How do I assert equality on two classes without an equals method?

Say I have a class with no equals() method, to which do not have the source. I want to assert equality on two instances of that class.

I can do multiple asserts:

assertEquals(obj1.getFieldA(), obj2.getFieldA());
assertEquals(obj1.getFieldB(), obj2.getFieldB());
assertEquals(obj1.getFieldC(), obj2.getFieldC());
...

I don't like this solution because I don't get the full equality picture if an early assert fails.

I can manually compare on my own and track the result:

String errorStr = "";
if(!obj1.getFieldA().equals(obj2.getFieldA())) {
    errorStr += "expected: " + obj1.getFieldA() + ", actual: " + obj2.getFieldA() + "\n";
}
if(!obj1.getFieldB().equals(obj2.getFieldB())) {
    errorStr += "expected: " + obj1.getFieldB() + ", actual: " + obj2.getFieldB() + "\n";
}
...
assertEquals("", errorStr);

This gives me the full equality picture, but is clunky (and I haven't even accounted for possible null problems). A third option is to use Comparator, but compareTo() will not tell me which fields failed equality.

Is there a better practice to get what I want from the object, without subclassing and overridding equals (ugh)?

Solution 1:

There is many correct answers here, but I would like to add my version too. This is based on Assertj.

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

public class TestClass {

    public void test() {
        // do the actual test
        assertThat(actualObject)
            .isEqualToComparingFieldByFieldRecursively(expectedObject);
    }
}

UPDATE: In assertj v3.13.2 this method is deprecated as pointed out by Woodz in comment. Current recommendation is

public class TestClass {

    public void test() {
        // do the actual test
        assertThat(actualObject)
            .usingRecursiveComparison()
            .isEqualTo(expectedObject);
    }

}

Solution 2:

Mockito offers a reflection-matcher:

For latest version of Mockito use:

Assert.assertTrue(new ReflectionEquals(expected, excludeFields).matches(actual));

For older versions use:

Assert.assertThat(actual, new ReflectionEquals(expected, excludeFields));

Solution 3:

I generally implement this usecase using org.apache.commons.lang3.builder.EqualsBuilder

Assert.assertTrue(EqualsBuilder.reflectionEquals(expected,actual));

Solution 4:

I know it's a bit old, but I hope it helps.

I run into the same problem that you, so, after investigation, I found few similar questions than this one, and, after finding the solution, I'm answering the same in those, since I thought it could to help others.

The most voted answer (not the one picked by the author) of this similar question, is the most suitable solution for you.

Basically, it consist on using the library called Unitils.

This is the use:

User user1 = new User(1, "John", "Doe");
User user2 = new User(1, "John", "Doe");
assertReflectionEquals(user1, user2);

Which will pass even if the class User doesn't implement equals(). You can see more examples and a really cool assert called assertLenientEquals in their tutorial.