How to unit test production routes in Apache Camel?

Assuming the RouteBuilder class has hardcoded endpoints then its a bit tougher to test. However if the RouteBuilder using the property placeholder for endpoint uris, then you often will be able to use a different set of endpoint uris for unit tests. As explained in chapter 6 of the Camel book.

If they are hardcoded then you can use the advice with feature in your unit test as shown here: https://camel.apache.org/components/latest/others/test-cdi.html#CDITesting-RoutesadvisingwithadviceWith

In Camel 2.7 we made it possible to manipulate the route much easier, so you can remove parts, replace parts, etc. Thats the weaving stuff that link talks about.

For example to simulate sending a message to a database endpoint, you can use that above and replace the to with another where you send it to a mock instead.

In previous releases you can use the interceptSendToEndpoint trick, which is also covered in the Camel book (section 6.3.3)

Oh you can also replace components with mock component as shown on page 169. Now in Camel 2.8 onwards the mock component will no longer complain about uri parameters it doesnt know. That means its much easier to replace components with mocks on a per component level.

I have

   <bean id="properties" class="org.apache.camel.component.properties.PropertiesComponent">
        <property name="location" value="classpath:shop.properties"/>
    </bean>

    <route>
        <from uri="direct://stock"/>
        <to uri="{{stock.out}}"/>
    </route>

in my spring file and then in the shop.properties on the test class path i have a stock.out=xxxx which is replaced at runtime so i can have to different routes one for runtime and one for test

theres a better example in 6.1.6 unit testing in multiple environments