3 Testing is an important part of the Mono project: every one of its
4 three major components has a test suite tailored for its needs. This
5 is very helpful, because in the course of developing the software it
6 is very common to introduce bugs in existing code. A test suite
7 helps us fix the bugs as soon as they are introduced.
9 There are various kinds of tests in Mono:
11 <li><a href="#unit"><b>Class Library Unit
12 Tests:</b></a> These are used to test the class
15 <li><a href="#compiler"><b>Compiler tests</b></a>: Both
16 tests that should pass and tests that should fail are included.
18 <li><a href="#runtime"><b>Runtime tests</b></a>: Tests for
25 All classes in Mono libraries should have comprehensive unit test
26 suites to go with them. Unit testing is a software engineering
27 methodology that makes it easier to build correct code. Every
28 method in every class should have a set of tests to verify
29 that they work correctly. Mono also needs a testing framework
30 to make it easy to write and run lots of tests.
32 In some classes, we might also provide standalone tests because of
33 some reasons such as too huge testcases, another downloading and so on.
34 (For example, managed XSLT has standalone test which downloads and
35 expands some megabytes of OASIS test suite.)
37 Here I list them up as long as I know. If you are going to add another
38 standalone tests, please add one line here. It is also recommended that
39 you add some notes on how to build and run tests.
42 - System.Web/Test/TestMonoWeb : see README
43 - System.Web.Services/Test/standalone : see README
44 - System.Windows.Forms/SWFTest/
45 - System.XML/System.Xml.Serialization/standalone_tests/
46 - System.XML/Tests/System.Xml.Xsl/standalone_tests : see README
50 If you are new to writing NUnit tests, there is a template you may use
51 to help get started. The file is:
53 <b>mcs/class/doc/TemplateTest.cs</b>
55 Save a copy of this file in the appropriate test subdirecty
56 (see below), and replace all the {text} markers with
57 appropriate code. Comments in the template are there to guide
58 you. You should also look at existing tests to see how other
59 people have written them.
60 mcs/class/corlib/Test/System.Collections/CollectionBaseTest.cs
61 is a small one that might help.
63 The directory that will contain your new file depends on the
64 assembly/namespace of the class for which you are creating the
65 tests. Under mcs/class there is a directory for each
66 assembly. In each assembly there is a Test directory,
67 e.g. mcs/class/corlib/Test. In the Test directory there are
68 sub-directories for each namespace in the assembly,
69 e.g. mcs/class/corlib/Test/Sytem. Put your new test file in
70 the appropriate sub-directory under Test for the class you are
73 Once all of that is done, you can do a 'make test' from the top mcs
74 directory. Your test class will be automagically included in the
75 build and the tests will be run along with all the others.
77 * Tips on writing Unit tests.
79 You should look at the <a href="http://nunit.org">NUnit documentation</a>,
80 as it is a fantastic product, and includes fantastic documentation,
81 but here are some tips for those of you who are already reading
85 ** Provide an unique error message for Assert()
87 Include an unique message for each Assert() so that when the assert
88 fails, it is trivial to locate it in the source. Otherwise, it may be
89 difficult to determine which part of the test is failing. A good way
90 to ensure unique messages is to use something like #A01, #A02 etc.
95 AssertEquals("array match", compare[0], i1[0]);
96 AssertEquals("array match", compare[1], i1[1]);
97 AssertEquals("array match", compare[2], i1[2]);
98 AssertEquals("array match", compare[3], i1[3]);
103 AssertEquals("#A01", compare[0], i1[0]);
104 AssertEquals("#A02", compare[1], i1[1]);
105 AssertEquals("#A03", compare[2], i1[2]);
106 AssertEquals("#A04", compare[3], i1[3]);
109 Once you used such a number in an Assert(), don't change it later on -
110 people might use it it identify the test in bug reports or in mailing
113 ** Use AssertEquals() to compare things, not Assert().
115 Do not compare two values with Assert() - if the test fails,
116 people have no idea what went wrong while AssertEquals()
117 reports the failed value.
121 Assert ("A01", myTicks[0] == t1.Ticks);
126 AssertEquals ("A01", myTicks[0], t1.Ticks);
129 ** Test your test with the Microsoft runtime
131 If possible, try to run your testsuite with the Microsoft runtime on
132 .NET on Windows and make sure all tests in it pass. This is especially
133 important if you're writing a totally new testcase - without this
134 check you can never be sure that your testcase contains no bugs ....
136 Don't worry if you're writing your test on Linux, other people can
137 test it for you on Windows.
139 Sometimes you may discover that a test doesn't show the expected
140 result when run with the Microsoft runtime - either because there is a
141 bug in their runtime or something is misleading or wrong in their
142 documentation. In this case, please put a detailed description of the
143 problem to mcs/class/doc/API-notes and do also report it to the
144 <a href="mailing-lists">mailing list</a> - we'll forward this to the
145 Microsoft people from time to time to help them fix their documentation
150 Why do unit testing? It becomes simple to run automated tests
151 for the whole library. Unit tests are a safety net - you can
152 change part of the code and verify that you haven't broken
153 anything. Ideally, tests are written before the actual library
154 code itself. And every time a bug is discovered, a test should
155 be written to demonstrate the bug and its fix. Then, if
156 you ever reintroduce the bug, you will know immediately. For
158 href="http://junit.sourceforge.net/doc/testinfected/testing.htm">
159 JUnit Test Infected: Programmers Love Writing Tests</a>.
164 We welcome all contributions to the Class Libary Test Suite.
166 There is information to help you get started in CVS at
167 mcs/class/doc/NUnitGuidelines. Once you have written your test, please
168 post it to <a href="mailing-lists.html">mono-list</a>.
170 Someone will make sure to add the file or apply the patch as
171 appropriate. If you plan to be an on-going contributor and
172 would like to get cvs account, email <a href="mailto:miguel@ximian.com">miguel</a>.
174 Normally, after you send a couple of well-written new files
175 and/or patches to the list, you will be given cvs access.
177 <a name="compiler"></a>
180 Mono ships with three compilers: C#, VB.NET and JScript. The
181 tests are ran by running the makefile target `make
182 run-test-local' in the appropriate directory.
184 The C# compilation tests live in mcs/tests, and the C# error
185 tests live in mcs/errors.
187 The VB.NET compilation tests live in mcs/btests.
189 <a name="runtime"></a>
192 These tests verify the virtual machine, to run these tests, do: