Testcontainers-java: Being able to set the container name like docker --name

[itudoben]

Hi, thx for such great framework. I just discovered it as I needed something like that.
I would like to be able to name the container other than the generated names docker does.
Right now I overrode it this way:

private static class MyGenericContainer<SELF extends MyGenericContainer<SELF>> extends GenericContainer<SELF> {
    MyGenericContainer(String dockerImageName, String containerName) {
      super(dockerImageName)
      this.containerName = containerName
    }

    @Override
    void close() {
      super.close()
    }
  }

Unfortunately it is set in at this line in GenericContainer.tryStart()

            containerName = containerInfo.getName();

Maybe there is a way to set it - in configure() but gets overriden still - and I have not found it.

Is there a way to do this? Is it something that can be added in future releases?

Thx, long life to TC :)
JH

[itudoben]

Ok, I found the way to do this:

GenericContainer coordinatornew GenericContainer<>(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME)
.withCreateContainerCmdModifier({ cmd -> cmd.withName('coordinator') })

This issue is now resolved, therefore closed.

[kiview]

HI @itudoben, nice that you found out this approach.

Just wondering, what is your use case for naming the container? Keep in mind, a static name can lead to possible conflicts when creating the container, making it problematic in shared environments and in case of paralellization.

[perlun]

Just wondering, what is your use case for naming the container? Keep in mind, a static name can lead to possible conflicts when creating the container, making it problematic in shared environments and in case of paralellization.

A workaround for this is to add a random segment in your name, to have the best of both worlds: container names that more easily let you identify them, but still be reasonably unique. Something like this:

public class RedisContainer extends GenericContainer<RedisContainer> {
    private static final Random RANDOM = new Random();

    public RedisContainer() {
        withCreateContainerCmdModifier( cmd -> cmd.withName( "redis-" + ( RANDOM.nextInt() & Integer.MAX_VALUE ) ) );
    }
}