Best way to test Table API and SQL

[Rex Fenley]

Hello

I'd like to write a unit test for my Flink Job. It consists mostly of the Table API and SQL using a StreamExecutionEnvironment with the blink planner, from source to sink.

What's the best approach for testing Table API/SQL?

I read https://flink.apache.org/news/2020/02/07/a-guide-for-unit-testing-in-apache-flink.html however that seems to cover more for specialized functions with DataStreams vs entire Table API constructs. What I think I'd like is to be able to have some stubbed input sources and mocked out sinks which I use to test against my Tables.

Does this seem reasonable?

I did find TestStreamEnvironment and maybe that would be useful at least for running the tests locally it seems? https://ci.apache.org/projects/flink/flink-docs-stable/api/java/org/apache/flink/streaming/util/TestStreamEnvironment.html

Any help appreciated. Thanks!

--

[Timo Walther]

Hi Rex,

let me copy paste my answer from a similar thread 2 months ago:

Hi,

this might be helpful as well:

https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rfe3b45a10fc58cf19d2f71c6841515eb7175ba731d5055b06f236b3f%40%3Cuser.flink.apache.org%3E

First of all, it is important to know if you are interested in
end-to-end tests (incl. connectors) or excluding connectors. If you just
like to test your operators, you can use a lot of the testing
infrastructure of Flink.

If your are NOT using event-time, you can simply use
`TableEnvironment.fromValues()` and `Table.execute().collect()`. This
test uses it for example [1] (it is one of the newer test generations).

Otherwise you can use or implement your own testing connectors, like in
org.apache.flink.table.planner.runtime.stream.sql.FunctionITCase#testStructuredScalarFunction
[2].

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Timo

[1]
https://github.com/apache/flink/blob/master/flink-table/flink-table-planner-blink/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/table/planner/expressions/MathFunctionsITCase.java

[2]
https://github.com/apache/flink/blob/master/flink-table/flink-table-planner-blink/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/table/planner/runtime/stream/sql/FunctionITCase.java#L700


Let me know if you need more information.

Regards,
Timo

On 09.10.20 07:39, Rex Fenley wrote:

> Hello
>
> I'd like to write a unit test for my Flink Job. It consists mostly of
> the Table API and SQL using a StreamExecutionEnvironment with the blink
> planner, from source to sink.
> What's the best approach for testing Table API/SQL?
>
> I read
> https://flink.apache.org/news/2020/02/07/a-guide-for-unit-testing-in-apache-flink.html 
> however that seems to cover more for specialized functions with
> DataStreams vs entire Table API constructs. What I think I'd like is to
> be able to have some stubbed input sources and mocked out sinks which I
> use to test against my Tables.
>
> Does this seem reasonable?
>
> I did find TestStreamEnvironment and maybe that would be useful at least
> for running the tests locally it seems?
> https://ci.apache.org/projects/flink/flink-docs-stable/api/java/org/apache/flink/streaming/util/TestStreamEnvironment.html
>
> Any help appreciated. Thanks!
>
> --
>
> Rex Fenley|Software Engineer - Mobile and Backend
>
>
> Remind.com <https://www.remind.com/>| BLOG <http://blog.remind.com/> |
> FOLLOW US <https://twitter.com/remindhq> | LIKE US
> <https://www.facebook.com/remindhq>
>

[Rex Fenley]

Hello,

Thank you for these examples, they look great. However, I can seem to import

`import org.apache.flink.table.planner.runtime.utils.{StreamingTestBase, StringSink}`

is it because I'm using the Blink planner and not the regular one?

Thanks

On Fri, Oct 9, 2020 at 7:55 AM Timo Walther <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Rex,

let me copy paste my answer from a similar thread 2 months ago:

Hi,

this might be helpful as well:

https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rfe3b45a10fc58cf19d2f71c6841515eb7175ba731d5055b06f236b3f%40%3Cuser.flink.apache.org%3E

First of all, it is important to know if you are interested in
end-to-end tests (incl. connectors) or excluding connectors. If you just
like to test your operators, you can use a lot of the testing
infrastructure of Flink.

If your are NOT using event-time, you can simply use
`TableEnvironment.fromValues()` and `Table.execute().collect()`. This
test uses it for example [1] (it is one of the newer test generations).

Otherwise you can use or implement your own testing connectors, like in
org.apache.flink.table.planner.runtime.stream.sql.FunctionITCase#testStructuredScalarFunction
[2].

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Timo

[1]
https://github.com/apache/flink/blob/master/flink-table/flink-table-planner-blink/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/table/planner/expressions/MathFunctionsITCase.java

[2]
https://github.com/apache/flink/blob/master/flink-table/flink-table-planner-blink/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/table/planner/runtime/stream/sql/FunctionITCase.java#L700


Let me know if you need more information.

Regards,
Timo

On 09.10.20 07:39, Rex Fenley wrote:
> Hello
>
> I'd like to write a unit test for my Flink Job. It consists mostly of
> the Table API and SQL using a StreamExecutionEnvironment with the blink
> planner, from source to sink.
> What's the best approach for testing Table API/SQL?
>
> I read
> https://flink.apache.org/news/2020/02/07/a-guide-for-unit-testing-in-apache-flink.html
> however that seems to cover more for specialized functions with
> DataStreams vs entire Table API constructs. What I think I'd like is to
> be able to have some stubbed input sources and mocked out sinks which I
> use to test against my Tables.
>
> Does this seem reasonable?
>
> I did find TestStreamEnvironment and maybe that would be useful at least
> for running the tests locally it seems?
> https://ci.apache.org/projects/flink/flink-docs-stable/api/java/org/apache/flink/streaming/util/TestStreamEnvironment.html
>
> Any help appreciated. Thanks!
>
> --
>
> Rex Fenley|Software Engineer - Mobile and Backend
>
>
> Remind.com <https://www.remind.com/>| BLOG <http://blog.remind.com/> |
> FOLLOW US <https://twitter.com/remindhq> | LIKE US
> <https://www.facebook.com/remindhq>
>

--

[Timo Walther]

Hi,

everything prefixed with `org.apache.flink.table.planner` is Blink
planner. So you should be able to use those testing classes. The Blink
planner is also the default one since 1.11. In general, I would
recommend to look a bit into the testing package. There are many
different testing examples.

Regards,
Timo


On 31.10.20 00:34, Rex Fenley wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Thank you for these examples, they look great. However, I can seem to import
> `import org.apache.flink.table.planner.runtime.utils.{StreamingTestBase,
> StringSink}`
> is it because I'm using the Blink planner and not the regular one?
>
> Thanks
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2020 at 7:55 AM Timo Walther <[hidden email]
> <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>     Hi Rex,
>
>     let me copy paste my answer from a similar thread 2 months ago:
>
>     Hi,
>
>     this might be helpful as well:
>
>     https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rfe3b45a10fc58cf19d2f71c6841515eb7175ba731d5055b06f236b3f%40%3Cuser.flink.apache.org%3E
>
>     First of all, it is important to know if you are interested in
>     end-to-end tests (incl. connectors) or excluding connectors. If you
>     just
>     like to test your operators, you can use a lot of the testing
>     infrastructure of Flink.
>
>     If your are NOT using event-time, you can simply use
>     `TableEnvironment.fromValues()` and `Table.execute().collect()`. This
>     test uses it for example [1] (it is one of the newer test generations).
>
>     Otherwise you can use or implement your own testing connectors, like in
>     org.apache.flink.table.planner.runtime.stream.sql.FunctionITCase#testStructuredScalarFunction
>
>     [2].
>
>     I hope this helps.
>
>     Regards,
>     Timo
>
>     [1]
>     https://github.com/apache/flink/blob/master/flink-table/flink-table-planner-blink/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/table/planner/expressions/MathFunctionsITCase.java
>
>     [2]
>     https://github.com/apache/flink/blob/master/flink-table/flink-table-planner-blink/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/table/planner/runtime/stream/sql/FunctionITCase.java#L700
>
>
>     Let me know if you need more information.
>
>     Regards,
>     Timo
>
>     On 09.10.20 07:39, Rex Fenley wrote:
>      > Hello
>      >
>      > I'd like to write a unit test for my Flink Job. It consists
>     mostly of
>      > the Table API and SQL using a StreamExecutionEnvironment with the
>     blink
>      > planner, from source to sink.
>      > What's the best approach for testing Table API/SQL?
>      >
>      > I read
>      >
>     https://flink.apache.org/news/2020/02/07/a-guide-for-unit-testing-in-apache-flink.html
>
>      > however that seems to cover more for specialized functions with
>      > DataStreams vs entire Table API constructs. What I think I'd like
>     is to
>      > be able to have some stubbed input sources and mocked out sinks
>     which I
>      > use to test against my Tables.
>      >
>      > Does this seem reasonable?
>      >
>      > I did find TestStreamEnvironment and maybe that would be useful
>     at least
>      > for running the tests locally it seems?
>      >
>     https://ci.apache.org/projects/flink/flink-docs-stable/api/java/org/apache/flink/streaming/util/TestStreamEnvironment.html
>      >
>      > Any help appreciated. Thanks!
>      >
>      > --
>      >
>      > Rex Fenley|Software Engineer - Mobile and Backend
>      >
>      >
>      > Remind.com <https://www.remind.com/>| BLOG
>     <http://blog.remind.com/> |
>      > FOLLOW US <https://twitter.com/remindhq> | LIKE US
>      > <https://www.facebook.com/remindhq>
>      >
>
>
>
> --
>
> Rex Fenley|Software Engineer - Mobile and Backend
>
>
> Remind.com <https://www.remind.com/>| BLOG <http://blog.remind.com/> |
> FOLLOW US <https://twitter.com/remindhq> | LIKE US
> <https://www.facebook.com/remindhq>
>