diff --git a/test/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/ProjectPropertyTest.java b/test/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/ProjectPropertyTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d328e55dae50889ded75e91e5ae512d962e37561
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+++ b/test/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/ProjectPropertyTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+/* 
+ * This file is part of Artemis
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2013  Genome Research Limited
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+ * of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+ *
+ */
+package uk.ac.sanger.artemis.components;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+
+public class ProjectPropertyTest
+{
+  private HashMap<String, HashMap<String, String>> projects;
+  @Before
+  public void loadProperties()
+  {
+    InputStream ins = 
+        this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("data/project.properties");
+    
+    try
+    {
+      final Properties projectProps = new Properties();
+      projectProps.load(ins);
+      ins.close();
+      projects = ProjectProperty.getProjectMap(projectProps);
+    }
+    catch (IOException e)
+    {
+      org.junit.Assert.fail(e.getMessage());
+    }
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void projectContent1()
+  {
+    // ignore if in headless mode with no x11
+    if(GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().isHeadless())
+      return;
+
+    assertTrue("Styphi project",  projects.containsKey("Styphi"));
+    if(projects.containsKey("Styphi"))
+    {
+      HashMap<String, String> thisProject = projects.get("Styphi");
+      assertTrue("Styphi project sequence",  thisProject.containsKey("sequence"));
+      assertTrue("Styphi project annotation",  thisProject.containsKey("annotation"));
+    }
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void projectContent2()
+  {
+    // ignore if in headless mode with no x11
+    if(GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().isHeadless())
+      return;
+
+    assertTrue("PF3D7 project",  projects.containsKey("PF3D7"));
+    if(projects.containsKey("PF3D7"))
+    {
+      HashMap<String, String> thisProject = projects.get("PF3D7");
+      assertTrue("Styphi project sequence",  thisProject.containsKey("sequence"));
+      assertTrue("Styphi project bam",  thisProject.containsKey("bam"));
+    }
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void launch()
+  {
+    // ignore if in headless mode with no x11
+    if(GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().isHeadless())
+      return;
+
+    try
+    {
+      ProjectProperty pp = new ProjectProperty();
+    }
+    catch(Exception e)
+    {
+      org.junit.Assert.fail(e.getMessage());
+    }
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void writeAndReadProperties()
+  {
+    // ignore if in headless mode with no x11
+    if(GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().isHeadless())
+      return;
+
+    try
+    {
+      final File tmpFile = File.createTempFile("artemis.props", ".tmp");
+      ProjectProperty.writeProperties(tmpFile, projects);
+      
+      final InputStream ins = new FileInputStream(tmpFile);
+      final Properties projectProps = new Properties();
+      projectProps.load(ins);
+      ins.close();
+      final HashMap<String, HashMap<String, String>>
+         tmpProjects = ProjectProperty.getProjectMap(projectProps);
+      
+      for (String p: projects.keySet())
+      {
+        assertTrue("Contains "+p,  tmpProjects.containsKey(p));
+        
+        HashMap<String, String> props = projects.get(p);
+        HashMap<String, String> tmpProps = tmpProjects.get(p);
+        for(final String key: props.keySet())
+        {
+          // test property key (e.g. title, sequence, bam)
+          assertTrue("Contains property "+key,  tmpProps.containsKey(key));
+          
+          // test values
+          assertTrue("Contains property "+key+" = "+props.get(key), 
+              props.get(key).equals(tmpProps.get(key)));
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    catch(IOException e)
+    {
+      org.junit.Assert.fail(e.getMessage());
+    }
+
+  }
+  
+}