different excel sheets for same dataprovider

Question

Is it possible to use different excel sheets for different test methods sharing the same dataprovider in testng

Answer 1

If the method with the @DataProvider annotation accepts a java.lang.reflect.Method as it's first argument, TestNG will pass the currently executing test method as the parameter. For example

@Test(dataprovider="dp1")
public void test1(String str){
//test here
}

@DataProvider(name="dp1")
public Object [][](Method testName){
// testName will be the calling method
// testName.getName(); == "test1"
return new Object[][]{new Object[]{"Cedric"}};
}

Using this, you can create a sheet for each test method and name it the same as the method name. Then your dataprovider can lookup your sheet, and return however many parameters are desired.

Answer 2

Sure, just have your data provider read all the Excel spreadsheets, combine them into one Object[][] and return that object.