CppUTest
CppUTest unit testing and mocking framework for C/C++
More information on the project page
Slack channel: Join if link not expired
Getting Started
You'll need to do the following to get started:
Building from source (Unix-based, Cygwin, MacOS):
git clone git://github.com/cpputest/cpputest.git
cd cpputest_build
autoreconf .. -i
../configure
make
You can use make install
if you want to install CppUTest system-wide.
You can also use CMake, which also works for Windows Visual Studio.
git clone git://github.com/cpputest/cpputest.git
cmake -B cpputest_build
cmake --build cpputest_build
Then to get started, you'll need to do the following:
- Add the include path to the Makefile. Something like:
CPPFLAGS += -I$(CPPUTEST_HOME)/include
- Add the memory leak macros to your Makefile (needed for additional debug info!). Something like:
CXXFLAGS += -include $(CPPUTEST_HOME)/include/CppUTest/MemoryLeakDetectorNewMacros.h
CFLAGS += -include $(CPPUTEST_HOME)/include/CppUTest/MemoryLeakDetectorMallocMacros.h
- Add the library linking to your Makefile. Something like:
LD_LIBRARIES = -L$(CPPUTEST_HOME)/lib -lCppUTest -lCppUTestExt
After this, you can write your first test:
TEST_GROUP(FirstTestGroup)
{
};
TEST(FirstTestGroup, FirstTest)
{
FAIL("Fail me!");
}
Command line switches
-h
help, shows the latest help, including the parameters we've implemented after updating this README page.-v
verbose, print each test name as it runs-r#
repeat the tests some number of times, default is one, default if # is not specified is 2. This is handy if you are experiencing memory leaks related to statics and caches.-s#
random shuffle the test execution order. # is an integer used for seeding the random number generator. # is optional, and if omitted, the seed value is chosen automatically, which results in a different order every time. The seed value is printed to console to make it possible to reproduce a previously generated execution order. Handy for detecting problems related to dependencies between tests.-g
group only run test whose group contains the substring group-n
name only run test whose name contains the substring name-f
crash on fail, run the tests as normal but, when a test fails, crash rather than report the failure in the normal way
Test Macros
TEST(group, name)
- define a testIGNORE_TEST(group, name)
- turn off the execution of a testTEST_GROUP(group)
- Declare a test group to which certain tests belong. This will also create the link needed from another library.TEST_GROUP_BASE(group, base)
- Same asTEST_GROUP
, just use a different base class than UtestTEST_SETUP()
- Declare a void setup method in aTEST_GROUP
- this is the same as declaring voidsetup()
TEST_TEARDOWN()
- Declare a void setup method in aTEST_GROUP
IMPORT_TEST_GROUP(group)
- Export the name of a test group so it can be linked in from a library. Needs to be done inmain
.
Set up and tear down support
- Each
TEST_GROUP
may contain asetup
and/or ateardown
method. setup()
is called prior to eachTEST
body andteardown()
is called after the test body.
Assertion Macros
The failure of one of these macros causes the current test to immediately exit
CHECK(boolean condition)
- checks any boolean resultCHECK_TRUE(boolean condition)
- checks for trueCHECK_FALSE(boolean condition)
- checks for falseCHECK_EQUAL(expected, actual)
- checks for equality between entities using==
. So if you have a class that supportsoperator==()
you can use this macro to compare two instances.STRCMP_EQUAL(expected, actual)
- check constchar*
strings for equality usingstrcmp
LONGS_EQUAL(expected, actual)
- Compares two numbersBYTES_EQUAL(expected, actual)
- Compares two numbers, eight bits widePOINTERS_EQUAL(expected, actual)
- Compares twoconst void *
DOUBLES_EQUAL(expected, actual, tolerance)
- Compares two doubles within some toleranceENUMS_EQUAL_INT(excepted, actual)
- Compares two enums which their underlying type isint
ENUMS_EQUAL_TYPE(underlying_type, excepted, actual)
- Compares two enums which they have the same underlying typeFAIL(text)
- always failsTEST_EXIT
- Exit the test without failure - useful for contract testing (implementing an assert fake)
Customize CHECK_EQUAL
to work with your types that support operator==()
- Create the function:
SimpleString StringFrom(const yourType&)
The Extensions directory has a few of these.
Building default checks with TestPlugin
- CppUTest can support extra checking functionality by inserting TestPlugins
- TestPlugin is derived from the TestPlugin class and can be inserted in the TestRegistry via the installPlugin method.
- TestPlugins can be used for, for example, system stability and resource handling like files, memory or network connection clean-up.
- In CppUTest, the memory leak detection is done via a default enabled TestPlugin
Example of a main with a TestPlugin:
int main(int ac, char** av)
{
LogPlugin logPlugin;
TestRegistry::getCurrentRegistry()->installPlugin(&logPlugin);
int result = CommandLineTestRunner::RunAllTests(ac, av);
TestRegistry::getCurrentRegistry()->resetPlugins();
return result;
}
Memory leak detection
- A platform specific memory leak detection mechanism is provided.
- If a test fails and has allocated memory prior to the fail and that memory is not cleaned up by TearDown, a memory leak is reported. It is best to only chase memory leaks when other errors have been eliminated.
- Some code uses lazy initialization and appears to leak when it really does not (for example: gcc stringstream used to in an earlier release). One cause is that some standard library calls allocate something and do not free it until after
main
(or never). To find out if a memory leak is due to lazy initialization set the-r
switch to run tests twice. The signature of this situation is that the first run shows leaks and the second run shows no leaks. When both runs show leaks, you have a leak to find.
How is memory leak detection implemented?
- Before
setup()
a memory usage checkpoint is recorded - After
teardown()
another checkpoint is taken and compared to the original checkpoint - In Visual Studio the MS debug heap capabilities are used
- For GCC a simple new/delete count is used in overridden operators
new
,new[]
,delete
anddelete[]
If you use some leaky code that you can't or won't fix you can tell a TEST to ignore a certain number of leaks as in this example:
TEST(MemoryLeakWarningTest, Ignore1)
{
EXPECT_N_LEAKS(1);
char* arrayToLeak1 = new char[100];
}
Example Main
#include "CppUTest/CommandLineTestRunner.h"
int main(int ac, char** av)
{
return RUN_ALL_TESTS(ac, av);
}
Example Test
#include "CppUTest/TestHarness.h"
#include "ClassName.h"
TEST_GROUP(ClassName)
{
ClassName* className;
void setup()
{
className = new ClassName();
}
void teardown()
{
delete className;
}
};
TEST(ClassName, Create)
{
CHECK(0 != className);
CHECK(true);
CHECK_EQUAL(1,1);
LONGS_EQUAL(1,1);
DOUBLES_EQUAL(1.000, 1.001, .01);
STRCMP_EQUAL("hello", "hello");
FAIL("The prior tests pass, but this one doesn't");
}
There are some scripts that are helpful in creating your initial h, cpp, and Test files. See scripts/README.TXT
Conan
CppUTest is available through conan-center.
conanfile.txt
[requires]
cpputest/4.0
[generators]
cmake_find_package
cmake_paths
CMake
find_package(CppUTest REQUIRED)
add_executable(example_test ExampleTest.cpp)
target_link_libraries(example_test PRIVATE
CppUTest::CppUTest
CppUTest::CppUTestExt)
Integration as external CMake project
Sometimes you want to use CppUTest in your project without installing it to your system or for having control over the version you are using. This little snippet get the wanted version from GitHub and builds it as a library.
# CppUTest
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
CppUTest
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/cpputest/cpputest.git
GIT_TAG latest-passing-build # or use release tag, eg. v3.8
)
# Set this to ON if you want to have the CppUTests in your project as well.
set(TESTS OFF CACHE BOOL "Switch off CppUTest Test build")
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(CppUTest)
It can be used then like so:
add_executable(run_tests UnitTest1.cpp UnitTest2.cpp)
target_link_libraries(example_test PRIVATE
CppUTest::CppUTest
CppUTest::CppUTestExt)