Content-Type")).matches("application/vnd.fraud.v1.json.*");
    // and:
        DocumentContext parsedJson = JsonPath.parse(response.getBody().asString());
        assertThatJson(parsedJson).field("['fraudCheckStatus']").matches("[A-Z]{5}");
        assertThatJson(parsedJson).field("['rejection.reason']").isEqualTo("Amount too high");
}

jaxrs

public class FooTest {
  WebTarget webTarget;

  @Test
  public void validate_() throws Exception {

    // when:
      Response response = webTarget
              .path("/users")
              .queryParam("limit", "10")
              .queryParam("offset", "20")
              .queryParam("filter", "email")
              .queryParam("sort", "name")
              .queryParam("search", "55")
              .queryParam("age", "99")
              .queryParam("name", "Denis.Stepanov")
              .queryParam("email", "[email protected]")
              .request()
              .build("GET")
              .invoke();
      String responseAsString = response.readEntity(String.class);

    // then:
      assertThat(response.getStatus()).isEqualTo(200);

    // and:
      DocumentContext parsedJson = JsonPath.parse(responseAsString);
      assertThatJson(parsedJson).field("['property1']").isEqualTo("a");
  }

}

webtestclient

@Test
	public void validate_shouldRejectABeerIfTooYoung() throws Exception {
		// given:
			WebTestClientRequestSpecification request = given()
					.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
					.body("{\"age\":10}");

		// when:
			WebTestClientResponse response = given().spec(request)
					.post("/check");

		// then:
			assertThat(response.statusCode()).isEqualTo(200);
			assertThat(response.header("Content-Type")).matches("application/json.*");
		// and:
			DocumentContext parsedJson = JsonPath.parse(response.getBody().asString());
			assertThatJson(parsedJson).field("['status']").isEqualTo("NOT_OK");
	}

As the implementation of the functionalities described by the contracts is not yet present, the tests fail.

To make them pass, you must add the correct implementation of handling either HTTP requests or messages. Also, you must add a base test class for auto-generated tests to the project. This class is extended by all the auto-generated tests and should contain all the setup necessary information needed to run them (for example, RestAssuredMockMvc controller setup or messaging test setup).

The following example, from pom.xml, shows how to specify the base test class:

<build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-cloud-contract-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.1.2.RELEASE</version>
                <extensions>true</extensions>
                <configuration>
                    <baseClassForTests>com.example.contractTest.BaseTestClass</baseClassForTests> (1)
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

1	The `baseClassForTests` element lets you specify your base test class. It must be a child of a `configuration` element within `spring-cloud-contract-maven-plugin`.

The following example shows a minimal (but functional) base test class:

package com.example.contractTest;

import org.junit.Before;

import io.restassured.module.mockmvc.RestAssuredMockMvc;

public class BaseTestClass {

	@Before
	public void setup() {
		RestAssuredMockMvc.standaloneSetup(new FraudController());
	}
}

This minimal class really is all you need to get your tests to work. It serves as a starting place to which the automatically generated tests attach.

Now we can move on to the implementation. For that, we first need a data class, which we then use in our controller. The following listing shows the data class:

package com.example.Test;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;

public class LoanRequest {

	@JsonProperty("client.id")
	private String clientId;

	private Long loanAmount;

	public String getClientId() {
		return clientId;
	}

	public void setClientId(String clientId) {
		this.clientId = clientId;
	}

	public Long getLoanAmount() {
		return loanAmount;
	}

	public void setLoanRequestAmount(Long loanAmount) {
		this.loanAmount = loanAmount;
	}
}

The preceding class provides an object in which we can store the parameters. Because the client ID in the contract is called client.id, we need to use the @JsonProperty("client.id") parameter to map it to the clientId field.

Now we can move along to the controller, which the following listing shows:

package com.example.docTest;

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PutMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
public class FraudController {

	@PutMapping(value = "/fraudcheck", consumes="application/json", produces="application/json")
	public String check(@RequestBody LoanRequest loanRequest) { (1)

		if (loanRequest.getLoanAmount() > 10000) { (2)
			return "{fraudCheckStatus: FRAUD, rejection.reason: Amount too high}"; (3)
		} else {
			return "{fraudCheckStatus: OK, acceptance.reason: Amount OK}"; (4)
		}
	}
}

1	We map the incoming parameters to a `LoanRequest` object.
2	We check the requested loan amount to see if it is too much.
3	If it is too much, we return the JSON (created with a simple string here) that the test expects.
4	If we had a test to catch when the amount is allowable, we could match it to this output.

The FraudController is about as simple as things get. You can do much more, including logging, validating the client ID, and so on.

Once the implementation and the test base class are in place, the tests pass, and both the application and the stub artifacts are built and installed in the local Maven repository. Information about installing the stubs jar to the local repository appears in the logs, as the following example shows:

[INFO] --- spring-cloud-contract-maven-plugin:1.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT:generateStubs (default-generateStubs) @ http-server ---
[INFO] Building jar: /some/path/http-server/target/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-stubs.jar
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-jar-plugin:2.6:jar (default-jar) @ http-server ---
[INFO] Building jar: /some/path/http-server/target/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
[INFO]
[INFO] --- spring-boot-maven-plugin:1.5.5.BUILD-SNAPSHOT:repackage (default) @ http-server ---
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-install-plugin:2.5.2:install (default-install) @ http-server ---
[INFO] Installing /some/path/http-server/target/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar to /path/to/your/.m2/repository/com/example/http-server/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
[INFO] Installing /some/path/http-server/pom.xml to /path/to/your/.m2/repository/com/example/http-server/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.pom
[INFO] Installing /some/path/http-server/target/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-stubs.jar to /path/to/your/.m2/repository/com/example/http-server/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-stubs.jar

You can now merge the changes and publish both the application and the stub artifacts in an online repository.

On the Consumer Side

You can use Spring Cloud Contract Stub Runner in the integration tests to get a running WireMock instance or messaging route that simulates the actual service.

To get started, add the dependency to Spring Cloud Contract Stub Runner, as follows:

Click here to see the code

You can get the Producer-side stubs installed in your Maven repository in either of two ways:

By checking out the Producer side repository and adding contracts and generating the stubs by running the following commands:
```
$ cd local-http-server-repo
$ ./mvnw clean install -DskipTests
```
The tests are skipped because the Producer-side contract implementation is not yet in place, so the automatically-generated contract tests fail.
By getting existing producer service stubs from a remote repository. To do so, pass the stub artifact IDs and artifact repository URL as Spring Cloud Contract Stub Runner properties, as the following example shows:

Click here to see the code

Now you can annotate your test class with @AutoConfigureStubRunner. In the annotation, provide the group-id and artifact-id for Spring Cloud Contract Stub Runner to run the collaborators' stubs for you, as the following example shows:

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@SpringBootTest(webEnvironment=WebEnvironment.NONE)
@AutoConfigureStubRunner(ids = {"com.example:http-server-dsl:+:stubs:6565"},
		stubsMode = StubRunnerProperties.StubsMode.LOCAL)
public class LoanApplicationServiceTests {
	. . .
}

Use the REMOTE stubsMode when downloading stubs from an online repository and LOCAL for offline work.

In your integration test, you can receive stubbed versions of HTTP responses or messages that are expected to be emitted by the collaborator service. You can see entries similar to the following in the build logs:

2016-07-19 14:22:25.403  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.AetherStubDownloader  : Desired version is + - will try to resolve the latest version
2016-07-19 14:22:25.438  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.AetherStubDownloader  : Resolved version is 0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
2016-07-19 14:22:25.439  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.AetherStubDownloader  : Resolving artifact com.example:http-server:jar:stubs:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT using remote repositories []
2016-07-19 14:22:25.451  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.AetherStubDownloader  : Resolved artifact com.example:http-server:jar:stubs:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT to /path/to/your/.m2/repository/com/example/http-server/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-stubs.jar
2016-07-19 14:22:25.465  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.AetherStubDownloader  : Unpacking stub from JAR [URI: file:/path/to/your/.m2/repository/com/example/http-server/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/http-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-stubs.jar]
2016-07-19 14:22:25.475  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.AetherStubDownloader  : Unpacked file to [/var/folders/0p/xwq47sq106x1_g3dtv6qfm940000gq/T/contracts100276532569594265]
2016-07-19 14:22:27.737  INFO 41050 --- [           main] o.s.c.c.stubrunner.StubRunnerExecutor    : All stubs are now running RunningStubs [namesAndPorts={com.example:http-server:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT:stubs=8080}]