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Getting Started

Requirements:

Instancio is packaged as a multi-release JAR and can be used with Java 8 or higher.

It has a single compile dependency on org.slf4j:slf4j-api.

Since version 1.5.0 Instancio supports creating:

  • java.lang.Record classes on Java 16
  • sealed classes on Java 17

Dependencies

There are three dependencies available from Maven central:

Dependency Module Name Description
instancio-core org.instancio.core Core library
instancio-junit org.instancio.junit JUnit Jupiter integration
instancio-processor org.instancio.processor Annotation processor for generating metamodels

The org.instanio:instancio artifact on Maven central is an older dependency that should no longer be used.

instancio-junit

If you have JUnit 5 on the classpath, then use instancio-junit.

It includes a transitive dependency on instancio-core, therefore it is not necessary to import both.

Maven
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<dependency>
    <groupId>org.instancio</groupId>
    <artifactId>instancio-junit</artifactId>
    <version>2.12.1</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
Gradle
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dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.instancio:instancio-junit:2.12.1'
}

instancio-core

If you use JUnit 4, TestNG, or would like to use Instancio standalone, then use instancio-core:

Maven
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<dependency>
    <groupId>org.instancio</groupId>
    <artifactId>instancio-core</artifactId>
    <version>2.12.1</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
Gradle
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dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.instancio:instancio-core:2.12.1'
}

instancio-processor

The annotation processor generates metamodels, which can be used to avoid referencing fields by their names. The annotation processor can be enabled as shown below. Please refer to the Metamodel section of the user guide for examples.

Maven
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<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>${your.java.version}</source>
                <target>${your.java.version}</target>
                <annotationProcessorPaths>
                    <path>
                        <groupId>org.instancio</groupId>
                        <artifactId>instancio-processor</artifactId>
                        <version>2.12.1</version>
                    </path>
                    <!-- include other processors, if any -->
                </annotationProcessorPaths>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>
Gradle
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dependencies {
    testAnnotationProcessor "org.instancio:instancio-processor:2.12.1"
}