771 lines
31 KiB
Markdown
771 lines
31 KiB
Markdown
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# Googletest FAQ
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## Why should test suite names and test names not contain underscore?
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Underscore (`_`) is special, as C++ reserves the following to be used by the
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compiler and the standard library:
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1. any identifier that starts with an `_` followed by an upper-case letter, and
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1. any identifier that contains two consecutive underscores (i.e. `__`)
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*anywhere* in its name.
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User code is *prohibited* from using such identifiers.
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Now let's look at what this means for `TEST` and `TEST_F`.
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Currently `TEST(TestSuiteName, TestName)` generates a class named
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`TestSuiteName_TestName_Test`. What happens if `TestSuiteName` or `TestName`
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contains `_`?
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1. If `TestSuiteName` starts with an `_` followed by an upper-case letter (say,
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`_Foo`), we end up with `_Foo_TestName_Test`, which is reserved and thus
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invalid.
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1. If `TestSuiteName` ends with an `_` (say, `Foo_`), we get
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`Foo__TestName_Test`, which is invalid.
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1. If `TestName` starts with an `_` (say, `_Bar`), we get
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`TestSuiteName__Bar_Test`, which is invalid.
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1. If `TestName` ends with an `_` (say, `Bar_`), we get
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`TestSuiteName_Bar__Test`, which is invalid.
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So clearly `TestSuiteName` and `TestName` cannot start or end with `_` (Actually,
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`TestSuiteName` can start with `_` -- as long as the `_` isn't followed by an
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upper-case letter. But that's getting complicated. So for simplicity we just say
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that it cannot start with `_`.).
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It may seem fine for `TestSuiteName` and `TestName` to contain `_` in the middle.
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However, consider this:
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```c++
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TEST(Time, Flies_Like_An_Arrow) { ... }
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TEST(Time_Flies, Like_An_Arrow) { ... }
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```
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Now, the two `TEST`s will both generate the same class
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(`Time_Flies_Like_An_Arrow_Test`). That's not good.
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So for simplicity, we just ask the users to avoid `_` in `TestSuiteName` and
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`TestName`. The rule is more constraining than necessary, but it's simple and
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easy to remember. It also gives googletest some wiggle room in case its
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implementation needs to change in the future.
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If you violate the rule, there may not be immediate consequences, but your test
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may (just may) break with a new compiler (or a new version of the compiler you
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are using) or with a new version of googletest. Therefore it's best to follow
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the rule.
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## Why does googletest support `EXPECT_EQ(NULL, ptr)` and `ASSERT_EQ(NULL, ptr)` but not `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)` and `ASSERT_NE(NULL, ptr)`?
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First of all you can use `EXPECT_NE(nullptr, ptr)` and `ASSERT_NE(nullptr,
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ptr)`. This is the preferred syntax in the style guide because nullptr does not
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have the type problems that NULL does. Which is why NULL does not work.
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Due to some peculiarity of C++, it requires some non-trivial template meta
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programming tricks to support using `NULL` as an argument of the `EXPECT_XX()`
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and `ASSERT_XX()` macros. Therefore we only do it where it's most needed
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(otherwise we make the implementation of googletest harder to maintain and more
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error-prone than necessary).
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The `EXPECT_EQ()` macro takes the *expected* value as its first argument and the
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*actual* value as the second. It's reasonable that someone wants to write
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`EXPECT_EQ(NULL, some_expression)`, and this indeed was requested several times.
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Therefore we implemented it.
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The need for `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)` isn't nearly as strong. When the assertion
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fails, you already know that `ptr` must be `NULL`, so it doesn't add any
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information to print `ptr` in this case. That means `EXPECT_TRUE(ptr != NULL)`
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works just as well.
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If we were to support `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)`, for consistency we'll have to
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support `EXPECT_NE(ptr, NULL)` as well, as unlike `EXPECT_EQ`, we don't have a
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convention on the order of the two arguments for `EXPECT_NE`. This means using
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the template meta programming tricks twice in the implementation, making it even
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harder to understand and maintain. We believe the benefit doesn't justify the
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cost.
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Finally, with the growth of the gMock matcher library, we are encouraging people
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to use the unified `EXPECT_THAT(value, matcher)` syntax more often in tests. One
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significant advantage of the matcher approach is that matchers can be easily
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combined to form new matchers, while the `EXPECT_NE`, etc, macros cannot be
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easily combined. Therefore we want to invest more in the matchers than in the
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`EXPECT_XX()` macros.
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## I need to test that different implementations of an interface satisfy some common requirements. Should I use typed tests or value-parameterized tests?
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For testing various implementations of the same interface, either typed tests or
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value-parameterized tests can get it done. It's really up to you the user to
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decide which is more convenient for you, depending on your particular case. Some
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rough guidelines:
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* Typed tests can be easier to write if instances of the different
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implementations can be created the same way, modulo the type. For example,
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if all these implementations have a public default constructor (such that
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you can write `new TypeParam`), or if their factory functions have the same
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form (e.g. `CreateInstance<TypeParam>()`).
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* Value-parameterized tests can be easier to write if you need different code
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patterns to create different implementations' instances, e.g. `new Foo` vs
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`new Bar(5)`. To accommodate for the differences, you can write factory
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function wrappers and pass these function pointers to the tests as their
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parameters.
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* When a typed test fails, the output includes the name of the type, which can
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help you quickly identify which implementation is wrong. Value-parameterized
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tests cannot do this, so there you'll have to look at the iteration number
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to know which implementation the failure is from, which is less direct.
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* If you make a mistake writing a typed test, the compiler errors can be
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harder to digest, as the code is templatized.
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* When using typed tests, you need to make sure you are testing against the
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interface type, not the concrete types (in other words, you want to make
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sure `implicit_cast<MyInterface*>(my_concrete_impl)` works, not just that
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`my_concrete_impl` works). It's less likely to make mistakes in this area
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when using value-parameterized tests.
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I hope I didn't confuse you more. :-) If you don't mind, I'd suggest you to give
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both approaches a try. Practice is a much better way to grasp the subtle
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differences between the two tools. Once you have some concrete experience, you
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can much more easily decide which one to use the next time.
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## My death tests became very slow - what happened?
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In August 2008 we had to switch the default death test style from `fast` to
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`threadsafe`, as the former is no longer safe now that threaded logging is the
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default. This caused many death tests to slow down. Unfortunately this change
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was necessary.
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Please read [Fixing Failing Death Tests](advanced.md#death-test-styles) for what you can
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do.
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## I got some run-time errors about invalid proto descriptors when using `ProtocolMessageEquals`. Help!
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**Note:** `ProtocolMessageEquals` and `ProtocolMessageEquiv` are *deprecated*
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now. Please use `EqualsProto`, etc instead.
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`ProtocolMessageEquals` and `ProtocolMessageEquiv` were redefined recently and
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are now less tolerant on invalid protocol buffer definitions. In particular, if
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you have a `foo.proto` that doesn't fully qualify the type of a protocol message
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it references (e.g. `message<Bar>` where it should be `message<blah.Bar>`), you
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will now get run-time errors like:
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```
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... descriptor.cc:...] Invalid proto descriptor for file "path/to/foo.proto":
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... descriptor.cc:...] blah.MyMessage.my_field: ".Bar" is not defined.
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```
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If you see this, your `.proto` file is broken and needs to be fixed by making
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the types fully qualified. The new definition of `ProtocolMessageEquals` and
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`ProtocolMessageEquiv` just happen to reveal your bug.
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## My death test modifies some state, but the change seems lost after the death test finishes. Why?
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Death tests (`EXPECT_DEATH`, etc) are executed in a sub-process s.t. the
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expected crash won't kill the test program (i.e. the parent process). As a
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result, any in-memory side effects they incur are observable in their respective
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sub-processes, but not in the parent process. You can think of them as running
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in a parallel universe, more or less.
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In particular, if you use [gMock](../../googlemock) and the death test statement
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invokes some mock methods, the parent process will think the calls have never
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occurred. Therefore, you may want to move your `EXPECT_CALL` statements inside
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the `EXPECT_DEATH` macro.
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## EXPECT_EQ(htonl(blah), blah_blah) generates weird compiler errors in opt mode. Is this a googletest bug?
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Actually, the bug is in `htonl()`.
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According to `'man htonl'`, `htonl()` is a *function*, which means it's valid to
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use `htonl` as a function pointer. However, in opt mode `htonl()` is defined as
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a *macro*, which breaks this usage.
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Worse, the macro definition of `htonl()` uses a `gcc` extension and is *not*
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standard C++. That hacky implementation has some ad hoc limitations. In
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particular, it prevents you from writing `Foo<sizeof(htonl(x))>()`, where `Foo`
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is a template that has an integral argument.
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The implementation of `EXPECT_EQ(a, b)` uses `sizeof(... a ...)` inside a
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template argument, and thus doesn't compile in opt mode when `a` contains a call
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to `htonl()`. It is difficult to make `EXPECT_EQ` bypass the `htonl()` bug, as
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the solution must work with different compilers on various platforms.
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`htonl()` has some other problems as described in `//util/endian/endian.h`,
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which defines `ghtonl()` to replace it. `ghtonl()` does the same thing `htonl()`
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does, only without its problems. We suggest you to use `ghtonl()` instead of
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`htonl()`, both in your tests and production code.
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`//util/endian/endian.h` also defines `ghtons()`, which solves similar problems
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in `htons()`.
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Don't forget to add `//util/endian` to the list of dependencies in the `BUILD`
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file wherever `ghtonl()` and `ghtons()` are used. The library consists of a
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single header file and will not bloat your binary.
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## The compiler complains about "undefined references" to some static const member variables, but I did define them in the class body. What's wrong?
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If your class has a static data member:
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```c++
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// foo.h
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class Foo {
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...
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static const int kBar = 100;
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};
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```
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You also need to define it *outside* of the class body in `foo.cc`:
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```c++
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const int Foo::kBar; // No initializer here.
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```
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Otherwise your code is **invalid C++**, and may break in unexpected ways. In
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particular, using it in googletest comparison assertions (`EXPECT_EQ`, etc) will
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generate an "undefined reference" linker error. The fact that "it used to work"
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doesn't mean it's valid. It just means that you were lucky. :-)
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## Can I derive a test fixture from another?
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Yes.
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Each test fixture has a corresponding and same named test case. This means only
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one test case can use a particular fixture. Sometimes, however, multiple test
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cases may want to use the same or slightly different fixtures. For example, you
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may want to make sure that all of a GUI library's test cases don't leak
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important system resources like fonts and brushes.
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In googletest, you share a fixture among test cases by putting the shared logic
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in a base test fixture, then deriving from that base a separate fixture for each
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test case that wants to use this common logic. You then use `TEST_F()` to write
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tests using each derived fixture.
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Typically, your code looks like this:
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```c++
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// Defines a base test fixture.
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class BaseTest : public ::testing::Test {
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protected:
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...
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};
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// Derives a fixture FooTest from BaseTest.
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class FooTest : public BaseTest {
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protected:
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void SetUp() override {
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BaseTest::SetUp(); // Sets up the base fixture first.
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... additional set-up work ...
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}
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void TearDown() override {
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... clean-up work for FooTest ...
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BaseTest::TearDown(); // Remember to tear down the base fixture
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// after cleaning up FooTest!
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}
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... functions and variables for FooTest ...
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};
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// Tests that use the fixture FooTest.
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TEST_F(FooTest, Bar) { ... }
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TEST_F(FooTest, Baz) { ... }
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... additional fixtures derived from BaseTest ...
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```
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If necessary, you can continue to derive test fixtures from a derived fixture.
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googletest has no limit on how deep the hierarchy can be.
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For a complete example using derived test fixtures, see [googletest
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sample](https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/samples/sample5_unittest.cc)
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## My compiler complains "void value not ignored as it ought to be." What does this mean?
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You're probably using an `ASSERT_*()` in a function that doesn't return `void`.
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`ASSERT_*()` can only be used in `void` functions, due to exceptions being
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disabled by our build system. Please see more details
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[here](advanced.md#assertion-placement).
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## My death test hangs (or seg-faults). How do I fix it?
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In googletest, death tests are run in a child process and the way they work is
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delicate. To write death tests you really need to understand how they work.
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Please make sure you have read [this](advanced.md#how-it-works).
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In particular, death tests don't like having multiple threads in the parent
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process. So the first thing you can try is to eliminate creating threads outside
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of `EXPECT_DEATH()`. For example, you may want to use [mocks](../../googlemock)
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or fake objects instead of real ones in your tests.
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Sometimes this is impossible as some library you must use may be creating
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threads before `main()` is even reached. In this case, you can try to minimize
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the chance of conflicts by either moving as many activities as possible inside
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`EXPECT_DEATH()` (in the extreme case, you want to move everything inside), or
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leaving as few things as possible in it. Also, you can try to set the death test
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style to `"threadsafe"`, which is safer but slower, and see if it helps.
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If you go with thread-safe death tests, remember that they rerun the test
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program from the beginning in the child process. Therefore make sure your
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program can run side-by-side with itself and is deterministic.
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In the end, this boils down to good concurrent programming. You have to make
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sure that there is no race conditions or dead locks in your program. No silver
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bullet - sorry!
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## Should I use the constructor/destructor of the test fixture or SetUp()/TearDown()?
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The first thing to remember is that googletest does **not** reuse the same test
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fixture object across multiple tests. For each `TEST_F`, googletest will create
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a **fresh** test fixture object, immediately call `SetUp()`, run the test body,
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call `TearDown()`, and then delete the test fixture object.
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When you need to write per-test set-up and tear-down logic, you have the choice
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between using the test fixture constructor/destructor or `SetUp()/TearDown()`.
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The former is usually preferred, as it has the following benefits:
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* By initializing a member variable in the constructor, we have the option to
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make it `const`, which helps prevent accidental changes to its value and
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makes the tests more obviously correct.
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* In case we need to subclass the test fixture class, the subclass'
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constructor is guaranteed to call the base class' constructor *first*, and
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the subclass' destructor is guaranteed to call the base class' destructor
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*afterward*. With `SetUp()/TearDown()`, a subclass may make the mistake of
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forgetting to call the base class' `SetUp()/TearDown()` or call them at the
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wrong time.
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You may still want to use `SetUp()/TearDown()` in the following rare cases:
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* In the body of a constructor (or destructor), it's not possible to use the
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`ASSERT_xx` macros. Therefore, if the set-up operation could cause a fatal
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test failure that should prevent the test from running, it's necessary to
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use a `CHECK` macro or to use `SetUp()` instead of a constructor.
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* If the tear-down operation could throw an exception, you must use
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`TearDown()` as opposed to the destructor, as throwing in a destructor leads
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to undefined behavior and usually will kill your program right away. Note
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that many standard libraries (like STL) may throw when exceptions are
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enabled in the compiler. Therefore you should prefer `TearDown()` if you
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want to write portable tests that work with or without exceptions.
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* The googletest team is considering making the assertion macros throw on
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platforms where exceptions are enabled (e.g. Windows, Mac OS, and Linux
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client-side), which will eliminate the need for the user to propagate
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failures from a subroutine to its caller. Therefore, you shouldn't use
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googletest assertions in a destructor if your code could run on such a
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platform.
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* In a constructor or destructor, you cannot make a virtual function call on
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this object. (You can call a method declared as virtual, but it will be
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statically bound.) Therefore, if you need to call a method that will be
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overridden in a derived class, you have to use `SetUp()/TearDown()`.
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## The compiler complains "no matching function to call" when I use ASSERT_PRED*. How do I fix it?
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If the predicate function you use in `ASSERT_PRED*` or `EXPECT_PRED*` is
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overloaded or a template, the compiler will have trouble figuring out which
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overloaded version it should use. `ASSERT_PRED_FORMAT*` and
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`EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT*` don't have this problem.
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If you see this error, you might want to switch to
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`(ASSERT|EXPECT)_PRED_FORMAT*`, which will also give you a better failure
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message. If, however, that is not an option, you can resolve the problem by
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explicitly telling the compiler which version to pick.
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For example, suppose you have
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```c++
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bool IsPositive(int n) {
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return n > 0;
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}
|
||
|
|
||
|
bool IsPositive(double x) {
|
||
|
return x > 0;
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
you will get a compiler error if you write
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
EXPECT_PRED1(IsPositive, 5);
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
However, this will work:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
EXPECT_PRED1(static_cast<bool (*)(int)>(IsPositive), 5);
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
(The stuff inside the angled brackets for the `static_cast` operator is the type
|
||
|
of the function pointer for the `int`-version of `IsPositive()`.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
As another example, when you have a template function
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
template <typename T>
|
||
|
bool IsNegative(T x) {
|
||
|
return x < 0;
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
you can use it in a predicate assertion like this:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
ASSERT_PRED1(IsNegative<int>, -5);
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
Things are more interesting if your template has more than one parameters. The
|
||
|
following won't compile:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
ASSERT_PRED2(GreaterThan<int, int>, 5, 0);
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
as the C++ pre-processor thinks you are giving `ASSERT_PRED2` 4 arguments, which
|
||
|
is one more than expected. The workaround is to wrap the predicate function in
|
||
|
parentheses:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
ASSERT_PRED2((GreaterThan<int, int>), 5, 0);
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
## My compiler complains about "ignoring return value" when I call RUN_ALL_TESTS(). Why?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Some people had been ignoring the return value of `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`. That is,
|
||
|
instead of
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
they write
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
RUN_ALL_TESTS();
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
This is **wrong and dangerous**. The testing services needs to see the return
|
||
|
value of `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` in order to determine if a test has passed. If your
|
||
|
`main()` function ignores it, your test will be considered successful even if it
|
||
|
has a googletest assertion failure. Very bad.
|
||
|
|
||
|
We have decided to fix this (thanks to Michael Chastain for the idea). Now, your
|
||
|
code will no longer be able to ignore `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` when compiled with
|
||
|
`gcc`. If you do so, you'll get a compiler error.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you see the compiler complaining about you ignoring the return value of
|
||
|
`RUN_ALL_TESTS()`, the fix is simple: just make sure its value is used as the
|
||
|
return value of `main()`.
|
||
|
|
||
|
But how could we introduce a change that breaks existing tests? Well, in this
|
||
|
case, the code was already broken in the first place, so we didn't break it. :-)
|
||
|
|
||
|
## My compiler complains that a constructor (or destructor) cannot return a value. What's going on?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Due to a peculiarity of C++, in order to support the syntax for streaming
|
||
|
messages to an `ASSERT_*`, e.g.
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
ASSERT_EQ(1, Foo()) << "blah blah" << foo;
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
we had to give up using `ASSERT*` and `FAIL*` (but not `EXPECT*` and
|
||
|
`ADD_FAILURE*`) in constructors and destructors. The workaround is to move the
|
||
|
content of your constructor/destructor to a private void member function, or
|
||
|
switch to `EXPECT_*()` if that works. This
|
||
|
[section](advanced.md#assertion-placement) in the user's guide explains it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## My SetUp() function is not called. Why?
|
||
|
|
||
|
C++ is case-sensitive. Did you spell it as `Setup()`?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Similarly, sometimes people spell `SetUpTestSuite()` as `SetupTestSuite()` and
|
||
|
wonder why it's never called.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## How do I jump to the line of a failure in Emacs directly?
|
||
|
|
||
|
googletest's failure message format is understood by Emacs and many other IDEs,
|
||
|
like acme and XCode. If a googletest message is in a compilation buffer in
|
||
|
Emacs, then it's clickable.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
## I have several test cases which share the same test fixture logic, do I have to define a new test fixture class for each of them? This seems pretty tedious.
|
||
|
|
||
|
You don't have to. Instead of
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
class FooTest : public BaseTest {};
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... }
|
||
|
|
||
|
class BarTest : public BaseTest {};
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(BarTest, Abc) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(BarTest, Def) { ... }
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
you can simply `typedef` the test fixtures:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
typedef BaseTest FooTest;
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... }
|
||
|
|
||
|
typedef BaseTest BarTest;
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(BarTest, Abc) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(BarTest, Def) { ... }
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
## googletest output is buried in a whole bunch of LOG messages. What do I do?
|
||
|
|
||
|
The googletest output is meant to be a concise and human-friendly report. If
|
||
|
your test generates textual output itself, it will mix with the googletest
|
||
|
output, making it hard to read. However, there is an easy solution to this
|
||
|
problem.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Since `LOG` messages go to stderr, we decided to let googletest output go to
|
||
|
stdout. This way, you can easily separate the two using redirection. For
|
||
|
example:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```shell
|
||
|
$ ./my_test > gtest_output.txt
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
## Why should I prefer test fixtures over global variables?
|
||
|
|
||
|
There are several good reasons:
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. It's likely your test needs to change the states of its global variables.
|
||
|
This makes it difficult to keep side effects from escaping one test and
|
||
|
contaminating others, making debugging difficult. By using fixtures, each
|
||
|
test has a fresh set of variables that's different (but with the same
|
||
|
names). Thus, tests are kept independent of each other.
|
||
|
1. Global variables pollute the global namespace.
|
||
|
1. Test fixtures can be reused via subclassing, which cannot be done easily
|
||
|
with global variables. This is useful if many test cases have something in
|
||
|
common.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
## What can the statement argument in ASSERT_DEATH() be?
|
||
|
|
||
|
`ASSERT_DEATH(*statement*, *regex*)` (or any death assertion macro) can be used
|
||
|
wherever `*statement*` is valid. So basically `*statement*` can be any C++
|
||
|
statement that makes sense in the current context. In particular, it can
|
||
|
reference global and/or local variables, and can be:
|
||
|
|
||
|
* a simple function call (often the case),
|
||
|
* a complex expression, or
|
||
|
* a compound statement.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Some examples are shown here:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
// A death test can be a simple function call.
|
||
|
TEST(MyDeathTest, FunctionCall) {
|
||
|
ASSERT_DEATH(Xyz(5), "Xyz failed");
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
|
||
|
// Or a complex expression that references variables and functions.
|
||
|
TEST(MyDeathTest, ComplexExpression) {
|
||
|
const bool c = Condition();
|
||
|
ASSERT_DEATH((c ? Func1(0) : object2.Method("test")),
|
||
|
"(Func1|Method) failed");
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
|
||
|
// Death assertions can be used any where in a function. In
|
||
|
// particular, they can be inside a loop.
|
||
|
TEST(MyDeathTest, InsideLoop) {
|
||
|
// Verifies that Foo(0), Foo(1), ..., and Foo(4) all die.
|
||
|
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
|
||
|
EXPECT_DEATH_M(Foo(i), "Foo has \\d+ errors",
|
||
|
::testing::Message() << "where i is " << i);
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
|
||
|
// A death assertion can contain a compound statement.
|
||
|
TEST(MyDeathTest, CompoundStatement) {
|
||
|
// Verifies that at lease one of Bar(0), Bar(1), ..., and
|
||
|
// Bar(4) dies.
|
||
|
ASSERT_DEATH({
|
||
|
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
|
||
|
Bar(i);
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
},
|
||
|
"Bar has \\d+ errors");
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
gtest-death-test_test.cc contains more examples if you are interested.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## I have a fixture class `FooTest`, but `TEST_F(FooTest, Bar)` gives me error ``"no matching function for call to `FooTest::FooTest()'"``. Why?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Googletest needs to be able to create objects of your test fixture class, so it
|
||
|
must have a default constructor. Normally the compiler will define one for you.
|
||
|
However, there are cases where you have to define your own:
|
||
|
|
||
|
* If you explicitly declare a non-default constructor for class `FooTest`
|
||
|
(`DISALLOW_EVIL_CONSTRUCTORS()` does this), then you need to define a
|
||
|
default constructor, even if it would be empty.
|
||
|
* If `FooTest` has a const non-static data member, then you have to define the
|
||
|
default constructor *and* initialize the const member in the initializer
|
||
|
list of the constructor. (Early versions of `gcc` doesn't force you to
|
||
|
initialize the const member. It's a bug that has been fixed in `gcc 4`.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
## Why does ASSERT_DEATH complain about previous threads that were already joined?
|
||
|
|
||
|
With the Linux pthread library, there is no turning back once you cross the line
|
||
|
from single thread to multiple threads. The first time you create a thread, a
|
||
|
manager thread is created in addition, so you get 3, not 2, threads. Later when
|
||
|
the thread you create joins the main thread, the thread count decrements by 1,
|
||
|
but the manager thread will never be killed, so you still have 2 threads, which
|
||
|
means you cannot safely run a death test.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The new NPTL thread library doesn't suffer from this problem, as it doesn't
|
||
|
create a manager thread. However, if you don't control which machine your test
|
||
|
runs on, you shouldn't depend on this.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## Why does googletest require the entire test case, instead of individual tests, to be named *DeathTest when it uses ASSERT_DEATH?
|
||
|
|
||
|
googletest does not interleave tests from different test cases. That is, it runs
|
||
|
all tests in one test case first, and then runs all tests in the next test case,
|
||
|
and so on. googletest does this because it needs to set up a test case before
|
||
|
the first test in it is run, and tear it down afterwords. Splitting up the test
|
||
|
case would require multiple set-up and tear-down processes, which is inefficient
|
||
|
and makes the semantics unclean.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If we were to determine the order of tests based on test name instead of test
|
||
|
case name, then we would have a problem with the following situation:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, AbcDeathTest) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Uvw) { ... }
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(BarTest, DefDeathTest) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(BarTest, Xyz) { ... }
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
Since `FooTest.AbcDeathTest` needs to run before `BarTest.Xyz`, and we don't
|
||
|
interleave tests from different test cases, we need to run all tests in the
|
||
|
`FooTest` case before running any test in the `BarTest` case. This contradicts
|
||
|
with the requirement to run `BarTest.DefDeathTest` before `FooTest.Uvw`.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## But I don't like calling my entire test case \*DeathTest when it contains both death tests and non-death tests. What do I do?
|
||
|
|
||
|
You don't have to, but if you like, you may split up the test case into
|
||
|
`FooTest` and `FooDeathTest`, where the names make it clear that they are
|
||
|
related:
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
class FooTest : public ::testing::Test { ... };
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... }
|
||
|
|
||
|
using FooDeathTest = FooTest;
|
||
|
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooDeathTest, Uvw) { ... EXPECT_DEATH(...) ... }
|
||
|
TEST_F(FooDeathTest, Xyz) { ... ASSERT_DEATH(...) ... }
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
## googletest prints the LOG messages in a death test's child process only when the test fails. How can I see the LOG messages when the death test succeeds?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Printing the LOG messages generated by the statement inside `EXPECT_DEATH()`
|
||
|
makes it harder to search for real problems in the parent's log. Therefore,
|
||
|
googletest only prints them when the death test has failed.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you really need to see such LOG messages, a workaround is to temporarily
|
||
|
break the death test (e.g. by changing the regex pattern it is expected to
|
||
|
match). Admittedly, this is a hack. We'll consider a more permanent solution
|
||
|
after the fork-and-exec-style death tests are implemented.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## The compiler complains about "no match for 'operator<<'" when I use an assertion. What gives?
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you use a user-defined type `FooType` in an assertion, you must make sure
|
||
|
there is an `std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&, const FooType&)` function
|
||
|
defined such that we can print a value of `FooType`.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In addition, if `FooType` is declared in a name space, the `<<` operator also
|
||
|
needs to be defined in the *same* name space. See go/totw/49 for details.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## How do I suppress the memory leak messages on Windows?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Since the statically initialized googletest singleton requires allocations on
|
||
|
the heap, the Visual C++ memory leak detector will report memory leaks at the
|
||
|
end of the program run. The easiest way to avoid this is to use the
|
||
|
`_CrtMemCheckpoint` and `_CrtMemDumpAllObjectsSince` calls to not report any
|
||
|
statically initialized heap objects. See MSDN for more details and additional
|
||
|
heap check/debug routines.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
## How can my code detect if it is running in a test?
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you write code that sniffs whether it's running in a test and does different
|
||
|
things accordingly, you are leaking test-only logic into production code and
|
||
|
there is no easy way to ensure that the test-only code paths aren't run by
|
||
|
mistake in production. Such cleverness also leads to
|
||
|
[Heisenbugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug). Therefore we strongly
|
||
|
advise against the practice, and googletest doesn't provide a way to do it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In general, the recommended way to cause the code to behave differently under
|
||
|
test is [Dependency Injection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection). You can inject
|
||
|
different functionality from the test and from the production code. Since your
|
||
|
production code doesn't link in the for-test logic at all (the
|
||
|
[`testonly`](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/be/common-definitions.html#common.testonly)
|
||
|
attribute for BUILD targets helps to ensure that), there is no danger in
|
||
|
accidentally running it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
However, if you *really*, *really*, *really* have no choice, and if you follow
|
||
|
the rule of ending your test program names with `_test`, you can use the
|
||
|
*horrible* hack of sniffing your executable name (`argv[0]` in `main()`) to know
|
||
|
whether the code is under test.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
## How do I temporarily disable a test?
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you have a broken test that you cannot fix right away, you can add the
|
||
|
DISABLED_ prefix to its name. This will exclude it from execution. This is
|
||
|
better than commenting out the code or using #if 0, as disabled tests are still
|
||
|
compiled (and thus won't rot).
|
||
|
|
||
|
To include disabled tests in test execution, just invoke the test program with
|
||
|
the --gtest_also_run_disabled_tests flag.
|
||
|
|
||
|
## Is it OK if I have two separate `TEST(Foo, Bar)` test methods defined in different namespaces?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Yes.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The rule is **all test methods in the same test case must use the same fixture
|
||
|
class.** This means that the following is **allowed** because both tests use the
|
||
|
same fixture class (`::testing::Test`).
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
namespace foo {
|
||
|
TEST(CoolTest, DoSomething) {
|
||
|
SUCCEED();
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
} // namespace foo
|
||
|
|
||
|
namespace bar {
|
||
|
TEST(CoolTest, DoSomething) {
|
||
|
SUCCEED();
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
} // namespace bar
|
||
|
```
|
||
|
|
||
|
However, the following code is **not allowed** and will produce a runtime error
|
||
|
from googletest because the test methods are using different test fixture
|
||
|
classes with the same test case name.
|
||
|
|
||
|
```c++
|
||
|
namespace foo {
|
||
|
class CoolTest : public ::testing::Test {}; // Fixture foo::CoolTest
|
||
|
TEST_F(CoolTest, DoSomething) {
|
||
|
SUCCEED();
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
} // namespace foo
|
||
|
|
||
|
namespace bar {
|
||
|
class CoolTest : public ::testing::Test {}; // Fixture: bar::CoolTest
|
||
|
TEST_F(CoolTest, DoSomething) {
|
||
|
SUCCEED();
|
||
|
}
|
||
|
} // namespace bar
|
||
|
```
|