Test::Unit - same test, different "args"

[Luke_St.Clair]

I need to run the same unit test case more than 10 times (around 150
tests in the test case), with 2-3 parameters changed each time.

For instance, if I had unit tests to examine a "Person", with a
required parameter "name" - let's say I want to run the same
Test::Unit::TestCase on 10 different people, with different names but
everything else the same. All test cases run the same code, just with
the one (or two) parameters tweaked.

Let's say I have 150 tests for a Person - I'd rather not end up with
1500 tests, each of the 150 tests exactly duplicated for a different
"name".

I'll have a hierarchy of tests cases, in suites, which may help

Is there some way to:
1) set a global variable in the "parent" test suite that the children
see? Seems like the answer to this is no
2) Pass an arg to the test case as a whole? Don't see anyway to do
this in the docs
3) Do something else that will keep this test code compliant with DRY?

What's the right approach here?

[Phlip1 (Phlip)]

Luke St.Clair wrote:

I need to run the same unit test case more than 10 times (around 150
tests in the test case), with 2-3 parameters changed each time.

For instance, if I had unit tests to examine a "Person", with a
required parameter "name" - let's say I want to run the same
Test::Unit::TestCase on 10 different people, with different names but
everything else the same. All test cases run the same code, just with
the one (or two) parameters tweaked.

Put all the test_ methods into a module, and include it into 10 different suites:

class ATest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'a'; end; end
class BTest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'b'; end; end
class CTest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'c'; end; end
class DTest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'd'; end; end

there might be a less effusive way, but the Abstract Test Pattern is very important to learn, so this is a good start...

What's the right approach here?

Abstract Test is best to match an important class hierarchy in your code. Otherwise, the question arises are you missing an abstraction? Could you simplify something else, and test fewer permutations?

[Brian_Candler]

Luke St.Clair wrote:

Is there some way to:
1) set a global variable in the "parent" test suite that the children
see? Seems like the answer to this is no

Shoulda sits on top of Test::Unit and may be helpful. Something like
this:

class MyTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
  context "top level" do
    setup do
      @stuff = ...
    end

    should "test something at top level" do
      assert_equal 123, @stuff.size
    end

    context "inner level" do
      setup do
        @more_stuff = ...
      end

      should "test more" do
        assert_equal @stuff.size, @more_stuff.size
      end
    end
  end
end

See:

thoughtbot case studies featuring design and development projects for...

http://mtnwestrubyconf2008.confreaks.com/12saleh.html
http://tammersaleh.com/system/assets/bdd_with_shoulda.pdf

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

[Luke_St.Clair]

I think this is what I'm going to go with - I'll have a test case for
each possible param value (there are about 10), and each one will set
a few additional global variables. Then, each test case will include
the same module, which will call functions with params set by the
global variables.

Seems to be very DRY, as long as the set of param values is small (it
is in this case, and should stay small in the future).

Thanks -

···

On Mar 23, 2:38 pm, Phlip <phlip2...@gmail.com> wrote:

Luke St.Clair wrote:
> I need to run the same unit test case more than 10 times (around 150
> tests in the test case), with 2-3 parameters changed each time.

> For instance, if I had unit tests to examine a "Person", with a
> required parameter "name" - let's say I want to run the same
> Test::Unit::TestCase on 10 different people, with different names but
> everything else the same. All test cases run the same code, just with
> the one (or two) parameters tweaked.

Put all the test_ methods into a module, and include it into 10 different suites:

class ATest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'a'; end; end
class BTest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'b'; end; end
class CTest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'c'; end; end
class DTest < Test::Unit::TestCase; include Suite; setup; @me = 'd'; end; end

there might be a less effusive way, but the Abstract Test Pattern is very
important to learn, so this is a good start...

> What's the right approach here?

Abstract Test is best to match an important class hierarchy in your code.
Otherwise, the question arises are you missing an abstraction? Could you
simplify something else, and test fewer permutations?

[Luke_St.Clair]

This seems incredibly useful - unfortunately, I can't use shoulda.

···

On Mar 23, 3:02 pm, Brian Candler <b.cand...@pobox.com> wrote:

Luke St.Clair wrote:
> Is there some way to:
> 1) set a global variable in the "parent" test suite that the children
> see? Seems like the answer to this is no

Shoulda sits on top of Test::Unit and may be helpful. Something like
this:

class MyTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
context "top level" do
setup do
@stuff = ...
end

should "test something at top level" do
  assert\_equal 123, @stuff\.size
end

context "inner level" do
  setup do
    @more\_stuff = \.\.\.
  end

  should "test more" do
    assert\_equal @stuff\.size, @more\_stuff\.size
  end
end

end
end

[Brian_Candler]

Luke St.Clair wrote:

This seems incredibly useful - unfortunately, I can't use shoulda.

Out of interest, why not? Policy constraint?

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

[Luke_St.Clair]

The biggest issue I'm running into right now is not having startup(),
or code that runs once per test suite, not once per test case.

Is this in test::unit yet?

···

On Mar 24, 12:39 pm, "Luke St.Clair" <secureb...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think this is what I'm going to go with - I'll have a test case for
each possible param value (there are about 10), and each one will set
a few additional global variables. Then, each test case will include
the same module, which will call functions with params set by the
global variables.

[Kouhei_Sutou1 (Kouhei Sutou)]

Hi,

In <03af6afa-9ba0-4124-bc2b-185f907c24f7@a5g2000pre.googlegroups.com>
  "Re: Test::Unit - same test, different "args"" on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:51:52 +0900,

Luke St.Clair wrote:
> Is there some way to:
> 1) set a global variable in the "parent" test suite that the children
> see? Seems like the answer to this is no

Shoulda sits on top of Test::Unit and may be helpful. Something like
this:

class MyTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
context "top level" do
setup do
@stuff = ...
end

should "test something at top level" do
  assert\_equal 123, @stuff\.size
end

context "inner level" do
  setup do
    @more\_stuff = \.\.\.
  end

  should "test more" do
    assert\_equal @stuff\.size, @more\_stuff\.size
  end
end

end
end

This seems incredibly useful - unfortunately, I can't use shoulda.

Test::Unit 2.x also supports that usage with natural Ruby
syntax:

  # From http://test-unit.rubyforge.org/svn/trunk/sample/test_user.rb

  class UserTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
    def setup
      @user = "me"
    end

    def test_full_name
      assert_equal("me", @user)
    end

    class ProfileTest < UserTest
      setup
      def setup_profile
        @user += ": profile"
      end

      def test_has_profile
        assert_match(/: profile/, @user)
      end
    end
  end

Thanks,

···

"Luke St.Clair" <secureboot@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mar 23, 3:02 pm, Brian Candler <b.cand...@pobox.com> wrote:

--
kou

[Luke_St.Clair]

Basically, yes.

···

On Mar 24, 4:20 pm, Brian Candler <b.cand...@pobox.com> wrote:

Luke St.Clair wrote:
> This seems incredibly useful - unfortunately, I can't use shoulda.

Out of interest, why not? Policy constraint?
--
Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.

[Luke_St.Clair]

Better yet, is there some way to get around this?

Right now, I have like 8 test suite files, which do something like:

initialize_things(foo)

class MyTester < Test::Unit::TestCase
  include cases1
  include cases2
end

This works fine if I run the file directly, but I want a "master" test
runner that would require MyTester, MyOtherTester, MyFinalTester,
etc. In this case, initialize_things doesn't get called.

How can I replicate this startup() functionality that I need? I do
NOT want to use setup(), as it slows things down considerably.

···

On Mar 25, 4:29 pm, "Luke St.Clair" <secureb...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mar 24, 12:39 pm, "Luke St.Clair" <secureb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I think this is what I'm going to go with - I'll have a test case for
> each possible param value (there are about 10), and each one will set
> a few additional global variables. Then, each test case will include
> the same module, which will call functions with params set by the
> global variables.

The biggest issue I'm running into right now is not having startup(),
or code that runs once per test suite, not once per test case.

Is this in test::unit yet?

[Phlip1 (Phlip)]

Luke St.Clair wrote:

The biggest issue I'm running into right now is not having startup(),
or code that runs once per test suite, not once per test case.

Is this in test::unit yet?

There are code samples and I think plugins which add that.

How about in the base module...

   def setup
     @@done ||= suite_setup()
   end

Then put what you want in the suite_setup ?

[Kouhei_Sutou1 (Kouhei Sutou)]

Hi,

In <55f56345-3524-40d0-8a9a-85bef4448ae7@d7g2000prl.googlegroups.com>
  "Re: Test::Unit - same test, different "args"" on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:26:47 +0900,

···

"Luke St.Clair" <secureboot@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mar 24, 12:39 pm, "Luke St.Clair" <secureb...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think this is what I'm going to go with - I'll have a test case for
each possible param value (there are about 10), and each one will set
a few additional global variables. Then, each test case will include
the same module, which will call functions with params set by the
global variables.

The biggest issue I'm running into right now is not having startup(),
or code that runs once per test suite, not once per test case.

Is this in test::unit yet?

Type 'sudo gem install test-unit'. Test::Unit 2.x supports
it:
  http://test-unit.rubyforge.org/test-unit/classes/Test/Unit/TestCase.html

Thanks,
--
kou

[Luke_St.Clair]

Yes, that's clearly the best way for me to do this outside of startup
() - don't know what I was thinking there.

···

On Mar 25, 4:39 pm, Phlip <phlip2...@gmail.com> wrote:

Luke St.Clair wrote:
> The biggest issue I'm running into right now is not having startup(),
> or code that runs once per test suite, not once per test case.

> Is this in test::unit yet?

There are code samples and I think plugins which add that.

How about in the base module...

def setup
@@done ||= suite_setup()
end

Then put what you want in the suite_setup ?

[Phlip1 (Phlip)]

Luke St.Clair wrote:

How about in the base module...

   def setup
     @@done ||= suite_setup()
   end

Then put what you want in the suite_setup ?

Yes, that's clearly the best way for me to do this outside of startup
() - don't know what I was thinking there.

I was thinking I don't know if that runs once per suite or once per test run...