Run method before suite in TestNG via XML

Question

I have an XML TestNG suite:

<suite name="mySuite" parallel="classes" thread-count="5">
    <test name="myTest">
        <packages>
            <package name="mypack.*"/>
        </packages>
    </test>
</suite>

and I'd like to run a method every time before the suite.

Is it possible to have something like this:

<suite name="mySuite" parallel="classes" thread-count="5">
    <before-suite>...</before-suite> <!-- Here I want to run a single method  -->
    <test name="myTest">
        <packages>
            <package name="mypack.*"/>
        </packages>
    </test>
</suite>

?

Answer 1

There are 2 options you have:

1. Use @BeforeSuite annotation on your method which you want to run before each suite
2. Implement the ISuiteListener onStart method, add the implemented listener to your xml in the listeners section.

Answer 2

As per the documentation of the TestNG (http://testng.org/doc/documentation-main.html), we don't have an option to specify the before suite method in testng.xml.

As an option, you can use before suite annotation as follows to satisfy the requirement.

public class UtilitiesTest {
     @BeforeSuite
     public void init() {
         // Initialize the system before the test suite.
     }
}

If you refer the documentation, you will find there are lots of annotations such as @BeforeTest, @BeforeClass, @BeforeMethod ... might be helpful.

Note: You can place this class anywhere in the test suite.