Compare two lists of hasmaps in java unittests

Question

What is the most efficient way how to assert in (java, spring) unittests that these two lists of hashmaps are equal?

list1 = [{COUNT=5, AUTHOR=William Shakespare}, {COUNT=1, AUTHOR= Mark Helprin}]
list2 = [{AUTHOR=Mark Helprin, COUNT=1}, {AUTHOR=William Shakespare, COUNT=5}]

I am testing a DAO method (if there are 2 books with the same title in the db, it will count how many entries belong to which author and return a list of maps with the names and counts)

the original DAO method

    public List<Map<String, Object>> countQuotesByAuthor(String title) {
    return jdbcTemplate.queryForList("SELECT author, COUNT(*) as count FROM Quote WHERE title = ? GROUP BY author",
            new Object[] { title });
}

the test method (does not consider the list1 and list2 as equal)

    @Test
public void testCountQuotesByAuthor() throws Exception {
    List<Map<String, Object>> counts = QuoteDAOImpl.countQuotesByAuthor("Winter's Tale");
    for (Map<String, Object> count : counts) {
        Object aut = ((String) count.get("AUTHOR")).trim();
        count.put("AUTHOR", aut);
    }

    List<Map<String, Object>> result =  new ArrayList<>();
     Map<String,Object> shake=new HashMap<>();
     shake.put("AUTHOR", "William Shakespeare");
     shake.put("COUNT","2");

     Map<String,Object> help=new HashMap<>();
     help.put("AUTHOR", "Mark Helprin");
     help.put("COUNT","1");

     result.add(shake);
     result.add(help);

     Assert.assertTrue(new HashSet<>(result).equals(new HashSet<>(counts)));
}

I get error message

java.lang.AssertionError
at org.junit.Assert.fail(Assert.java:87)
at org.junit.Assert.assertTrue(Assert.java:42)
at org.junit.Assert.assertTrue(Assert.java:53)
at com.quotes.QuoteIntegrationTest.testCountQuotesByAuthor(QuoteIntegrationTest.java:86)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:567)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:59)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:56)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestExecutionCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestExecutionCallbacks.java:74)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestExecutionCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestExecutionCallbacks.java:84)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.java:75)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.java:86)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.SpringRepeat.evaluate(SpringRepeat.java:84)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:366)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:251)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:97)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$4.run(ParentRunner.java:331)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:79)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:329)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$100(ParentRunner.java:66)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:293)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:70)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:306)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:413)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:190)
at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:115)
at org.junit.vintage.engine.execution.RunnerExecutor.execute(RunnerExecutor.java:43)
at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.accept(ForEachOps.java:183)
at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$3$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:195)
at java.base/java.util.Iterator.forEachRemaining(Iterator.java:133)
at java.base/java.util.Spliterators$IteratorSpliterator.forEachRemaining(Spliterators.java:1801)
at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:484)
at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:474)
at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:150)
at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:173)
at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluate(AbstractPipeline.java:234)
at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.forEach(ReferencePipeline.java:497)
at org.junit.vintage.engine.VintageTestEngine.executeAllChildren(VintageTestEngine.java:82)
at org.junit.vintage.engine.VintageTestEngine.execute(VintageTestEngine.java:73)
at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:248)
at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.lambda$execute$5(DefaultLauncher.java:211)
at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.withInterceptedStreams(DefaultLauncher.java:226)
at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:199)
at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:141)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit5.runner.JUnit5TestReference.run(JUnit5TestReference.java:98)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:41)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:542)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:770)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:464)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:210)

Answer 1

Depends what you mean by efficient, but if "efficient" means "quickly implemented" here are some quick options.

If you know you don't have duplicates (two identical maps in one or the other list) you can convert those Lists to Sets and then use equals:

new HashSet<>(list1).equals(new HashSet<>(list2))

If you know at least one of them won't have duplicates, additionally check the sizes are the same.

If you may have duplicates in both, you could use Guava's MultiSets.