Test Runner for Java ignores @Order annotations on test classes

[demonfiddler]

Symptom: JUnit 5 test classes which reliably run in the correct order with gradlew test run in the wrong order in the VSCode IDE.

System: Windows 10, VSCode 1.96.3, Gradle 8.12, Spring Boot 3.4.1, Java 21.04, JUnit 5.11.4

Use case: In a Spring Boot client-server Gradle project, the integration tests in the client execute against the running server. The server-side database state built up by earlier integration tests is required by the later integration tests and thus the tests must be executed in a specific order. Accordingly, the test classes and methods are annotated with @Order and the configuration property junit.jupiter.testclass.order.default = org.junit.jupiter.api.ClassOrderer$OrderAnnotation is set. Executed under Gradle the test classes and methods all run in the designated order. However, in the VSCode Testing view contributed by this extension, the test classes get executed in the wrong order and some test methods don't run at all because they use the @EnabledIf annotation to check whether requisite client-side state (reflecting server-side state) has been collected by tests that are supposed to have run already but which in fact haven't yet run.

I've scoured the docs, searched the web and asked several AI chatbots about this but haven't found any solutions that work.

Hypothesis: the test runner is embedded in the extension (v. 0.43.0) and is of too early a version to support test class ordering (~JUnit 5.8, I believe).

Is it possible to override the test runner version?

Related issues: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-java-test/issues/1740, #1756

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi @demonfiddler, I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.

The Java Test Runner in VS Code bundles its own JUnit Platform (currently ~5.8.x) and does not expose a setting to override the embedded runner version. As a result, @Order on test classes isn’t honored by the extension’s test executor even though Gradle uses your configured 5.11.4 platform.

Suggestions:

• Use a JUnit Platform Suite to enforce ordering explicitly:

  import org.junit.platform.suite.api.SelectClasses;
  import org.junit.platform.suite.api.Suite;
  import org.junit.platform.suite.api.ClassOrderer;
  import org.junit.platform.suite.api.SuiteDisplayName;
  
  @Suite
  @SuiteDisplayName("Ordered Integration Tests")
  @SelectClasses({TestA.class, TestB.class, TestC.class})
  public class IntegrationTestSuite {
  }
  

  Running the IntegrationTestSuite will honor the declared order in VS Code’s Test Explorer.

• As a simpler workaround, prefix your test class names (or folders) with numbers (01_InitTests, 02_StateTests, …) to force lexical ordering.

Track/support for @Order in the extension:

• Issue #1740: “Support JUnit 5 ClassOrderer.OrderAnnotation”
  https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-java-test/issues/1740
• Issue #1756: “Test class ordering not honored by VS Code runner”
  https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-java-test/issues/1756

Other references with low confidence

• Issue #201: runner ignores @Ignore (unrelated to ordering)
  https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-java-test/issues/201

The team will respond to your issue shortly. I hope these suggestions are helpful in the meantime. If this comment helped you, please give it a 👍. If the suggestion was not helpful or incorrect, please give it a 👎. Your feedback helps us improve!