test/doc/test_organization/test_organization.qbk
Raffi Enficiaud ae01c8387c Documentation updates
- section about command line argument filtering for template test cases
- many typos fixes
- remove reference to bjam
2019-10-31 08:54:50 +01:00

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[/
/ Copyright (c) 2003 Boost.Test contributors
/
/ Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
/ file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
/]
[section:tests_organization Declaring and organizing tests]
If you look at many legacy test modules, big chance is that it's implemented as one big test function that
consists of a mixture of check and output statements. Is there anything wrong with it? Yes. There are various
disadvantages in single test function approach:
* One big function tends to become really difficult to manage if the number of checks exceeds a reasonable limit
(true for any large function). What is tested and where - who knows?
* Many checks require similar preparations. This results in code repetitions within the test function.
* If a fatal error or an exception is caused by any checks within the test function the rest of tests are
skipped and there is no way to prevent this.
* No way to perform only checks for a particular subsystem of the tested unit.
* No summary of how different subsystems of the tested unit performed under in the test.
The above points should make it clear that it's preferable to split a [link ref_test_module test module] into smaller *units*.
These units are the *test cases*, the *test suites* and the *fixtures*.
[variablelist Subjects covered by this section
[
[Declaration]
[The __UTF__ supports several methods for declaring a [link boost_test.tests_organization.test_cases test case].
Test cases can be implemented using free function like syntax or based on actual free function, function object,
that can be defined with or without parameters/data, or as template functions to be run against various types. ]
]
[
[Organization]
[The __UTF__ provides facilities to group several test cases into [link boost_test.tests_organization.test_tree.test_suite test suites].
The test suites can be nested, and the set of test suites and test cases defines the [link boost_test.tests_organization.test_tree test tree],
where the leaves are the test cases.
Besides hierarchical structure the __UTF__ allows you to organize the test tree using [link boost_test.tests_organization.tests_grouping logical grouping]
and [link boost_test.tests_organization.tests_dependencies dependencies]
and provides you with controls to utilize the defined test tree organization the way you want (eg. from command line).
]
]
[
[Attributes]
[It is possible to specify test unit /attributes/ by using [link boost_test.tests_organization.decorators decorators].
Attributes are used for a fine grained control over various aspects of test module execution, such as /logical grouping/,
/dependencies/, /expected failures/, etc.]
]
[
[Setup/teardown test unit actions]
[When several tests shares the same set-up (environment, test data preparation, etc.), the preparation and cleanup code
may be factorized in [link boost_test.tests_organization.fixtures fixtures].
In the __UTF__, fixtures can be associated to test cases, test suites or globally to the test module.
]
]
]
[include test_cases.qbk]
[include test_tree.qbk]
[include decorators.qbk]
[include fixtures.qbk]
[include managing_tests_dependencies.qbk]
[include logical_grouping.qbk]
[include test_enabling_disabling.qbk]
[include semantic.qbk]
[include testorg_summary.qbk]
[endsect] [/ test organization]
[/EOF]