Re: unit test framework

[Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:02 AM,  <joakim@verona.se> wrote:
>
> I write try to write unit tests for my elisp, and it would be much
> easier if there was a canonical unit test framework in Emacs.
>
> I have written some tests for CEDET, which doesnt really use a
> framework, and should be included in Emacs(I havent looked at the merged
> version yet). I have also written some tests in elunit for other
> packages.
>
> I'm currently writing some code that would benefit from simulation of
> keyboard input, in particular code that uses read, read-number,
> completing-read etc. Some of the contenders listed above surely does
> this, right?
>
> Anyway, maybe we should make a list of requirements for a unit test
> package for inclusion. Heres my take:
>
> - possibility to generate unit tests reports in test runs during "make"
>
> - at least rudimentary user input simulation, to test read, read-number,
> completing-read etc.


I have written some extensions to ert.el that allows running commands
in the test function (ie calling relevant hooks etc).


> - some way of isolating test runs from normal operations


I have some small things that starts a new Emacs instance for the tests.


> - good error reporting, so that you dont have to spend hours in edebug needlessly


ert.el have good interactive reporting (that needs some usability
enhancements, like menu entries), but not so much for saving to file
(or maybe I have just missed that part).


> - convenient way of defining and running tests, in group or one-by-one


ert.el does it by regexp matching the names of the test functions.