Android Studio unit testing: read data (input) file

In my case, the solution was to add to the gradle file

sourceSets {
    test.resources.srcDirs += 'src/unitTests/resources'
  } 

After it everything was found by AS 2.3.1

javaClass.classLoader.getResourceAsStream("countries.txt")

For local unit tests (vs. instrumentation tests), you can put files under src/test/resources and read them using classLoader. For example, following code opens myFile.txt file in the resources directory.

InputStream in = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("myFile.txt");

It worked with

• Android Studio 1.5.1
• gradle plugin 1.3.1

Depending on android-gradle-plugin version:

1. version 1.5 and higher:

Just put json file to src/test/resources/test.json and reference it as

classLoader.getResource("test.json"). 

No gradle modification is needed.

2. version below 1.5: (or if for some reason above solution doesn't work)

1. Ensure you're using at least Android Gradle Plugin version 1.1. Follow the link to set up Android Studio correctly.

2. Create test directory. Put unit test classes in java directory and put your resources file in res directory. Android Studio should mark them like follow:

   

3. Create gradle task to copy resources into classes directory to make them visible for classloader:

   android{
      ...
   }
   
   task copyResDirectoryToClasses(type: Copy){
       from "${projectDir}/src/test/res"
       into "${buildDir}/intermediates/classes/test/debug/res"
   }
   
   assembleDebug.dependsOn(copyResDirectoryToClasses)
   

4. Now you can use this method to get File reference for the file resource:

   private static File getFileFromPath(Object obj, String fileName) {
       ClassLoader classLoader = obj.getClass().getClassLoader();
       URL resource = classLoader.getResource(fileName);
       return new File(resource.getPath());
   }
   
   @Test
   public void fileObjectShouldNotBeNull() throws Exception {
       File file = getFileFromPath(this, "res/test.json");
       assertThat(file, notNullValue());
   }
   

5. Run unit test by Ctrl+Shift+F10 on whole class or specyfic test method.

I though I should add my findings here. I know this is a little old but for the newer versions of Gradle, where there is NO src/test/resources directory, but only one single resources directory for the whole project, you have to add this line to your Gradle file.

android {
   testOptions {
      unitTests {
         includeAndroidResources = true
      }
    }
}

By doing this you can access your resource with:

 this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(fileName);

I've been searching for this and could not find an answer, so I decided to help others here.