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

Question

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:

Answer 1

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));

Answer 2

Using Shazamcrest, you can do:

assertThat(obj1, sameBeanAs(obj2));

Answer 3

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);
    }

}

Answer 4

Since this question is old, I will suggest another modern approach using JUnit 5.

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

With JUnit 5, there is a method called Assertions.assertAll() which will allow you to group all assertions in your test together and it will execute each one and output any failed assertions at the end. This means that any assertions that fail first will not stop the execution of latter assertions.

assertAll("Test obj1 with obj2 equality",
    () -> assertEquals(obj1.getFieldA(), obj2.getFieldA()),
    () -> assertEquals(obj1.getFieldB(), obj2.getFieldB()),
    () -> assertEquals(obj1.getFieldC(), obj2.getFieldC()));

Answer 5

Some of the reflection compare methods are shallow

Another option is to convert the object to a json and compare the strings.

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;    
public static String getJsonString(Object obj) {
 try {
    ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
    return bjectMapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(obj);
     } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
        LOGGER.error("Error parsing log entry", e);
        return null;
    }
}
...
assertEquals(getJsonString(MyexpectedObject), getJsonString(MyActualObject))

Answer 6

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

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