I want to test integration of dao-layer with my service-layer in a unit-test. So I need to setup some data in my database (hsql). For this setup I need an own transaction at the begining of my testcase to ensure that all my setup is really commited to database before starting my testcase.

So here's what I want to achieve:

// NotTranactional
public void doTest {
  // transaction begins
  setup database
  // commit transaction

  service.doStuff() // doStuff is annotated @Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
}

Here is my not working code:

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration(locations={"/asynchUnit.xml"})
@DirtiesContext(classMode=ClassMode.AFTER_EACH_TEST_METHOD)
public class ReceiptServiceTest implements ApplicationContextAware {
  @Autowired(required=true)
  private UserHome userHome;

  private ApplicationContext context;

  @Before
  @Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
  public void init() throws Exception {
    User user = InitialCreator.createUser();
    userHome.persist(user);
  }

  @Test
  public void testDoSomething() {
    ...
  }
}

Leading to this exception:

org.hibernate.HibernateException: No Hibernate Session bound to thread, and configuration does not allow creation of non-transactional one here
    at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.SpringSessionContext.currentSession(SpringSessionContext.java:63)
    at org.hibernate.impl.SessionFactoryImpl.getCurrentSession(SessionFactoryImpl.java:687)
    at de.diandan.asynch.modell.GenericHome.getSession(GenericHome.java:40)
    at de.diandan.asynch.modell.GenericHome.persist(GenericHome.java:53)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.invokeJoinpointUsingReflection(AopUtils.java:318)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:196)
    at $Proxy28.persist(Unknown Source)
    at de.diandan.asynch.service.ReceiptServiceTest.init(ReceiptServiceTest.java:63)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:44)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:15)
    at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:41)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:27)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.java:74)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.java:83)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.SpringRepeat.evaluate(SpringRepeat.java:72)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:231)
    at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:50)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:193)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:52)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:191)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:42)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:184)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:71)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:236)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:174)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:49)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:467)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:683)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:390)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:197)

I dont know whats the right way to get the transaction around setup database.

What I tried:

@Before
@Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
public void setup() {
  setup database
}

-> Spring seems not to start transaction in @Before-annotated methods. Beyond that, thats not what I really want, cause there are a lot merhods in my testclass which needs a slightly differnt setup, so I need several of that init-methods.

@Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
public void setup() {
  setup database
}

public void doTest {
  init();

  service.doStuff() // doStuff is annotated @Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
}

--> init seems not to get started in transaction

What I dont want to do:

public void doTest {
  // doing my own transaction-handling
  setup database
  // doing my own transaction-handling

  service.doStuff() // doStuff is annotated @Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
}

--> start mixing springs transaction-handling and my own seems to get pain in the ass.

@Transactional(propagation=Propagation.REQUIRED)
public void doTest {
  setup database
  service.doStuff()
}

--> I want to test as real as possible situation, so my service should start with a clean session and no transaction opened

So whats the right way to setup database for my testcase?