What is the difference between BeforeTest and BeforeMethod in TestNG

Question

Both annotations runs before the @test in testNG then what is the difference between two of them.

Answer 1

I know there have already been several good answers to this question, I just wanted to build on them to visually tie the annotations to the xml elements in testng.xml, and to include before/after suite as well.
I tried to keep it as newbie friendly as possible, I hope it helps.

My java example is basically just a reformatted version of Ishita Shah's code.

---

BeforeAfterAnnotations.java (assumes this file is in a package called "test")

package test;




import org.testng.annotations.AfterClass;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterSuite;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterTest;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeClass;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeSuite;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeTest;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;



public class BeforeAfterAnnotations
{
    @BeforeSuite
    public void beforeSuiteDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\nThis is before a <suite> start tag.");
    }


    @BeforeTest
    public void beforeTestDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\tThis is before a <test> start tag.");
    }


    @BeforeClass
    public void beforeClassDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\tThis is before a <class> start tag.\n");
    }


    @BeforeMethod
    public void beforeMethodDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\t\tThis is before a method that is annotated by @Test.");
    }


    @Test
    public void testADemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\t\t\tThis is the testADemo() method.");
    }


    @Test
    public void testBDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\t\t\tThis is the testBDemo() method.");
    }


    @Test
    public void testCDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\t\t\tThis is the testCDemo() method.");
    }


    @AfterMethod
    public void afterMethodDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\t\tThis is after a method that is annotated by @Test.\n");
    }


    @AfterClass
    public void afterClassDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\t\tThis is after a </class> end tag.");
    }


    @AfterTest
    public void afterTestDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("\tThis is after a </test> end tag.");
    }


    @AfterSuite
    public void afterSuiteDemo()
    {
        System.out.println("This is after a </suite> end tag.");
    }
}

---

---

testng.xml (testng.xml --> run as --> TestNG Suite)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd">

<suite name="Before/After Annotations Suite">
    <test name="Before/After Annotations Test">
        <classes>
            <class name="test.BeforeAfterAnnotations" />
        </classes>
    </test>
</suite> 

---

---

Output to console

[RemoteTestNG] detected TestNG version 7.0.0

This is before a <suite> start tag.
    This is before a <test> start tag.
        This is before a <class> start tag.

            This is before a method that is annotated by @Test.
                This is the testADemo() method.
            This is after a method that is annotated by @Test.

            This is before a method that is annotated by @Test.
                This is the testBDemo() method.
            This is after a method that is annotated by @Test.

            This is before a method that is annotated by @Test.
                This is the testCDemo() method.
            This is after a method that is annotated by @Test.

        This is after a </class> end tag.
    This is after a </test> end tag.
This is after a </suite> end tag.

===============================================
Before/After Annotations Suite
Total tests run: 3, Passes: 3, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

---

Answer 2

@BeforeTest is executed before any beans got injected if running an integration test. In constrast to @BeforeMethod which is executed after beans injection. Not sure why this was designed like this.

Answer 3

In TestNG

@BeforeMethod - BeforeMethod executes before each and every test method. All methods which uses @Test annotation. @BeforeMethod works on test defined in Java classes.

@BeforeTest - BeforeTest executes only before the tag given in testng.xml file. @BeforeTest works on test defined in testng.xml

Reference:- https://examples.javacodegeeks.com/enterprise-java/testng/testng-beforetest-example/ and http://howtesting.blogspot.com/2012/12/difference-between-beforetest-and.html