TestNG Tutorials 53: DataProvider in TestNG – Is It Mandatory To Have Return Type as Object in DataProvider Method

Hello Guys,

DataProvider method in TestNG is a way to provide test data to Test annotated methods in a TestNG class. A typical DataProvider method looks like as below:

// A data provider method with return type as 2D array
@DataProvider(name = "DataContainer")
public Object[] myDataProvider() {
        return new Object[][] { 
                { "Mukesh", "Otwani", "[email protected]" },
                { "Amod", "Mahajan", "[email protected]" }, 
                { "Animesh", "Prashant", "[email protected]" },
                { "Ankur", "Singh", "[email protected]" }, 
                { "Amritansh", "Kumar", "[email protected]" }

        };

}

You can see that return type of above DataProvider method is an Object array. Is it mandatory to have return type as Object only? Answer is NO. But I see some people understands that it should be Object always which is not correct.

In fact you can have return type of a DataProvider method other than Object as well. If your all data is of type String, use String. See an example below:

package DataProvider;

import org.testng.annotations.DataProvider;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class DataProviderWithReturnType {

 // You must need to mention data provider method name in Test method
 @Test(dataProvider = "DataContainer")
 public void studentRegistration(String First_name, String Last_Name, String Email_ID) {
  System.out.println("Registered student with details: " + First_name + " " + Last_Name + " " + Email_ID);

 }

 // A data provider method with return type as 2D array
 @DataProvider(name = "DataContainer")
 public static String[][] myDataProvider() {
  return new String[][] {
   {
    "Mukesh",
    "Otwani",
    "[email protected]"
   }, {
    "Amod",
    "Mahajan",
    "[email protected]"
   }, {
    "Animesh",
    "Prashant",
    "[email protected]"
   }, {
    "Ankur",
    "Singh",
    "[email protected]"
   }, {
    "Amritansh",
    "Kumar",
    "[email protected]"
   }

  };

 }
}

Output:

[java] [RemoteTestNG] detected TestNG version 6.14.2 Registered student with details: Mukesh Otwani [email protected] Registered student with details: Amod Mahajan [email protected] Registered student with details: Animesh Prashant [email protected] Registered student with details: Ankur Singh [email protected] Registered student with details: Amritansh Kumar [email protected] PASSED: studentRegistration(“Mukesh”, “Otwani”, “[email protected]”) PASSED: studentRegistration(“Amod”, “Mahajan”, “[email protected]”) PASSED: studentRegistration(“Animesh”, “Prashant”, “[email protected]”) PASSED: studentRegistration(“Ankur”, “Singh”, “[email protected]”)

PASSED: studentRegistration(“Amritansh”, “Kumar”, “[email protected]”)

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