Hamcrest Matcher compilation difference between Eclipse and javac

Question

I am trying to make use of a custom matcher from hamcrest within the hasItem matcher

  @Test
  public void populatesChildCompanies() {
    final long firstChildId = 2;
    final String firstChildName = "jim";
    final long secondChildId = 3;
    final String secondChildName = "adam";
    final List<Company> childCompanies = asList(createCompanyForRelation(firstChildCid, firstChildName),
        createCompanyForRelation(secondChildCid, secondChildName));
    company.getChildCompanies().addAll(childCompanies);

    final CompanyOverview companyOverview = new CompanyOverview(company);

    assertThat(companyOverview.getChildCompanies(), hasItem(companyRelation(firstChildName, firstChildId)));
    assertThat(companyOverview.getChildCompanies(), hasItem(companyRelation(secondChildName, secondChildId)));
  }

The matcher looks like this

  public static final Matcher<CompanyRelation> companyRelation(final String name, final long id) {
    return new TypeSafeMatcher<CompanyRelation>() {

      @Override
      protected boolean matchesSafely(final CompanyRelation companyRelation) {
        return name.equals(companyRelation.getName()) && id == companyRelation.getId();
      }

      @Override
      public void describeTo(final Description description) {
        description.appendText(format("a company relation with a name of %s and a CID of %s", name, id));
      }

      @Override
      protected void describeMismatchSafely(final CompanyRelation companyRelation, final Description description) {
        description.appendText(format("[%s, %s]", companyRelation.getName(), companyRelation.getId()));
      }
    };
  }

This operates just fine from within eclipse but when built with maven from command line it throws an exception:

[ERROR] CompanyOverviewTest.java:[96,4] cannot find symbol
[ERROR] symbol  : method assertThat(java.util.List<CompanyRelation>,org.hamcrest.Matcher<java.lang.Iterable<? super java.lang.Object>>)

I know this is a type erasure problem, and that it's due to some difference between the eclipse compiler and the command line, but I am unsure of the best way to handle it.

Sgraffito

Cannot reproduce. Which version of JDK do you use? Also, where does hasItem() come from? – Erma

org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasItem() (sorry forgot it was statically imported. Using JDK 1.6.29 I believe. – Sgraffito

Answer 1

the problem happens when the TypeSafeMatcher implementation is an inner class.

Moving the matcher to a single .java file should solve your problem.

Vulgus

this answer saved my day. – Curet

any idea why that is? – Curet

do anyone know why the hamcrest TypeSafeMatcher subclass cannot be an inner class for javac to work when compiled from mvn 'mvn test'? – Delbert

Answer 2

I would compare the JUnit and Hamcrest jars used in Eclipse as well as Maven. Many times Eclipse bundles its own JUnit and Hamcrest jars that are different than you might have defined in Maven pom.xml

Meehan

Answer 3

Maxence is correct - your use of TypeSafeMatcher is the problem. However, if you use CustomTypeSafeMatcher instead it should allow the Maven build to complete successfully.

Dieldrin