gtest: What is the best way to perform some actions only when the specific fixture must be run?

Question

I have a class derived from ::testing::Test and several fixtures in it. I've also reimplemented SetUpTestCase method which must start the side application needed for those tests. But now I want to add a new fixture which needs that side application to be started with some additional arguments to enable logging. The problem is, I want it to be logged only if I'm sure that the new test is in the run-list and will not be missed, otherwise the logging is not necessary. So I'd like to write something like that:

class MyTest : public ::testing::Test
{
public:
    static void SetUpTestCase()
    {
        std::vector<std::string> args;
        args.push_back("--silent");

        // if (TestLogging fixture will be run)
            args.push_back("--enableLog");

        //Start the side application with arguments "args"
    }
};

TEST_F(MyTest, Test1)
{/**/}
TEST_F(MyTest, Test2)
{/**/}
TEST_F(MyTest, TestLogging)
{/**/}

Is there any way to reach the behavior I expect? Or maybe I shouldn't mess up with SetUpTestCase and there is a better way to do this?

Answer 1

If I understand correctly, at MyTest::SetUpTestCase, that is executed only once for the entire test suite, you want to check if the list of tests to be run include any TestLogging test.

I have found the following way of doing it. It's not very elegant but it seems to work. I've separated the logic in a test_logging() function, which will return true if any TestLogging test should be run for the current MyTest test suite execution:

• Get the current test suite.
• Walk all the tests for that test suite.
• Return true when you find a test whose name starts with TestLogging and should be run in this tests suite execution.
• Return false otherwise.

[Demo]

class MyTest : public ::testing::Test {
protected:
    inline static std::vector<std::string> args{};
    inline static bool test_logging() {
        auto current_test_suite{ ::testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->current_test_suite() };
        for (int i{ 0 }; i < current_test_suite->total_test_count(); ++i) {
            auto test_info{ current_test_suite->GetTestInfo(i) };
            if (std::string{ test_info->name() }.starts_with("TestLogging") and test_info->should_run()) {
                return true;
            }
        }
        return false;
    }
public:
    inline static void SetUpTestCase() {
        args.push_back("--silent");
        if (test_logging()) {
            args.push_back("--enableLog");
        }
        // Start the side application with arguments "args"
    }
};