NSData comparison in test case

Question

Overview:

There is a function f1 that returns NSData.

Is there a way I can write a test case to test a function that returns NSData ?

How do I create the variable expectedOutput (refer code below) ?

Example:

@interface Car : NSObject

- (NSData*) f1;

@end

@implementation Car

- (NSData*) f1 {

    NSData *someData = [[NSData alloc] init]; //This is just an example, the real code has some logic to build the NSData

    return someData;
}

@end

Test Case:

- (void) test {
    Car *c1;

    NSData *actualOutput = [c1 f1];
    NSData *expectedOutput = ??? //How can I build this NSData ?

    XCTAssertEqualObjects(actualOutput, expectedOutput);
}

Answer 1

Steps

1. Write expectedOutput (NSData) to file (one time)
2. In the test case read the file and populate expectedOutput
3. Compare expectedOutput to actualOutput

Step 1:

    - (void) writeExpectedDataToFile {}

        //Write expected data to file (to be done only once)
        NSArray *dirPaths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
        NSString *docsDir = [dirPaths objectAtIndex:0];
        NSString *databasePath = [[NSString alloc] initWithString: [docsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"expected.txt"]];

        [data writeToFile:databasePath atomically:YES];
    }

Step 2:

    - (void) test {
        Car *c1;

        NSData *actualOutput = [c1 f1];

        //Reading from file
        NSBundle* bundle = [NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]];
        NSURL* fileName1 = [bundle URLForResource:@"expected" withExtension:@"txt"];
        NSData *expectedData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:[fileName1.path stringByExpandingTildeInPath]];

        XCTAssertEqualObjects(actualOutput, expectedOutput);
}