At the moment, I'm learning about Unit-Testing and I want to integrate testing to my current (10 files of OpenGL experiments) project. For this purpose I downloaded Boost.Test, and while I can figure out how it works on a single file sample, I have no idea about how to integrate it in my project (I'd like to use static link version).
Are test a different binary from the application itself ? (if it's one binary, how to run it ?) Should I create a test file for every tested class ? How much should my CMakeLists change to reflect this integration ? Is it possible to decouple testing from the application, in a way that I can build my app on a platform where I didn't install boost ?
I know I have many questions, but to put it simply : how is Boost.Test used in real life ?
Weather your project builds a library or executable, I suggest you create an extra test runner executable. In my projects I normally have the following layout:
/mylib
CMakeLists.txt
/inc
ClassA.hpp
ClassB.hpp
/src
ClassA.cpp
ClassB.cpp
/test
ClassA_test.cpp
ClassB_test.cpp
main_test.cpp
As you see there is a test file for every class. This has the main benefit of reducing compilation dependencies. In my CMakeLists.txt I then create my library and the associated test runner
# Get Boost
find_package ( Boost COMPONENTS unit_test_framework )
# Here you set library sources, use file ( GLOB ... ) if you have many
set ( SOURCES ClassA.cpp ClassB.cpp )
add_library ( mylib ${SOURCES} )
if (Boost_FOUND)
# Here you set test sources, use file ( GLOB ... ) if you have many
set ( TESTSOURCES ClassA_test.cpp ClassB_test.cpp )
# This creates the test runner
add_executable ( mylib_test_runner ${TESTSOURCES} )
# Here the tests of the runner are linked to the related library and Boost
target_link_libraries ( mylib_test_runner mylib ${Boost_UNIT_TEST_FRAMEWORK_LIBRARY} )
endif ( )
The file main_test.cpp is only there to automatically generate the main function for the test runner
#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE MyTestSuite
#define BOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK
#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
Then, for example, ClassB_test.cpp might have the following layout:
#include "../inc/ClassB.hpp"
#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE ( ClassBTest )
BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE ( TestFoo )
{
BOOST_CHECK(true);
}
...
BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END() // ClassBTest
So wrapping up:
./mylib_test_runner