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1# Advanced googletest Topics
2
3
4## Introduction
5
6Now that you have read the [googletest Primer](primer.md) and learned how to write
7tests using googletest, it's time to learn some new tricks. This document will
8show you more assertions as well as how to construct complex failure messages,
9propagate fatal failures, reuse and speed up your test fixtures, and use various
10flags with your tests.
11
12## More Assertions
13
14This section covers some less frequently used, but still significant,
15assertions.
16
17### Explicit Success and Failure
18
19These three assertions do not actually test a value or expression. Instead, they
20generate a success or failure directly. Like the macros that actually perform a
21test, you may stream a custom failure message into them.
22
23```c++
24SUCCEED();
25```
26
27Generates a success. This does **NOT** make the overall test succeed. A test is
28considered successful only if none of its assertions fail during its execution.
29
30NOTE: `SUCCEED()` is purely documentary and currently doesn't generate any
31user-visible output. However, we may add `SUCCEED()` messages to googletest's
32output in the future.
33
34```c++
35FAIL();
36ADD_FAILURE();
37ADD_FAILURE_AT("file_path", line_number);
38```
39
40`FAIL()` generates a fatal failure, while `ADD_FAILURE()` and `ADD_FAILURE_AT()`
41generate a nonfatal failure. These are useful when control flow, rather than a
42Boolean expression, determines the test's success or failure. For example, you
43might want to write something like:
44
45```c++
46switch(expression) {
47  case 1:
48     ... some checks ...
49  case 2:
50     ... some other checks ...
51  default:
52     FAIL() << "We shouldn't get here.";
53}
54```
55
56NOTE: you can only use `FAIL()` in functions that return `void`. See the
57[Assertion Placement section](#assertion-placement) for more information.
58
59**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
60
61### Exception Assertions
62
63These are for verifying that a piece of code throws (or does not throw) an
64exception of the given type:
65
66Fatal assertion                            | Nonfatal assertion                         | Verifies
67------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------ | --------
68`ASSERT_THROW(statement, exception_type);` | `EXPECT_THROW(statement, exception_type);` | `statement` throws an exception of the given type
69`ASSERT_ANY_THROW(statement);`             | `EXPECT_ANY_THROW(statement);`             | `statement` throws an exception of any type
70`ASSERT_NO_THROW(statement);`              | `EXPECT_NO_THROW(statement);`              | `statement` doesn't throw any exception
71
72Examples:
73
74```c++
75ASSERT_THROW(Foo(5), bar_exception);
76
77EXPECT_NO_THROW({
78  int n = 5;
79  Bar(&n);
80});
81```
82
83**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac; requires exceptions to be enabled in the
84build environment (note that `google3` **disables** exceptions).
85
86### Predicate Assertions for Better Error Messages
87
88Even though googletest has a rich set of assertions, they can never be complete,
89as it's impossible (nor a good idea) to anticipate all scenarios a user might
90run into. Therefore, sometimes a user has to use `EXPECT_TRUE()` to check a
91complex expression, for lack of a better macro. This has the problem of not
92showing you the values of the parts of the expression, making it hard to
93understand what went wrong. As a workaround, some users choose to construct the
94failure message by themselves, streaming it into `EXPECT_TRUE()`. However, this
95is awkward especially when the expression has side-effects or is expensive to
96evaluate.
97
98googletest gives you three different options to solve this problem:
99
100#### Using an Existing Boolean Function
101
102If you already have a function or functor that returns `bool` (or a type that
103can be implicitly converted to `bool`), you can use it in a *predicate
104assertion* to get the function arguments printed for free:
105
106| Fatal assertion                    | Nonfatal assertion                 | Verifies                    |
107| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | --------------------------- |
108| `ASSERT_PRED1(pred1, val1);`       | `EXPECT_PRED1(pred1, val1);`       | `pred1(val1)` is true       |
109| `ASSERT_PRED2(pred2, val1, val2);` | `EXPECT_PRED2(pred2, val1, val2);` | `pred2(val1, val2)` is true |
110| `...`                              | `...`                              | ...                         |
111
112In the above, `predn` is an `n`-ary predicate function or functor, where `val1`,
113`val2`, ..., and `valn` are its arguments. The assertion succeeds if the
114predicate returns `true` when applied to the given arguments, and fails
115otherwise. When the assertion fails, it prints the value of each argument. In
116either case, the arguments are evaluated exactly once.
117
118Here's an example. Given
119
120```c++
121// Returns true if m and n have no common divisors except 1.
122bool MutuallyPrime(int m, int n) { ... }
123
124const int a = 3;
125const int b = 4;
126const int c = 10;
127```
128
129the assertion
130
131```c++
132  EXPECT_PRED2(MutuallyPrime, a, b);
133```
134
135will succeed, while the assertion
136
137```c++
138  EXPECT_PRED2(MutuallyPrime, b, c);
139```
140
141will fail with the message
142
143```none
144MutuallyPrime(b, c) is false, where
145b is 4
146c is 10
147```
148
149> NOTE:
150>
151> 1.  If you see a compiler error "no matching function to call" when using
152>     `ASSERT_PRED*` or `EXPECT_PRED*`, please see
153>     [this](faq.md#the-compiler-complains-no-matching-function-to-call-when-i-use-assert_pred-how-do-i-fix-it) for how to resolve it.
154> 1.  Currently we only provide predicate assertions of arity <= 5. If you need
155>     a higher-arity assertion, let [us](https://github.com/google/googletest/issues) know.
156
157**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
158
159#### Using a Function That Returns an AssertionResult
160
161While `EXPECT_PRED*()` and friends are handy for a quick job, the syntax is not
162satisfactory: you have to use different macros for different arities, and it
163feels more like Lisp than C++. The `::testing::AssertionResult` class solves
164this problem.
165
166An `AssertionResult` object represents the result of an assertion (whether it's
167a success or a failure, and an associated message). You can create an
168`AssertionResult` using one of these factory functions:
169
170```c++
171namespace testing {
172
173// Returns an AssertionResult object to indicate that an assertion has
174// succeeded.
175AssertionResult AssertionSuccess();
176
177// Returns an AssertionResult object to indicate that an assertion has
178// failed.
179AssertionResult AssertionFailure();
180
181}
182```
183
184You can then use the `<<` operator to stream messages to the `AssertionResult`
185object.
186
187To provide more readable messages in Boolean assertions (e.g. `EXPECT_TRUE()`),
188write a predicate function that returns `AssertionResult` instead of `bool`. For
189example, if you define `IsEven()` as:
190
191```c++
192::testing::AssertionResult IsEven(int n) {
193  if ((n % 2) == 0)
194     return ::testing::AssertionSuccess();
195  else
196     return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << n << " is odd";
197}
198```
199
200instead of:
201
202```c++
203bool IsEven(int n) {
204  return (n % 2) == 0;
205}
206```
207
208the failed assertion `EXPECT_TRUE(IsEven(Fib(4)))` will print:
209
210```none
211Value of: IsEven(Fib(4))
212  Actual: false (3 is odd)
213Expected: true
214```
215
216instead of a more opaque
217
218```none
219Value of: IsEven(Fib(4))
220  Actual: false
221Expected: true
222```
223
224If you want informative messages in `EXPECT_FALSE` and `ASSERT_FALSE` as well
225(one third of Boolean assertions in the Google code base are negative ones), and
226are fine with making the predicate slower in the success case, you can supply a
227success message:
228
229```c++
230::testing::AssertionResult IsEven(int n) {
231  if ((n % 2) == 0)
232     return ::testing::AssertionSuccess() << n << " is even";
233  else
234     return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << n << " is odd";
235}
236```
237
238Then the statement `EXPECT_FALSE(IsEven(Fib(6)))` will print
239
240```none
241  Value of: IsEven(Fib(6))
242     Actual: true (8 is even)
243  Expected: false
244```
245
246**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
247
248#### Using a Predicate-Formatter
249
250If you find the default message generated by `(ASSERT|EXPECT)_PRED*` and
251`(ASSERT|EXPECT)_(TRUE|FALSE)` unsatisfactory, or some arguments to your
252predicate do not support streaming to `ostream`, you can instead use the
253following *predicate-formatter assertions* to *fully* customize how the message
254is formatted:
255
256Fatal assertion                                  | Nonfatal assertion                               | Verifies
257------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | --------
258`ASSERT_PRED_FORMAT1(pred_format1, val1);`       | `EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT1(pred_format1, val1);`       | `pred_format1(val1)` is successful
259`ASSERT_PRED_FORMAT2(pred_format2, val1, val2);` | `EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(pred_format2, val1, val2);` | `pred_format2(val1, val2)` is successful
260`...`                                            | `...`                                            | ...
261
262The difference between this and the previous group of macros is that instead of
263a predicate, `(ASSERT|EXPECT)_PRED_FORMAT*` take a *predicate-formatter*
264(`pred_formatn`), which is a function or functor with the signature:
265
266```c++
267::testing::AssertionResult PredicateFormattern(const char* expr1,
268                                               const char* expr2,
269                                               ...
270                                               const char* exprn,
271                                               T1 val1,
272                                               T2 val2,
273                                               ...
274                                               Tn valn);
275```
276
277where `val1`, `val2`, ..., and `valn` are the values of the predicate arguments,
278and `expr1`, `expr2`, ..., and `exprn` are the corresponding expressions as they
279appear in the source code. The types `T1`, `T2`, ..., and `Tn` can be either
280value types or reference types. For example, if an argument has type `Foo`, you
281can declare it as either `Foo` or `const Foo&`, whichever is appropriate.
282
283As an example, let's improve the failure message in `MutuallyPrime()`, which was
284used with `EXPECT_PRED2()`:
285
286```c++
287// Returns the smallest prime common divisor of m and n,
288// or 1 when m and n are mutually prime.
289int SmallestPrimeCommonDivisor(int m, int n) { ... }
290
291// A predicate-formatter for asserting that two integers are mutually prime.
292::testing::AssertionResult AssertMutuallyPrime(const char* m_expr,
293                                               const char* n_expr,
294                                               int m,
295                                               int n) {
296  if (MutuallyPrime(m, n)) return ::testing::AssertionSuccess();
297
298  return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << m_expr << " and " << n_expr
299      << " (" << m << " and " << n << ") are not mutually prime, "
300      << "as they have a common divisor " << SmallestPrimeCommonDivisor(m, n);
301}
302```
303
304With this predicate-formatter, we can use
305
306```c++
307  EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(AssertMutuallyPrime, b, c);
308```
309
310to generate the message
311
312```none
313b and c (4 and 10) are not mutually prime, as they have a common divisor 2.
314```
315
316As you may have realized, many of the built-in assertions we introduced earlier
317are special cases of `(EXPECT|ASSERT)_PRED_FORMAT*`. In fact, most of them are
318indeed defined using `(EXPECT|ASSERT)_PRED_FORMAT*`.
319
320**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
321
322### Floating-Point Comparison
323
324Comparing floating-point numbers is tricky. Due to round-off errors, it is very
325unlikely that two floating-points will match exactly. Therefore, `ASSERT_EQ` 's
326naive comparison usually doesn't work. And since floating-points can have a wide
327value range, no single fixed error bound works. It's better to compare by a
328fixed relative error bound, except for values close to 0 due to the loss of
329precision there.
330
331In general, for floating-point comparison to make sense, the user needs to
332carefully choose the error bound. If they don't want or care to, comparing in
333terms of Units in the Last Place (ULPs) is a good default, and googletest
334provides assertions to do this. Full details about ULPs are quite long; if you
335want to learn more, see
336[here](https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/comparing-floating-point-numbers-2012-edition/).
337
338#### Floating-Point Macros
339
340| Fatal assertion                 | Nonfatal assertion             | Verifies                                 |
341| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------- |
342| `ASSERT_FLOAT_EQ(val1, val2);`  | `EXPECT_FLOAT_EQ(val1,val2);`  | the two `float` values are almost equal  |
343| `ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(val1, val2);` | `EXPECT_DOUBLE_EQ(val1, val2);`| the two `double` values are almost equal |
344
345By "almost equal" we mean the values are within 4 ULP's from each other.
346
347NOTE: `CHECK_DOUBLE_EQ()` in `base/logging.h` uses a fixed absolute error bound,
348so its result may differ from that of the googletest macros. That macro is
349unsafe and has been deprecated. Please don't use it any more.
350
351The following assertions allow you to choose the acceptable error bound:
352
353| Fatal assertion                       | Nonfatal assertion                    | Verifies                  |
354| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
355| `ASSERT_NEAR(val1, val2, abs_error);` | `EXPECT_NEAR(val1, val2, abs_error);` | the difference between `val1` and `val2` doesn't exceed the given absolute error |
356
357**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
358
359#### Floating-Point Predicate-Format Functions
360
361Some floating-point operations are useful, but not that often used. In order to
362avoid an explosion of new macros, we provide them as predicate-format functions
363that can be used in predicate assertion macros (e.g. `EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2`,
364etc).
365
366```c++
367EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(::testing::FloatLE, val1, val2);
368EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(::testing::DoubleLE, val1, val2);
369```
370
371Verifies that `val1` is less than, or almost equal to, `val2`. You can replace
372`EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2` in the above table with `ASSERT_PRED_FORMAT2`.
373
374**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
375
376### Asserting Using gMock Matchers
377
378Google-developed C++ mocking framework [gMock](../../googlemock) comes with a
379library of matchers for validating arguments passed to mock objects. A gMock
380*matcher* is basically a predicate that knows how to describe itself. It can be
381used in these assertion macros:
382
383| Fatal assertion                | Nonfatal assertion             | Verifies              |
384| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------ | --------------------- |
385| `ASSERT_THAT(value, matcher);` | `EXPECT_THAT(value, matcher);` | value matches matcher |
386
387For example, `StartsWith(prefix)` is a matcher that matches a string starting
388with `prefix`, and you can write:
389
390```c++
391using ::testing::StartsWith;
392...
393    // Verifies that Foo() returns a string starting with "Hello".
394    EXPECT_THAT(Foo(), StartsWith("Hello"));
395```
396
397Read this [recipe](../../googlemock/docs/CookBook.md#using-matchers-in-google-test-assertions) in
398the gMock Cookbook for more details.
399
400gMock has a rich set of matchers. You can do many things googletest cannot do
401alone with them. For a list of matchers gMock provides, read
402[this](../../googlemock/docs/CookBook.md#using-matchers). Especially useful among them are
403some [protocol buffer matchers](https://github.com/google/nucleus/blob/master/nucleus/testing/protocol-buffer-matchers.h). It's easy to write
404your [own matchers](../../googlemock/docs/CookBook.md#writing-new-matchers-quickly) too.
405
406For example, you can use gMock's
407[EqualsProto](https://github.com/google/nucleus/blob/master/nucleus/testing/protocol-buffer-matchers.h)
408to compare protos in your tests:
409
410```c++
411#include "testing/base/public/gmock.h"
412using ::testing::EqualsProto;
413...
414    EXPECT_THAT(actual_proto, EqualsProto("foo: 123 bar: 'xyz'"));
415    EXPECT_THAT(*actual_proto_ptr, EqualsProto(expected_proto));
416```
417
418gMock is bundled with googletest, so you don't need to add any build dependency
419in order to take advantage of this. Just include `"testing/base/public/gmock.h"`
420and you're ready to go.
421
422**Availability**: Linux, Windows, and Mac.
423
424### More String Assertions
425
426(Please read the [previous](#asserting-using-gmock-matchers) section first if you haven't.)
427
428You can use the gMock [string matchers](../../googlemock/docs/CheatSheet.md#string-matchers)
429with `EXPECT_THAT()` or `ASSERT_THAT()` to do more string comparison tricks
430(sub-string, prefix, suffix, regular expression, and etc). For example,
431
432```c++
433using ::testing::HasSubstr;
434using ::testing::MatchesRegex;
435...
436  ASSERT_THAT(foo_string, HasSubstr("needle"));
437  EXPECT_THAT(bar_string, MatchesRegex("\\w*\\d+"));
438```
439
440**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
441
442If the string contains a well-formed HTML or XML document, you can check whether
443its DOM tree matches an [XPath
444expression](http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath/#contents):
445
446```c++
447// Currently still in //template/prototemplate/testing:xpath_matcher
448#include "template/prototemplate/testing/xpath_matcher.h"
449using prototemplate::testing::MatchesXPath;
450EXPECT_THAT(html_string, MatchesXPath("//a[text()='click here']"));
451```
452
453**Availability**: Linux.
454
455### Windows HRESULT assertions
456
457These assertions test for `HRESULT` success or failure.
458
459Fatal assertion                        | Nonfatal assertion                     | Verifies
460-------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------
461`ASSERT_HRESULT_SUCCEEDED(expression)` | `EXPECT_HRESULT_SUCCEEDED(expression)` | `expression` is a success `HRESULT`
462`ASSERT_HRESULT_FAILED(expression)`    | `EXPECT_HRESULT_FAILED(expression)`    | `expression` is a failure `HRESULT`
463
464The generated output contains the human-readable error message associated with
465the `HRESULT` code returned by `expression`.
466
467You might use them like this:
468
469```c++
470CComPtr<IShellDispatch2> shell;
471ASSERT_HRESULT_SUCCEEDED(shell.CoCreateInstance(L"Shell.Application"));
472CComVariant empty;
473ASSERT_HRESULT_SUCCEEDED(shell->ShellExecute(CComBSTR(url), empty, empty, empty, empty));
474```
475
476**Availability**: Windows.
477
478### Type Assertions
479
480You can call the function
481
482```c++
483::testing::StaticAssertTypeEq<T1, T2>();
484```
485
486to assert that types `T1` and `T2` are the same. The function does nothing if
487the assertion is satisfied. If the types are different, the function call will
488fail to compile, and the compiler error message will likely (depending on the
489compiler) show you the actual values of `T1` and `T2`. This is mainly useful
490inside template code.
491
492**Caveat**: When used inside a member function of a class template or a function
493template, `StaticAssertTypeEq<T1, T2>()` is effective only if the function is
494instantiated. For example, given:
495
496```c++
497template <typename T> class Foo {
498 public:
499  void Bar() { ::testing::StaticAssertTypeEq<int, T>(); }
500};
501```
502
503the code:
504
505```c++
506void Test1() { Foo<bool> foo; }
507```
508
509will not generate a compiler error, as `Foo<bool>::Bar()` is never actually
510instantiated. Instead, you need:
511
512```c++
513void Test2() { Foo<bool> foo; foo.Bar(); }
514```
515
516to cause a compiler error.
517
518**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
519
520### Assertion Placement
521
522You can use assertions in any C++ function. In particular, it doesn't have to be
523a method of the test fixture class. The one constraint is that assertions that
524generate a fatal failure (`FAIL*` and `ASSERT_*`) can only be used in
525void-returning functions. This is a consequence of Google's not using
526exceptions. By placing it in a non-void function you'll get a confusing compile
527error like `"error: void value not ignored as it ought to be"` or `"cannot
528initialize return object of type 'bool' with an rvalue of type 'void'"` or
529`"error: no viable conversion from 'void' to 'string'"`.
530
531If you need to use fatal assertions in a function that returns non-void, one
532option is to make the function return the value in an out parameter instead. For
533example, you can rewrite `T2 Foo(T1 x)` to `void Foo(T1 x, T2* result)`. You
534need to make sure that `*result` contains some sensible value even when the
535function returns prematurely. As the function now returns `void`, you can use
536any assertion inside of it.
537
538If changing the function's type is not an option, you should just use assertions
539that generate non-fatal failures, such as `ADD_FAILURE*` and `EXPECT_*`.
540
541NOTE: Constructors and destructors are not considered void-returning functions,
542according to the C++ language specification, and so you may not use fatal
543assertions in them. You'll get a compilation error if you try. A simple
544workaround is to transfer the entire body of the constructor or destructor to a
545private void-returning method. However, you should be aware that a fatal
546assertion failure in a constructor does not terminate the current test, as your
547intuition might suggest; it merely returns from the constructor early, possibly
548leaving your object in a partially-constructed state. Likewise, a fatal
549assertion failure in a destructor may leave your object in a
550partially-destructed state. Use assertions carefully in these situations!
551
552## Teaching googletest How to Print Your Values
553
554When a test assertion such as `EXPECT_EQ` fails, googletest prints the argument
555values to help you debug. It does this using a user-extensible value printer.
556
557This printer knows how to print built-in C++ types, native arrays, STL
558containers, and any type that supports the `<<` operator. For other types, it
559prints the raw bytes in the value and hopes that you the user can figure it out.
560
561As mentioned earlier, the printer is *extensible*. That means you can teach it
562to do a better job at printing your particular type than to dump the bytes. To
563do that, define `<<` for your type:
564
565```c++
566// Streams are allowed only for logging.  Don't include this for
567// any other purpose.
568#include <ostream>
569
570namespace foo {
571
572class Bar {  // We want googletest to be able to print instances of this.
573...
574  // Create a free inline friend function.
575  friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Bar& bar) {
576    return os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
577  }
578};
579
580// If you can't declare the function in the class it's important that the
581// << operator is defined in the SAME namespace that defines Bar.  C++'s look-up
582// rules rely on that.
583std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Bar& bar) {
584  return os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
585}
586
587}  // namespace foo
588```
589
590Sometimes, this might not be an option: your team may consider it bad style to
591have a `<<` operator for `Bar`, or `Bar` may already have a `<<` operator that
592doesn't do what you want (and you cannot change it). If so, you can instead
593define a `PrintTo()` function like this:
594
595```c++
596// Streams are allowed only for logging.  Don't include this for
597// any other purpose.
598#include <ostream>
599
600namespace foo {
601
602class Bar {
603  ...
604  friend void PrintTo(const Bar& bar, std::ostream* os) {
605    *os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
606  }
607};
608
609// If you can't declare the function in the class it's important that PrintTo()
610// is defined in the SAME namespace that defines Bar.  C++'s look-up rules rely
611// on that.
612void PrintTo(const Bar& bar, std::ostream* os) {
613  *os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
614}
615
616}  // namespace foo
617```
618
619If you have defined both `<<` and `PrintTo()`, the latter will be used when
620googletest is concerned. This allows you to customize how the value appears in
621googletest's output without affecting code that relies on the behavior of its
622`<<` operator.
623
624If you want to print a value `x` using googletest's value printer yourself, just
625call `::testing::PrintToString(x)`, which returns an `std::string`:
626
627```c++
628vector<pair<Bar, int> > bar_ints = GetBarIntVector();
629
630EXPECT_TRUE(IsCorrectBarIntVector(bar_ints))
631    << "bar_ints = " << ::testing::PrintToString(bar_ints);
632```
633
634## Death Tests
635
636In many applications, there are assertions that can cause application failure if
637a condition is not met. These sanity checks, which ensure that the program is in
638a known good state, are there to fail at the earliest possible time after some
639program state is corrupted. If the assertion checks the wrong condition, then
640the program may proceed in an erroneous state, which could lead to memory
641corruption, security holes, or worse. Hence it is vitally important to test that
642such assertion statements work as expected.
643
644Since these precondition checks cause the processes to die, we call such tests
645_death tests_. More generally, any test that checks that a program terminates
646(except by throwing an exception) in an expected fashion is also a death test.
647
648
649Note that if a piece of code throws an exception, we don't consider it "death"
650for the purpose of death tests, as the caller of the code could catch the
651exception and avoid the crash. If you want to verify exceptions thrown by your
652code, see [Exception Assertions](#exception-assertions).
653
654If you want to test `EXPECT_*()/ASSERT_*()` failures in your test code, see
655Catching Failures
656
657### How to Write a Death Test
658
659googletest has the following macros to support death tests:
660
661Fatal assertion                                | Nonfatal assertion                             | Verifies
662---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | --------
663`ASSERT_DEATH(statement, regex);`              | `EXPECT_DEATH(statement, regex);`              | `statement` crashes with the given error
664`ASSERT_DEATH_IF_SUPPORTED(statement, regex);` | `EXPECT_DEATH_IF_SUPPORTED(statement, regex);` | if death tests are supported, verifies that `statement` crashes with the given error; otherwise verifies nothing
665`ASSERT_EXIT(statement, predicate, regex);`    | `EXPECT_EXIT(statement, predicate, regex);`    | `statement` exits with the given error, and its exit code matches `predicate`
666
667where `statement` is a statement that is expected to cause the process to die,
668`predicate` is a function or function object that evaluates an integer exit
669status, and `regex` is a (Perl) regular expression that the stderr output of
670`statement` is expected to match. Note that `statement` can be *any valid
671statement* (including *compound statement*) and doesn't have to be an
672expression.
673
674
675As usual, the `ASSERT` variants abort the current test function, while the
676`EXPECT` variants do not.
677
678> NOTE: We use the word "crash" here to mean that the process terminates with a
679> *non-zero* exit status code. There are two possibilities: either the process
680> has called `exit()` or `_exit()` with a non-zero value, or it may be killed by
681> a signal.
682>
683> This means that if `*statement*` terminates the process with a 0 exit code, it
684> is *not* considered a crash by `EXPECT_DEATH`. Use `EXPECT_EXIT` instead if
685> this is the case, or if you want to restrict the exit code more precisely.
686
687A predicate here must accept an `int` and return a `bool`. The death test
688succeeds only if the predicate returns `true`. googletest defines a few
689predicates that handle the most common cases:
690
691```c++
692::testing::ExitedWithCode(exit_code)
693```
694
695This expression is `true` if the program exited normally with the given exit
696code.
697
698```c++
699::testing::KilledBySignal(signal_number)  // Not available on Windows.
700```
701
702This expression is `true` if the program was killed by the given signal.
703
704The `*_DEATH` macros are convenient wrappers for `*_EXIT` that use a predicate
705that verifies the process' exit code is non-zero.
706
707Note that a death test only cares about three things:
708
7091.  does `statement` abort or exit the process?
7102.  (in the case of `ASSERT_EXIT` and `EXPECT_EXIT`) does the exit status
711    satisfy `predicate`? Or (in the case of `ASSERT_DEATH` and `EXPECT_DEATH`)
712    is the exit status non-zero? And
7133.  does the stderr output match `regex`?
714
715In particular, if `statement` generates an `ASSERT_*` or `EXPECT_*` failure, it
716will **not** cause the death test to fail, as googletest assertions don't abort
717the process.
718
719To write a death test, simply use one of the above macros inside your test
720function. For example,
721
722```c++
723TEST(MyDeathTest, Foo) {
724  // This death test uses a compound statement.
725  ASSERT_DEATH({
726    int n = 5;
727    Foo(&n);
728  }, "Error on line .* of Foo()");
729}
730
731TEST(MyDeathTest, NormalExit) {
732  EXPECT_EXIT(NormalExit(), ::testing::ExitedWithCode(0), "Success");
733}
734
735TEST(MyDeathTest, KillMyself) {
736  EXPECT_EXIT(KillMyself(), ::testing::KilledBySignal(SIGKILL),
737              "Sending myself unblockable signal");
738}
739```
740
741verifies that:
742
743*   calling `Foo(5)` causes the process to die with the given error message,
744*   calling `NormalExit()` causes the process to print `"Success"` to stderr and
745    exit with exit code 0, and
746*   calling `KillMyself()` kills the process with signal `SIGKILL`.
747
748The test function body may contain other assertions and statements as well, if
749necessary.
750
751### Death Test Naming
752
753IMPORTANT: We strongly recommend you to follow the convention of naming your
754**test suite** (not test) `*DeathTest` when it contains a death test, as
755demonstrated in the above example. The [Death Tests And
756Threads](#death-tests-and-threads) section below explains why.
757
758If a test fixture class is shared by normal tests and death tests, you can use
759`using` or `typedef` to introduce an alias for the fixture class and avoid
760duplicating its code:
761
762```c++
763class FooTest : public ::testing::Test { ... };
764
765using FooDeathTest = FooTest;
766
767TEST_F(FooTest, DoesThis) {
768  // normal test
769}
770
771TEST_F(FooDeathTest, DoesThat) {
772  // death test
773}
774```
775
776**Availability**: Linux, Windows (requires MSVC 8.0 or above), Cygwin, and Mac
777
778### Regular Expression Syntax
779
780
781On POSIX systems (e.g. Linux, Cygwin, and Mac), googletest uses the
782[POSIX extended regular expression](http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap09.html#tag_09_04)
783syntax. To learn about this syntax, you may want to read this
784[Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#POSIX_Extended_Regular_Expressions).
785
786On Windows, googletest uses its own simple regular expression implementation. It
787lacks many features. For example, we don't support union (`"x|y"`), grouping
788(`"(xy)"`), brackets (`"[xy]"`), and repetition count (`"x{5,7}"`), among
789others. Below is what we do support (`A` denotes a literal character, period
790(`.`), or a single `\\ ` escape sequence; `x` and `y` denote regular
791expressions.):
792
793Expression | Meaning
794---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------
795`c`        | matches any literal character `c`
796`\\d`      | matches any decimal digit
797`\\D`      | matches any character that's not a decimal digit
798`\\f`      | matches `\f`
799`\\n`      | matches `\n`
800`\\r`      | matches `\r`
801`\\s`      | matches any ASCII whitespace, including `\n`
802`\\S`      | matches any character that's not a whitespace
803`\\t`      | matches `\t`
804`\\v`      | matches `\v`
805`\\w`      | matches any letter, `_`, or decimal digit
806`\\W`      | matches any character that `\\w` doesn't match
807`\\c`      | matches any literal character `c`, which must be a punctuation
808`.`        | matches any single character except `\n`
809`A?`       | matches 0 or 1 occurrences of `A`
810`A*`       | matches 0 or many occurrences of `A`
811`A+`       | matches 1 or many occurrences of `A`
812`^`        | matches the beginning of a string (not that of each line)
813`$`        | matches the end of a string (not that of each line)
814`xy`       | matches `x` followed by `y`
815
816To help you determine which capability is available on your system, googletest
817defines macros to govern which regular expression it is using. The macros are:
818<!--absl:google3-begin(google3-only)-->`GTEST_USES_PCRE=1`, or
819<!--absl:google3-end--> `GTEST_USES_SIMPLE_RE=1` or `GTEST_USES_POSIX_RE=1`. If
820you want your death tests to work in all cases, you can either `#if` on these
821macros or use the more limited syntax only.
822
823### How It Works
824
825Under the hood, `ASSERT_EXIT()` spawns a new process and executes the death test
826statement in that process. The details of how precisely that happens depend on
827the platform and the variable ::testing::GTEST_FLAG(death_test_style) (which is
828initialized from the command-line flag `--gtest_death_test_style`).
829
830*   On POSIX systems, `fork()` (or `clone()` on Linux) is used to spawn the
831    child, after which:
832    *   If the variable's value is `"fast"`, the death test statement is
833        immediately executed.
834    *   If the variable's value is `"threadsafe"`, the child process re-executes
835        the unit test binary just as it was originally invoked, but with some
836        extra flags to cause just the single death test under consideration to
837        be run.
838*   On Windows, the child is spawned using the `CreateProcess()` API, and
839    re-executes the binary to cause just the single death test under
840    consideration to be run - much like the `threadsafe` mode on POSIX.
841
842Other values for the variable are illegal and will cause the death test to fail.
843Currently, the flag's default value is
844"fast". However, we reserve
845the right to change it in the future. Therefore, your tests should not depend on
846this. In either case, the parent process waits for the child process to
847complete, and checks that
848
8491.  the child's exit status satisfies the predicate, and
8502.  the child's stderr matches the regular expression.
851
852If the death test statement runs to completion without dying, the child process
853will nonetheless terminate, and the assertion fails.
854
855### Death Tests And Threads
856
857The reason for the two death test styles has to do with thread safety. Due to
858well-known problems with forking in the presence of threads, death tests should
859be run in a single-threaded context. Sometimes, however, it isn't feasible to
860arrange that kind of environment. For example, statically-initialized modules
861may start threads before main is ever reached. Once threads have been created,
862it may be difficult or impossible to clean them up.
863
864googletest has three features intended to raise awareness of threading issues.
865
8661.  A warning is emitted if multiple threads are running when a death test is
867    encountered.
8682.  Test suites with a name ending in "DeathTest" are run before all other tests.
8693.  It uses `clone()` instead of `fork()` to spawn the child process on Linux
870    (`clone()` is not available on Cygwin and Mac), as `fork()` is more likely
871    to cause the child to hang when the parent process has multiple threads.
872
873It's perfectly fine to create threads inside a death test statement; they are
874executed in a separate process and cannot affect the parent.
875
876### Death Test Styles
877
878
879The "threadsafe" death test style was introduced in order to help mitigate the
880risks of testing in a possibly multithreaded environment. It trades increased
881test execution time (potentially dramatically so) for improved thread safety.
882
883The automated testing framework does not set the style flag. You can choose a
884particular style of death tests by setting the flag programmatically:
885
886```c++
887testing::FLAGS_gtest_death_test_style="threadsafe"
888```
889
890You can do this in `main()` to set the style for all death tests in the binary,
891or in individual tests. Recall that flags are saved before running each test and
892restored afterwards, so you need not do that yourself. For example:
893
894```c++
895int main(int argc, char** argv) {
896  InitGoogle(argv[0], &argc, &argv, true);
897  ::testing::FLAGS_gtest_death_test_style = "fast";
898  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
899}
900
901TEST(MyDeathTest, TestOne) {
902  ::testing::FLAGS_gtest_death_test_style = "threadsafe";
903  // This test is run in the "threadsafe" style:
904  ASSERT_DEATH(ThisShouldDie(), "");
905}
906
907TEST(MyDeathTest, TestTwo) {
908  // This test is run in the "fast" style:
909  ASSERT_DEATH(ThisShouldDie(), "");
910}
911```
912
913
914### Caveats
915
916The `statement` argument of `ASSERT_EXIT()` can be any valid C++ statement. If
917it leaves the current function via a `return` statement or by throwing an
918exception, the death test is considered to have failed. Some googletest macros
919may return from the current function (e.g. `ASSERT_TRUE()`), so be sure to avoid
920them in `statement`.
921
922Since `statement` runs in the child process, any in-memory side effect (e.g.
923modifying a variable, releasing memory, etc) it causes will *not* be observable
924in the parent process. In particular, if you release memory in a death test,
925your program will fail the heap check as the parent process will never see the
926memory reclaimed. To solve this problem, you can
927
9281.  try not to free memory in a death test;
9292.  free the memory again in the parent process; or
9303.  do not use the heap checker in your program.
931
932Due to an implementation detail, you cannot place multiple death test assertions
933on the same line; otherwise, compilation will fail with an unobvious error
934message.
935
936Despite the improved thread safety afforded by the "threadsafe" style of death
937test, thread problems such as deadlock are still possible in the presence of
938handlers registered with `pthread_atfork(3)`.
939
940
941## Using Assertions in Sub-routines
942
943### Adding Traces to Assertions
944
945If a test sub-routine is called from several places, when an assertion inside it
946fails, it can be hard to tell which invocation of the sub-routine the failure is
947from.
948You can alleviate this problem using extra logging or custom failure messages,
949but that usually clutters up your tests. A better solution is to use the
950`SCOPED_TRACE` macro or the `ScopedTrace` utility:
951
952```c++
953SCOPED_TRACE(message);
954ScopedTrace trace("file_path", line_number, message);
955```
956
957where `message` can be anything streamable to `std::ostream`. `SCOPED_TRACE`
958macro will cause the current file name, line number, and the given message to be
959added in every failure message. `ScopedTrace` accepts explicit file name and
960line number in arguments, which is useful for writing test helpers. The effect
961will be undone when the control leaves the current lexical scope.
962
963For example,
964
965```c++
96610: void Sub1(int n) {
96711:   EXPECT_EQ(1, Bar(n));
96812:   EXPECT_EQ(2, Bar(n + 1));
96913: }
97014:
97115: TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
97216:   {
97317:     SCOPED_TRACE("A");  // This trace point will be included in
97418:                         // every failure in this scope.
97519:     Sub1(1);
97620:   }
97721:   // Now it won't.
97822:   Sub1(9);
97923: }
980```
981
982could result in messages like these:
983
984```none
985path/to/foo_test.cc:11: Failure
986Value of: Bar(n)
987Expected: 1
988  Actual: 2
989   Trace:
990path/to/foo_test.cc:17: A
991
992path/to/foo_test.cc:12: Failure
993Value of: Bar(n + 1)
994Expected: 2
995  Actual: 3
996```
997
998Without the trace, it would've been difficult to know which invocation of
999`Sub1()` the two failures come from respectively. (You could add
1000
1001an extra message to each assertion in `Sub1()` to indicate the value of `n`, but
1002that's tedious.)
1003
1004Some tips on using `SCOPED_TRACE`:
1005
10061.  With a suitable message, it's often enough to use `SCOPED_TRACE` at the
1007    beginning of a sub-routine, instead of at each call site.
10082.  When calling sub-routines inside a loop, make the loop iterator part of the
1009    message in `SCOPED_TRACE` such that you can know which iteration the failure
1010    is from.
10113.  Sometimes the line number of the trace point is enough for identifying the
1012    particular invocation of a sub-routine. In this case, you don't have to
1013    choose a unique message for `SCOPED_TRACE`. You can simply use `""`.
10144.  You can use `SCOPED_TRACE` in an inner scope when there is one in the outer
1015    scope. In this case, all active trace points will be included in the failure
1016    messages, in reverse order they are encountered.
10175.  The trace dump is clickable in Emacs - hit `return` on a line number and
1018    you'll be taken to that line in the source file!
1019
1020**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
1021
1022### Propagating Fatal Failures
1023
1024A common pitfall when using `ASSERT_*` and `FAIL*` is not understanding that
1025when they fail they only abort the _current function_, not the entire test. For
1026example, the following test will segfault:
1027
1028```c++
1029void Subroutine() {
1030  // Generates a fatal failure and aborts the current function.
1031  ASSERT_EQ(1, 2);
1032
1033  // The following won't be executed.
1034  ...
1035}
1036
1037TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
1038  Subroutine();  // The intended behavior is for the fatal failure
1039                 // in Subroutine() to abort the entire test.
1040
1041  // The actual behavior: the function goes on after Subroutine() returns.
1042  int* p = NULL;
1043  *p = 3;  // Segfault!
1044}
1045```
1046
1047To alleviate this, googletest provides three different solutions. You could use
1048either exceptions, the `(ASSERT|EXPECT)_NO_FATAL_FAILURE` assertions or the
1049`HasFatalFailure()` function. They are described in the following two
1050subsections.
1051
1052#### Asserting on Subroutines with an exception
1053
1054The following code can turn ASSERT-failure into an exception:
1055
1056```c++
1057class ThrowListener : public testing::EmptyTestEventListener {
1058  void OnTestPartResult(const testing::TestPartResult& result) override {
1059    if (result.type() == testing::TestPartResult::kFatalFailure) {
1060      throw testing::AssertionException(result);
1061    }
1062  }
1063};
1064int main(int argc, char** argv) {
1065  ...
1066  testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->listeners().Append(new ThrowListener);
1067  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
1068}
1069```
1070
1071This listener should be added after other listeners if you have any, otherwise
1072they won't see failed `OnTestPartResult`.
1073
1074#### Asserting on Subroutines
1075
1076As shown above, if your test calls a subroutine that has an `ASSERT_*` failure
1077in it, the test will continue after the subroutine returns. This may not be what
1078you want.
1079
1080Often people want fatal failures to propagate like exceptions. For that
1081googletest offers the following macros:
1082
1083Fatal assertion                       | Nonfatal assertion                    | Verifies
1084------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | --------
1085`ASSERT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(statement);` | `EXPECT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(statement);` | `statement` doesn't generate any new fatal failures in the current thread.
1086
1087Only failures in the thread that executes the assertion are checked to determine
1088the result of this type of assertions. If `statement` creates new threads,
1089failures in these threads are ignored.
1090
1091Examples:
1092
1093```c++
1094ASSERT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(Foo());
1095
1096int i;
1097EXPECT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE({
1098  i = Bar();
1099});
1100```
1101
1102**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac. Assertions from multiple threads are
1103currently not supported on Windows.
1104
1105#### Checking for Failures in the Current Test
1106
1107`HasFatalFailure()` in the `::testing::Test` class returns `true` if an
1108assertion in the current test has suffered a fatal failure. This allows
1109functions to catch fatal failures in a sub-routine and return early.
1110
1111```c++
1112class Test {
1113 public:
1114  ...
1115  static bool HasFatalFailure();
1116};
1117```
1118
1119The typical usage, which basically simulates the behavior of a thrown exception,
1120is:
1121
1122```c++
1123TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
1124  Subroutine();
1125  // Aborts if Subroutine() had a fatal failure.
1126  if (HasFatalFailure()) return;
1127
1128  // The following won't be executed.
1129  ...
1130}
1131```
1132
1133If `HasFatalFailure()` is used outside of `TEST()` , `TEST_F()` , or a test
1134fixture, you must add the `::testing::Test::` prefix, as in:
1135
1136```c++
1137if (::testing::Test::HasFatalFailure()) return;
1138```
1139
1140Similarly, `HasNonfatalFailure()` returns `true` if the current test has at
1141least one non-fatal failure, and `HasFailure()` returns `true` if the current
1142test has at least one failure of either kind.
1143
1144**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
1145
1146## Logging Additional Information
1147
1148In your test code, you can call `RecordProperty("key", value)` to log additional
1149information, where `value` can be either a string or an `int`. The *last* value
1150recorded for a key will be emitted to the [XML output](#generating-an-xml-report) if you
1151specify one. For example, the test
1152
1153```c++
1154TEST_F(WidgetUsageTest, MinAndMaxWidgets) {
1155  RecordProperty("MaximumWidgets", ComputeMaxUsage());
1156  RecordProperty("MinimumWidgets", ComputeMinUsage());
1157}
1158```
1159
1160will output XML like this:
1161
1162```xml
1163  ...
1164    <testcase name="MinAndMaxWidgets" status="run" time="0.006" classname="WidgetUsageTest" MaximumWidgets="12" MinimumWidgets="9" />
1165  ...
1166```
1167
1168> NOTE:
1169>
1170> *   `RecordProperty()` is a static member of the `Test` class. Therefore it
1171>     needs to be prefixed with `::testing::Test::` if used outside of the
1172>     `TEST` body and the test fixture class.
1173> *   `*key*` must be a valid XML attribute name, and cannot conflict with the
1174>     ones already used by googletest (`name`, `status`, `time`, `classname`,
1175>     `type_param`, and `value_param`).
1176> *   Calling `RecordProperty()` outside of the lifespan of a test is allowed.
1177>     If it's called outside of a test but between a test suite's
1178>     `SetUpTestSuite()` and `TearDownTestSuite()` methods, it will be attributed
1179>     to the XML element for the test suite. If it's called outside of all test
1180>     suites (e.g. in a test environment), it will be attributed to the top-level
1181>     XML element.
1182
1183**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
1184
1185## Sharing Resources Between Tests in the Same Test Suite
1186
1187googletest creates a new test fixture object for each test in order to make
1188tests independent and easier to debug. However, sometimes tests use resources
1189that are expensive to set up, making the one-copy-per-test model prohibitively
1190expensive.
1191
1192If the tests don't change the resource, there's no harm in their sharing a
1193single resource copy. So, in addition to per-test set-up/tear-down, googletest
1194also supports per-test-suite set-up/tear-down. To use it:
1195
11961.  In your test fixture class (say `FooTest` ), declare as `static` some member
1197    variables to hold the shared resources.
11981.  Outside your test fixture class (typically just below it), define those
1199    member variables, optionally giving them initial values.
12001.  In the same test fixture class, define a `static void SetUpTestSuite()`
1201    function (remember not to spell it as **`SetupTestSuite`** with a small `u`!)
1202    to set up the shared resources and a `static void TearDownTestSuite()`
1203    function to tear them down.
1204
1205That's it! googletest automatically calls `SetUpTestSuite()` before running the
1206*first test* in the `FooTest` test suite (i.e. before creating the first
1207`FooTest` object), and calls `TearDownTestSuite()` after running the *last test*
1208in it (i.e. after deleting the last `FooTest` object). In between, the tests can
1209use the shared resources.
1210
1211Remember that the test order is undefined, so your code can't depend on a test
1212preceding or following another. Also, the tests must either not modify the state
1213of any shared resource, or, if they do modify the state, they must restore the
1214state to its original value before passing control to the next test.
1215
1216Here's an example of per-test-suite set-up and tear-down:
1217
1218```c++
1219class FooTest : public ::testing::Test {
1220 protected:
1221  // Per-test-suite set-up.
1222  // Called before the first test in this test suite.
1223  // Can be omitted if not needed.
1224  static void SetUpTestSuite() {
1225    shared_resource_ = new ...;
1226  }
1227
1228  // Per-test-suite tear-down.
1229  // Called after the last test in this test suite.
1230  // Can be omitted if not needed.
1231  static void TearDownTestSuite() {
1232    delete shared_resource_;
1233    shared_resource_ = NULL;
1234  }
1235
1236  // You can define per-test set-up logic as usual.
1237  virtual void SetUp() { ... }
1238
1239  // You can define per-test tear-down logic as usual.
1240  virtual void TearDown() { ... }
1241
1242  // Some expensive resource shared by all tests.
1243  static T* shared_resource_;
1244};
1245
1246T* FooTest::shared_resource_ = NULL;
1247
1248TEST_F(FooTest, Test1) {
1249  ... you can refer to shared_resource_ here ...
1250}
1251
1252TEST_F(FooTest, Test2) {
1253  ... you can refer to shared_resource_ here ...
1254}
1255```
1256
1257NOTE: Though the above code declares `SetUpTestSuite()` protected, it may
1258sometimes be necessary to declare it public, such as when using it with
1259`TEST_P`.
1260
1261**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
1262
1263## Global Set-Up and Tear-Down
1264
1265Just as you can do set-up and tear-down at the test level and the test suite
1266level, you can also do it at the test program level. Here's how.
1267
1268First, you subclass the `::testing::Environment` class to define a test
1269environment, which knows how to set-up and tear-down:
1270
1271```c++
1272class Environment {
1273 public:
1274  virtual ~Environment() {}
1275
1276  // Override this to define how to set up the environment.
1277  virtual void SetUp() {}
1278
1279  // Override this to define how to tear down the environment.
1280  virtual void TearDown() {}
1281};
1282```
1283
1284Then, you register an instance of your environment class with googletest by
1285calling the `::testing::AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` function:
1286
1287```c++
1288Environment* AddGlobalTestEnvironment(Environment* env);
1289```
1290
1291Now, when `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is called, it first calls the `SetUp()` method of
1292the environment object, then runs the tests if there was no fatal failures, and
1293finally calls `TearDown()` of the environment object.
1294
1295It's OK to register multiple environment objects. In this case, their `SetUp()`
1296will be called in the order they are registered, and their `TearDown()` will be
1297called in the reverse order.
1298
1299Note that googletest takes ownership of the registered environment objects.
1300Therefore **do not delete them** by yourself.
1301
1302You should call `AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` before `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is called,
1303probably in `main()`. If you use `gtest_main`, you need to call this before
1304`main()` starts for it to take effect. One way to do this is to define a global
1305variable like this:
1306
1307```c++
1308::testing::Environment* const foo_env =
1309    ::testing::AddGlobalTestEnvironment(new FooEnvironment);
1310```
1311
1312However, we strongly recommend you to write your own `main()` and call
1313`AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` there, as relying on initialization of global
1314variables makes the code harder to read and may cause problems when you register
1315multiple environments from different translation units and the environments have
1316dependencies among them (remember that the compiler doesn't guarantee the order
1317in which global variables from different translation units are initialized).
1318
1319## Value-Parameterized Tests
1320
1321*Value-parameterized tests* allow you to test your code with different
1322parameters without writing multiple copies of the same test. This is useful in a
1323number of situations, for example:
1324
1325*   You have a piece of code whose behavior is affected by one or more
1326    command-line flags. You want to make sure your code performs correctly for
1327    various values of those flags.
1328*   You want to test different implementations of an OO interface.
1329*   You want to test your code over various inputs (a.k.a. data-driven testing).
1330    This feature is easy to abuse, so please exercise your good sense when doing
1331    it!
1332
1333### How to Write Value-Parameterized Tests
1334
1335To write value-parameterized tests, first you should define a fixture class. It
1336must be derived from both `::testing::Test` and
1337`::testing::WithParamInterface<T>` (the latter is a pure interface), where `T`
1338is the type of your parameter values. For convenience, you can just derive the
1339fixture class from `::testing::TestWithParam<T>`, which itself is derived from
1340both `::testing::Test` and `::testing::WithParamInterface<T>`. `T` can be any
1341copyable type. If it's a raw pointer, you are responsible for managing the
1342lifespan of the pointed values.
1343
1344NOTE: If your test fixture defines `SetUpTestSuite()` or `TearDownTestSuite()`
1345they must be declared **public** rather than **protected** in order to use
1346`TEST_P`.
1347
1348```c++
1349class FooTest :
1350    public ::testing::TestWithParam<const char*> {
1351  // You can implement all the usual fixture class members here.
1352  // To access the test parameter, call GetParam() from class
1353  // TestWithParam<T>.
1354};
1355
1356// Or, when you want to add parameters to a pre-existing fixture class:
1357class BaseTest : public ::testing::Test {
1358  ...
1359};
1360class BarTest : public BaseTest,
1361                public ::testing::WithParamInterface<const char*> {
1362  ...
1363};
1364```
1365
1366Then, use the `TEST_P` macro to define as many test patterns using this fixture
1367as you want. The `_P` suffix is for "parameterized" or "pattern", whichever you
1368prefer to think.
1369
1370```c++
1371TEST_P(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
1372  // Inside a test, access the test parameter with the GetParam() method
1373  // of the TestWithParam<T> class:
1374  EXPECT_TRUE(foo.Blah(GetParam()));
1375  ...
1376}
1377
1378TEST_P(FooTest, HasBlahBlah) {
1379  ...
1380}
1381```
1382
1383Finally, you can use `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` to instantiate the test suite with
1384any set of parameters you want. googletest defines a number of functions for
1385generating test parameters. They return what we call (surprise!) *parameter
1386generators*. Here is a summary of them, which are all in the `testing`
1387namespace:
1388
1389| Parameter Generator          | Behavior                                    |
1390| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
1391| `Range(begin, end [, step])` | Yields values `{begin, begin+step, begin+step+step, ...}`. The values do not include `end`. `step` defaults to 1.      |
1392| `Values(v1, v2, ..., vN)`    | Yields values `{v1, v2, ..., vN}`.          |
1393| `ValuesIn(container)` and `ValuesIn(begin,end)`   | Yields values from a C-style array, an STL-style container, or an iterator range  `[begin, end)`. |
1394| `Bool()`                     | Yields sequence `{false, true}`.            |
1395| `Combine(g1, g2, ..., gN)`   | Yields all combinations (Cartesian product) as std\:\:tuples of the values generated by the `N` generators.            |
1396
1397For more details, see the comments at the definitions of these functions.
1398
1399The following statement will instantiate tests from the `FooTest` test suite each
1400with parameter values `"meeny"`, `"miny"`, and `"moe"`.
1401
1402```c++
1403INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(InstantiationName,
1404                        FooTest,
1405                        ::testing::Values("meeny", "miny", "moe"));
1406```
1407
1408NOTE: The code above must be placed at global or namespace scope, not at
1409function scope.
1410
1411NOTE: Don't forget this step! If you do your test will silently pass, but none
1412of its suites will ever run!
1413
1414To distinguish different instances of the pattern (yes, you can instantiate it
1415more than once), the first argument to `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` is a prefix
1416that will be added to the actual test suite name. Remember to pick unique
1417prefixes for different instantiations. The tests from the instantiation above
1418will have these names:
1419
1420*   `InstantiationName/FooTest.DoesBlah/0` for `"meeny"`
1421*   `InstantiationName/FooTest.DoesBlah/1` for `"miny"`
1422*   `InstantiationName/FooTest.DoesBlah/2` for `"moe"`
1423*   `InstantiationName/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/0` for `"meeny"`
1424*   `InstantiationName/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/1` for `"miny"`
1425*   `InstantiationName/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/2` for `"moe"`
1426
1427You can use these names in [`--gtest_filter`](#running-a-subset-of-the-tests).
1428
1429This statement will instantiate all tests from `FooTest` again, each with
1430parameter values `"cat"` and `"dog"`:
1431
1432```c++
1433const char* pets[] = {"cat", "dog"};
1434INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(AnotherInstantiationName, FooTest,
1435                        ::testing::ValuesIn(pets));
1436```
1437
1438The tests from the instantiation above will have these names:
1439
1440*   `AnotherInstantiationName/FooTest.DoesBlah/0` for `"cat"`
1441*   `AnotherInstantiationName/FooTest.DoesBlah/1` for `"dog"`
1442*   `AnotherInstantiationName/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/0` for `"cat"`
1443*   `AnotherInstantiationName/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/1` for `"dog"`
1444
1445Please note that `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` will instantiate *all* tests in the
1446given test suite, whether their definitions come before or *after* the
1447`INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` statement.
1448
1449You can see sample7_unittest.cc and sample8_unittest.cc for more examples.
1450
1451**Availability**: Linux, Windows (requires MSVC 8.0 or above), Mac
1452
1453### Creating Value-Parameterized Abstract Tests
1454
1455In the above, we define and instantiate `FooTest` in the *same* source file.
1456Sometimes you may want to define value-parameterized tests in a library and let
1457other people instantiate them later. This pattern is known as *abstract tests*.
1458As an example of its application, when you are designing an interface you can
1459write a standard suite of abstract tests (perhaps using a factory function as
1460the test parameter) that all implementations of the interface are expected to
1461pass. When someone implements the interface, they can instantiate your suite to
1462get all the interface-conformance tests for free.
1463
1464To define abstract tests, you should organize your code like this:
1465
14661.  Put the definition of the parameterized test fixture class (e.g. `FooTest`)
1467    in a header file, say `foo_param_test.h`. Think of this as *declaring* your
1468    abstract tests.
14691.  Put the `TEST_P` definitions in `foo_param_test.cc`, which includes
1470    `foo_param_test.h`. Think of this as *implementing* your abstract tests.
1471
1472Once they are defined, you can instantiate them by including `foo_param_test.h`,
1473invoking `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P()`, and depending on the library target that
1474contains `foo_param_test.cc`. You can instantiate the same abstract test suite
1475multiple times, possibly in different source files.
1476
1477### Specifying Names for Value-Parameterized Test Parameters
1478
1479The optional last argument to `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P()` allows the user to
1480specify a function or functor that generates custom test name suffixes based on
1481the test parameters. The function should accept one argument of type
1482`testing::TestParamInfo<class ParamType>`, and return `std::string`.
1483
1484`testing::PrintToStringParamName` is a builtin test suffix generator that
1485returns the value of `testing::PrintToString(GetParam())`. It does not work for
1486`std::string` or C strings.
1487
1488NOTE: test names must be non-empty, unique, and may only contain ASCII
1489alphanumeric characters. In particular, they [should not contain
1490underscores](https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/docs/faq.md#why-should-test-suite-names-and-test-names-not-contain-underscore).
1491
1492```c++
1493class MyTestsuite : public testing::TestWithParam<int> {};
1494
1495TEST_P(MyTestsuite, MyTest)
1496{
1497  std::cout << "Example Test Param: " << GetParam() << std::endl;
1498}
1499
1500INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(MyGroup, MyTestsuite, testing::Range(0, 10),
1501                        testing::PrintToStringParamName());
1502```
1503
1504## Typed Tests</id>
1505
1506Suppose you have multiple implementations of the same interface and want to make
1507sure that all of them satisfy some common requirements. Or, you may have defined
1508several types that are supposed to conform to the same "concept" and you want to
1509verify it. In both cases, you want the same test logic repeated for different
1510types.
1511
1512While you can write one `TEST` or `TEST_F` for each type you want to test (and
1513you may even factor the test logic into a function template that you invoke from
1514the `TEST`), it's tedious and doesn't scale: if you want `m` tests over `n`
1515types, you'll end up writing `m*n` `TEST`s.
1516
1517*Typed tests* allow you to repeat the same test logic over a list of types. You
1518only need to write the test logic once, although you must know the type list
1519when writing typed tests. Here's how you do it:
1520
1521First, define a fixture class template. It should be parameterized by a type.
1522Remember to derive it from `::testing::Test`:
1523
1524```c++
1525template <typename T>
1526class FooTest : public ::testing::Test {
1527 public:
1528  ...
1529  typedef std::list<T> List;
1530  static T shared_;
1531  T value_;
1532};
1533```
1534
1535Next, associate a list of types with the test suite, which will be repeated for
1536each type in the list:
1537
1538```c++
1539using MyTypes = ::testing::Types<char, int, unsigned int>;
1540TYPED_TEST_SUITE(FooTest, MyTypes);
1541```
1542
1543The type alias (`using` or `typedef`) is necessary for the `TYPED_TEST_SUITE`
1544macro to parse correctly. Otherwise the compiler will think that each comma in
1545the type list introduces a new macro argument.
1546
1547Then, use `TYPED_TEST()` instead of `TEST_F()` to define a typed test for this
1548test suite. You can repeat this as many times as you want:
1549
1550```c++
1551TYPED_TEST(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
1552  // Inside a test, refer to the special name TypeParam to get the type
1553  // parameter.  Since we are inside a derived class template, C++ requires
1554  // us to visit the members of FooTest via 'this'.
1555  TypeParam n = this->value_;
1556
1557  // To visit static members of the fixture, add the 'TestFixture::'
1558  // prefix.
1559  n += TestFixture::shared_;
1560
1561  // To refer to typedefs in the fixture, add the 'typename TestFixture::'
1562  // prefix.  The 'typename' is required to satisfy the compiler.
1563  typename TestFixture::List values;
1564
1565  values.push_back(n);
1566  ...
1567}
1568
1569TYPED_TEST(FooTest, HasPropertyA) { ... }
1570```
1571
1572You can see sample6_unittest.cc
1573
1574**Availability**: Linux, Windows (requires MSVC 8.0 or above), Mac
1575
1576## Type-Parameterized Tests
1577
1578*Type-parameterized tests* are like typed tests, except that they don't require
1579you to know the list of types ahead of time. Instead, you can define the test
1580logic first and instantiate it with different type lists later. You can even
1581instantiate it more than once in the same program.
1582
1583If you are designing an interface or concept, you can define a suite of
1584type-parameterized tests to verify properties that any valid implementation of
1585the interface/concept should have. Then, the author of each implementation can
1586just instantiate the test suite with their type to verify that it conforms to
1587the requirements, without having to write similar tests repeatedly. Here's an
1588example:
1589
1590First, define a fixture class template, as we did with typed tests:
1591
1592```c++
1593template <typename T>
1594class FooTest : public ::testing::Test {
1595  ...
1596};
1597```
1598
1599Next, declare that you will define a type-parameterized test suite:
1600
1601```c++
1602TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(FooTest);
1603```
1604
1605Then, use `TYPED_TEST_P()` to define a type-parameterized test. You can repeat
1606this as many times as you want:
1607
1608```c++
1609TYPED_TEST_P(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
1610  // Inside a test, refer to TypeParam to get the type parameter.
1611  TypeParam n = 0;
1612  ...
1613}
1614
1615TYPED_TEST_P(FooTest, HasPropertyA) { ... }
1616```
1617
1618Now the tricky part: you need to register all test patterns using the
1619`REGISTER_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P` macro before you can instantiate them. The first
1620argument of the macro is the test suite name; the rest are the names of the tests
1621in this test suite:
1622
1623```c++
1624REGISTER_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(FooTest,
1625                           DoesBlah, HasPropertyA);
1626```
1627
1628Finally, you are free to instantiate the pattern with the types you want. If you
1629put the above code in a header file, you can `#include` it in multiple C++
1630source files and instantiate it multiple times.
1631
1632```c++
1633typedef ::testing::Types<char, int, unsigned int> MyTypes;
1634INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(My, FooTest, MyTypes);
1635```
1636
1637To distinguish different instances of the pattern, the first argument to the
1638`INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P` macro is a prefix that will be added to the
1639actual test suite name. Remember to pick unique prefixes for different instances.
1640
1641In the special case where the type list contains only one type, you can write
1642that type directly without `::testing::Types<...>`, like this:
1643
1644```c++
1645INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(My, FooTest, int);
1646```
1647
1648You can see `sample6_unittest.cc` for a complete example.
1649
1650**Availability**: Linux, Windows (requires MSVC 8.0 or above), Mac
1651
1652## Testing Private Code
1653
1654If you change your software's internal implementation, your tests should not
1655break as long as the change is not observable by users. Therefore, **per the
1656black-box testing principle, most of the time you should test your code through
1657its public interfaces.**
1658
1659**If you still find yourself needing to test internal implementation code,
1660consider if there's a better design.** The desire to test internal
1661implementation is often a sign that the class is doing too much. Consider
1662extracting an implementation class, and testing it. Then use that implementation
1663class in the original class.
1664
1665If you absolutely have to test non-public interface code though, you can. There
1666are two cases to consider:
1667
1668*   Static functions ( *not* the same as static member functions!) or unnamed
1669    namespaces, and
1670*   Private or protected class members
1671
1672To test them, we use the following special techniques:
1673
1674*   Both static functions and definitions/declarations in an unnamed namespace
1675    are only visible within the same translation unit. To test them, you can
1676    `#include` the entire `.cc` file being tested in your `*_test.cc` file.
1677    (including `.cc` files is not a good way to reuse code - you should not do
1678    this in production code!)
1679
1680    However, a better approach is to move the private code into the
1681    `foo::internal` namespace, where `foo` is the namespace your project
1682    normally uses, and put the private declarations in a `*-internal.h` file.
1683    Your production `.cc` files and your tests are allowed to include this
1684    internal header, but your clients are not. This way, you can fully test your
1685    internal implementation without leaking it to your clients.
1686
1687*   Private class members are only accessible from within the class or by
1688    friends. To access a class' private members, you can declare your test
1689    fixture as a friend to the class and define accessors in your fixture. Tests
1690    using the fixture can then access the private members of your production
1691    class via the accessors in the fixture. Note that even though your fixture
1692    is a friend to your production class, your tests are not automatically
1693    friends to it, as they are technically defined in sub-classes of the
1694    fixture.
1695
1696    Another way to test private members is to refactor them into an
1697    implementation class, which is then declared in a `*-internal.h` file. Your
1698    clients aren't allowed to include this header but your tests can. Such is
1699    called the
1700    [Pimpl](https://www.gamedev.net/articles/programming/general-and-gameplay-programming/the-c-pimpl-r1794/)
1701    (Private Implementation) idiom.
1702
1703    Or, you can declare an individual test as a friend of your class by adding
1704    this line in the class body:
1705
1706    ```c++
1707        FRIEND_TEST(TestsuiteName, TestName);
1708    ```
1709
1710    For example,
1711
1712    ```c++
1713    // foo.h
1714
1715    #include "gtest/gtest_prod.h"
1716
1717    class Foo {
1718      ...
1719    private:
1720      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, BarReturnsZeroOnNull);
1721
1722      int Bar(void* x);
1723    };
1724
1725    // foo_test.cc
1726    ...
1727    TEST(FooTest, BarReturnsZeroOnNull) {
1728      Foo foo;
1729      EXPECT_EQ(0, foo.Bar(NULL));  // Uses Foo's private member Bar().
1730    }
1731    ```
1732
1733    Pay special attention when your class is defined in a namespace, as you
1734    should define your test fixtures and tests in the same namespace if you want
1735    them to be friends of your class. For example, if the code to be tested
1736    looks like:
1737
1738    ```c++
1739    namespace my_namespace {
1740
1741    class Foo {
1742      friend class FooTest;
1743      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, Bar);
1744      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, Baz);
1745      ... definition of the class Foo ...
1746    };
1747
1748    }  // namespace my_namespace
1749    ```
1750
1751    Your test code should be something like:
1752
1753    ```c++
1754    namespace my_namespace {
1755
1756    class FooTest : public ::testing::Test {
1757     protected:
1758      ...
1759    };
1760
1761    TEST_F(FooTest, Bar) { ... }
1762    TEST_F(FooTest, Baz) { ... }
1763
1764    }  // namespace my_namespace
1765    ```
1766
1767
1768## "Catching" Failures
1769
1770If you are building a testing utility on top of googletest, you'll want to test
1771your utility. What framework would you use to test it? googletest, of course.
1772
1773The challenge is to verify that your testing utility reports failures correctly.
1774In frameworks that report a failure by throwing an exception, you could catch
1775the exception and assert on it. But googletest doesn't use exceptions, so how do
1776we test that a piece of code generates an expected failure?
1777
1778gunit-spi.h contains some constructs to do this. After #including this header,
1779you can use
1780
1781```c++
1782  EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE(statement, substring);
1783```
1784
1785to assert that `statement` generates a fatal (e.g. `ASSERT_*`) failure in the
1786current thread whose message contains the given `substring`, or use
1787
1788```c++
1789  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE(statement, substring);
1790```
1791
1792if you are expecting a non-fatal (e.g. `EXPECT_*`) failure.
1793
1794Only failures in the current thread are checked to determine the result of this
1795type of expectations. If `statement` creates new threads, failures in these
1796threads are also ignored. If you want to catch failures in other threads as
1797well, use one of the following macros instead:
1798
1799```c++
1800  EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE_ON_ALL_THREADS(statement, substring);
1801  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE_ON_ALL_THREADS(statement, substring);
1802```
1803
1804NOTE: Assertions from multiple threads are currently not supported on Windows.
1805
1806For technical reasons, there are some caveats:
1807
18081.  You cannot stream a failure message to either macro.
1809
18101.  `statement` in `EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE{_ON_ALL_THREADS}()` cannot reference
1811    local non-static variables or non-static members of `this` object.
1812
18131.  `statement` in `EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE{_ON_ALL_THREADS}()()` cannot return a
1814    value.
1815
1816
1817## Getting the Current Test's Name
1818
1819Sometimes a function may need to know the name of the currently running test.
1820For example, you may be using the `SetUp()` method of your test fixture to set
1821the golden file name based on which test is running. The `::testing::TestInfo`
1822class has this information:
1823
1824```c++
1825namespace testing {
1826
1827class TestInfo {
1828 public:
1829  // Returns the test suite name and the test name, respectively.
1830  //
1831  // Do NOT delete or free the return value - it's managed by the
1832  // TestInfo class.
1833  const char* test_suite_name() const;
1834  const char* name() const;
1835};
1836
1837}
1838```
1839
1840To obtain a `TestInfo` object for the currently running test, call
1841`current_test_info()` on the `UnitTest` singleton object:
1842
1843```c++
1844  // Gets information about the currently running test.
1845  // Do NOT delete the returned object - it's managed by the UnitTest class.
1846  const ::testing::TestInfo* const test_info =
1847    ::testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->current_test_info();
1848
1849
1850
1851  printf("We are in test %s of test suite %s.\n",
1852         test_info->name(),
1853         test_info->test_suite_name());
1854```
1855
1856`current_test_info()` returns a null pointer if no test is running. In
1857particular, you cannot find the test suite name in `TestsuiteSetUp()`,
1858`TestsuiteTearDown()` (where you know the test suite name implicitly), or
1859functions called from them.
1860
1861**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
1862
1863## Extending googletest by Handling Test Events
1864
1865googletest provides an **event listener API** to let you receive notifications
1866about the progress of a test program and test failures. The events you can
1867listen to include the start and end of the test program, a test suite, or a test
1868method, among others. You may use this API to augment or replace the standard
1869console output, replace the XML output, or provide a completely different form
1870of output, such as a GUI or a database. You can also use test events as
1871checkpoints to implement a resource leak checker, for example.
1872
1873**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
1874
1875### Defining Event Listeners
1876
1877To define a event listener, you subclass either testing::TestEventListener or
1878testing::EmptyTestEventListener The former is an (abstract) interface, where
1879*each pure virtual method can be overridden to handle a test event* (For
1880example, when a test starts, the `OnTestStart()` method will be called.). The
1881latter provides an empty implementation of all methods in the interface, such
1882that a subclass only needs to override the methods it cares about.
1883
1884When an event is fired, its context is passed to the handler function as an
1885argument. The following argument types are used:
1886
1887*   UnitTest reflects the state of the entire test program,
1888*   Testsuite has information about a test suite, which can contain one or more
1889    tests,
1890*   TestInfo contains the state of a test, and
1891*   TestPartResult represents the result of a test assertion.
1892
1893An event handler function can examine the argument it receives to find out
1894interesting information about the event and the test program's state.
1895
1896Here's an example:
1897
1898```c++
1899  class MinimalistPrinter : public ::testing::EmptyTestEventListener {
1900    // Called before a test starts.
1901    virtual void OnTestStart(const ::testing::TestInfo& test_info) {
1902      printf("*** Test %s.%s starting.\n",
1903             test_info.test_suite_name(), test_info.name());
1904    }
1905
1906    // Called after a failed assertion or a SUCCESS().
1907    virtual void OnTestPartResult(const ::testing::TestPartResult& test_part_result) {
1908      printf("%s in %s:%d\n%s\n",
1909             test_part_result.failed() ? "*** Failure" : "Success",
1910             test_part_result.file_name(),
1911             test_part_result.line_number(),
1912             test_part_result.summary());
1913    }
1914
1915    // Called after a test ends.
1916    virtual void OnTestEnd(const ::testing::TestInfo& test_info) {
1917      printf("*** Test %s.%s ending.\n",
1918             test_info.test_suite_name(), test_info.name());
1919    }
1920  };
1921```
1922
1923### Using Event Listeners
1924
1925To use the event listener you have defined, add an instance of it to the
1926googletest event listener list (represented by class TestEventListeners - note
1927the "s" at the end of the name) in your `main()` function, before calling
1928`RUN_ALL_TESTS()`:
1929
1930```c++
1931int main(int argc, char** argv) {
1932  ::testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
1933  // Gets hold of the event listener list.
1934  ::testing::TestEventListeners& listeners =
1935        ::testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->listeners();
1936  // Adds a listener to the end.  googletest takes the ownership.
1937  listeners.Append(new MinimalistPrinter);
1938  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
1939}
1940```
1941
1942There's only one problem: the default test result printer is still in effect, so
1943its output will mingle with the output from your minimalist printer. To suppress
1944the default printer, just release it from the event listener list and delete it.
1945You can do so by adding one line:
1946
1947```c++
1948  ...
1949  delete listeners.Release(listeners.default_result_printer());
1950  listeners.Append(new MinimalistPrinter);
1951  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
1952```
1953
1954Now, sit back and enjoy a completely different output from your tests. For more
1955details, you can read this sample9_unittest.cc
1956
1957You may append more than one listener to the list. When an `On*Start()` or
1958`OnTestPartResult()` event is fired, the listeners will receive it in the order
1959they appear in the list (since new listeners are added to the end of the list,
1960the default text printer and the default XML generator will receive the event
1961first). An `On*End()` event will be received by the listeners in the *reverse*
1962order. This allows output by listeners added later to be framed by output from
1963listeners added earlier.
1964
1965### Generating Failures in Listeners
1966
1967You may use failure-raising macros (`EXPECT_*()`, `ASSERT_*()`, `FAIL()`, etc)
1968when processing an event. There are some restrictions:
1969
19701.  You cannot generate any failure in `OnTestPartResult()` (otherwise it will
1971    cause `OnTestPartResult()` to be called recursively).
19721.  A listener that handles `OnTestPartResult()` is not allowed to generate any
1973    failure.
1974
1975When you add listeners to the listener list, you should put listeners that
1976handle `OnTestPartResult()` *before* listeners that can generate failures. This
1977ensures that failures generated by the latter are attributed to the right test
1978by the former.
1979
1980We have a sample of failure-raising listener sample10_unittest.cc
1981
1982## Running Test Programs: Advanced Options
1983
1984googletest test programs are ordinary executables. Once built, you can run them
1985directly and affect their behavior via the following environment variables
1986and/or command line flags. For the flags to work, your programs must call
1987`::testing::InitGoogleTest()` before calling `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`.
1988
1989To see a list of supported flags and their usage, please run your test program
1990with the `--help` flag. You can also use `-h`, `-?`, or `/?` for short.
1991
1992If an option is specified both by an environment variable and by a flag, the
1993latter takes precedence.
1994
1995### Selecting Tests
1996
1997#### Listing Test Names
1998
1999Sometimes it is necessary to list the available tests in a program before
2000running them so that a filter may be applied if needed. Including the flag
2001`--gtest_list_tests` overrides all other flags and lists tests in the following
2002format:
2003
2004```none
2005Testsuite1.
2006  TestName1
2007  TestName2
2008Testsuite2.
2009  TestName
2010```
2011
2012None of the tests listed are actually run if the flag is provided. There is no
2013corresponding environment variable for this flag.
2014
2015**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2016
2017#### Running a Subset of the Tests
2018
2019By default, a googletest program runs all tests the user has defined. Sometimes,
2020you want to run only a subset of the tests (e.g. for debugging or quickly
2021verifying a change). If you set the `GTEST_FILTER` environment variable or the
2022`--gtest_filter` flag to a filter string, googletest will only run the tests
2023whose full names (in the form of `TestsuiteName.TestName`) match the filter.
2024
2025The format of a filter is a '`:`'-separated list of wildcard patterns (called
2026the *positive patterns*) optionally followed by a '`-`' and another
2027'`:`'-separated pattern list (called the *negative patterns*). A test matches
2028the filter if and only if it matches any of the positive patterns but does not
2029match any of the negative patterns.
2030
2031A pattern may contain `'*'` (matches any string) or `'?'` (matches any single
2032character). For convenience, the filter
2033
2034`'*-NegativePatterns'` can be also written as `'-NegativePatterns'`.
2035
2036For example:
2037
2038*   `./foo_test` Has no flag, and thus runs all its tests.
2039*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=*` Also runs everything, due to the single
2040    match-everything `*` value.
2041*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*` Runs everything in test suite `FooTest`
2042    .
2043*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=*Null*:*Constructor*` Runs any test whose full
2044    name contains either `"Null"` or `"Constructor"` .
2045*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=-*DeathTest.*` Runs all non-death tests.
2046*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*-FooTest.Bar` Runs everything in test
2047    suite `FooTest` except `FooTest.Bar`.
2048*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*:BarTest.*-FooTest.Bar:BarTest.Foo` Runs
2049    everything in test suite `FooTest` except `FooTest.Bar` and everything in
2050    test suite `BarTest` except `BarTest.Foo`.
2051
2052#### Temporarily Disabling Tests
2053
2054If you have a broken test that you cannot fix right away, you can add the
2055`DISABLED_` prefix to its name. This will exclude it from execution. This is
2056better than commenting out the code or using `#if 0`, as disabled tests are
2057still compiled (and thus won't rot).
2058
2059If you need to disable all tests in a test suite, you can either add `DISABLED_`
2060to the front of the name of each test, or alternatively add it to the front of
2061the test suite name.
2062
2063For example, the following tests won't be run by googletest, even though they
2064will still be compiled:
2065
2066```c++
2067// Tests that Foo does Abc.
2068TEST(FooTest, DISABLED_DoesAbc) { ... }
2069
2070class DISABLED_BarTest : public ::testing::Test { ... };
2071
2072// Tests that Bar does Xyz.
2073TEST_F(DISABLED_BarTest, DoesXyz) { ... }
2074```
2075
2076NOTE: This feature should only be used for temporary pain-relief. You still have
2077to fix the disabled tests at a later date. As a reminder, googletest will print
2078a banner warning you if a test program contains any disabled tests.
2079
2080TIP: You can easily count the number of disabled tests you have using `gsearch`
2081and/or `grep`. This number can be used as a metric for improving your test
2082quality.
2083
2084**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2085
2086#### Temporarily Enabling Disabled Tests
2087
2088To include disabled tests in test execution, just invoke the test program with
2089the `--gtest_also_run_disabled_tests` flag or set the
2090`GTEST_ALSO_RUN_DISABLED_TESTS` environment variable to a value other than `0`.
2091You can combine this with the `--gtest_filter` flag to further select which
2092disabled tests to run.
2093
2094**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2095
2096### Repeating the Tests
2097
2098Once in a while you'll run into a test whose result is hit-or-miss. Perhaps it
2099will fail only 1% of the time, making it rather hard to reproduce the bug under
2100a debugger. This can be a major source of frustration.
2101
2102The `--gtest_repeat` flag allows you to repeat all (or selected) test methods in
2103a program many times. Hopefully, a flaky test will eventually fail and give you
2104a chance to debug. Here's how to use it:
2105
2106```none
2107$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000
2108Repeat foo_test 1000 times and don't stop at failures.
2109
2110$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=-1
2111A negative count means repeating forever.
2112
2113$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000 --gtest_break_on_failure
2114Repeat foo_test 1000 times, stopping at the first failure.  This
2115is especially useful when running under a debugger: when the test
2116fails, it will drop into the debugger and you can then inspect
2117variables and stacks.
2118
2119$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000 --gtest_filter=FooBar.*
2120Repeat the tests whose name matches the filter 1000 times.
2121```
2122
2123If your test program contains [global set-up/tear-down](#global-set-up-and-tear-down) code, it
2124will be repeated in each iteration as well, as the flakiness may be in it. You
2125can also specify the repeat count by setting the `GTEST_REPEAT` environment
2126variable.
2127
2128**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2129
2130### Shuffling the Tests
2131
2132You can specify the `--gtest_shuffle` flag (or set the `GTEST_SHUFFLE`
2133environment variable to `1`) to run the tests in a program in a random order.
2134This helps to reveal bad dependencies between tests.
2135
2136By default, googletest uses a random seed calculated from the current time.
2137Therefore you'll get a different order every time. The console output includes
2138the random seed value, such that you can reproduce an order-related test failure
2139later. To specify the random seed explicitly, use the `--gtest_random_seed=SEED`
2140flag (or set the `GTEST_RANDOM_SEED` environment variable), where `SEED` is an
2141integer in the range [0, 99999]. The seed value 0 is special: it tells
2142googletest to do the default behavior of calculating the seed from the current
2143time.
2144
2145If you combine this with `--gtest_repeat=N`, googletest will pick a different
2146random seed and re-shuffle the tests in each iteration.
2147
2148**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2149
2150### Controlling Test Output
2151
2152#### Colored Terminal Output
2153
2154googletest can use colors in its terminal output to make it easier to spot the
2155important information:
2156
2157...<br/>
2158<span style="color:green">[----------]<span style="color:black"> 1 test from FooTest<br/>
2159<span style="color:green">[ RUN      ]<span style="color:black"> FooTest.DoesAbc<br/>
2160<span style="color:green">[       OK ]<span style="color:black"> FooTest.DoesAbc<br/>
2161<span style="color:green">[----------]<span style="color:black"> 2 tests from BarTest<br/>
2162<span style="color:green">[ RUN      ]<span style="color:black"> BarTest.HasXyzProperty<br/>
2163<span style="color:green">[       OK ]<span style="color:black"> BarTest.HasXyzProperty<br/>
2164<span style="color:green">[ RUN      ]<span style="color:black"> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess<br/>
2165... some error messages ...<br/>
2166<span   style="color:red">[  FAILED  ] <span style="color:black">BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess<br/>
2167...<br/>
2168<span style="color:green">[==========]<span style="color:black"> 30 tests from 14 test suites ran.<br/>
2169<span style="color:green">[  PASSED  ]<span style="color:black"> 28 tests.<br/>
2170<span style="color:red">[  FAILED  ]<span style="color:black"> 2 tests, listed below:<br/>
2171<span style="color:red">[  FAILED  ]<span style="color:black"> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess<br/>
2172<span style="color:red">[  FAILED  ]<span style="color:black"> AnotherTest.DoesXyz<br/>
2173  2 FAILED TESTS
2174
2175You can set the `GTEST_COLOR` environment variable or the `--gtest_color`
2176command line flag to `yes`, `no`, or `auto` (the default) to enable colors,
2177disable colors, or let googletest decide. When the value is `auto`, googletest
2178will use colors if and only if the output goes to a terminal and (on non-Windows
2179platforms) the `TERM` environment variable is set to `xterm` or `xterm-color`.
2180
2181 **Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2182
2183#### Suppressing the Elapsed Time
2184
2185By default, googletest prints the time it takes to run each test. To disable
2186that, run the test program with the `--gtest_print_time=0` command line flag, or
2187set the GTEST_PRINT_TIME environment variable to `0`.
2188
2189**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2190
2191#### Suppressing UTF-8 Text Output
2192
2193In case of assertion failures, googletest prints expected and actual values of
2194type `string` both as hex-encoded strings as well as in readable UTF-8 text if
2195they contain valid non-ASCII UTF-8 characters. If you want to suppress the UTF-8
2196text because, for example, you don't have an UTF-8 compatible output medium, run
2197the test program with `--gtest_print_utf8=0` or set the `GTEST_PRINT_UTF8`
2198environment variable to `0`.
2199
2200**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2201
2202
2203#### Generating an XML Report
2204
2205googletest can emit a detailed XML report to a file in addition to its normal
2206textual output. The report contains the duration of each test, and thus can help
2207you identify slow tests. The report is also used by the http://unittest
2208dashboard to show per-test-method error messages.
2209
2210To generate the XML report, set the `GTEST_OUTPUT` environment variable or the
2211`--gtest_output` flag to the string `"xml:path_to_output_file"`, which will
2212create the file at the given location. You can also just use the string `"xml"`,
2213in which case the output can be found in the `test_detail.xml` file in the
2214current directory.
2215
2216If you specify a directory (for example, `"xml:output/directory/"` on Linux or
2217`"xml:output\directory\"` on Windows), googletest will create the XML file in
2218that directory, named after the test executable (e.g. `foo_test.xml` for test
2219program `foo_test` or `foo_test.exe`). If the file already exists (perhaps left
2220over from a previous run), googletest will pick a different name (e.g.
2221`foo_test_1.xml`) to avoid overwriting it.
2222
2223
2224The report is based on the `junitreport` Ant task. Since that format was
2225originally intended for Java, a little interpretation is required to make it
2226apply to googletest tests, as shown here:
2227
2228```xml
2229<testsuites name="AllTests" ...>
2230  <testsuite name="test_suite_name" ...>
2231    <testcase    name="test_name" ...>
2232      <failure message="..."/>
2233      <failure message="..."/>
2234      <failure message="..."/>
2235    </testcase>
2236  </testsuite>
2237</testsuites>
2238```
2239
2240*   The root `<testsuites>` element corresponds to the entire test program.
2241*   `<testsuite>` elements correspond to googletest test suites.
2242*   `<testcase>` elements correspond to googletest test functions.
2243
2244For instance, the following program
2245
2246```c++
2247TEST(MathTest, Addition) { ... }
2248TEST(MathTest, Subtraction) { ... }
2249TEST(LogicTest, NonContradiction) { ... }
2250```
2251
2252could generate this report:
2253
2254```xml
2255<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2256<testsuites tests="3" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.035" timestamp="2011-10-31T18:52:42" name="AllTests">
2257  <testsuite name="MathTest" tests="2" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.015">
2258    <testcase name="Addition" status="run" time="0.007" classname="">
2259      <failure message="Value of: add(1, 1)&#x0A;  Actual: 3&#x0A;Expected: 2" type="">...</failure>
2260      <failure message="Value of: add(1, -1)&#x0A;  Actual: 1&#x0A;Expected: 0" type="">...</failure>
2261    </testcase>
2262    <testcase name="Subtraction" status="run" time="0.005" classname="">
2263    </testcase>
2264  </testsuite>
2265  <testsuite name="LogicTest" tests="1" failures="0" errors="0" time="0.005">
2266    <testcase name="NonContradiction" status="run" time="0.005" classname="">
2267    </testcase>
2268  </testsuite>
2269</testsuites>
2270```
2271
2272Things to note:
2273
2274*   The `tests` attribute of a `<testsuites>` or `<testsuite>` element tells how
2275    many test functions the googletest program or test suite contains, while the
2276    `failures` attribute tells how many of them failed.
2277
2278*   The `time` attribute expresses the duration of the test, test suite, or
2279    entire test program in seconds.
2280
2281*   The `timestamp` attribute records the local date and time of the test
2282    execution.
2283
2284*   Each `<failure>` element corresponds to a single failed googletest
2285    assertion.
2286
2287**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2288
2289#### Generating an JSON Report
2290
2291googletest can also emit a JSON report as an alternative format to XML. To
2292generate the JSON report, set the `GTEST_OUTPUT` environment variable or the
2293`--gtest_output` flag to the string `"json:path_to_output_file"`, which will
2294create the file at the given location. You can also just use the string
2295`"json"`, in which case the output can be found in the `test_detail.json` file
2296in the current directory.
2297
2298The report format conforms to the following JSON Schema:
2299
2300```json
2301{
2302  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/schema#",
2303  "type": "object",
2304  "definitions": {
2305    "Testsuite": {
2306      "type": "object",
2307      "properties": {
2308        "name": { "type": "string" },
2309        "tests": { "type": "integer" },
2310        "failures": { "type": "integer" },
2311        "disabled": { "type": "integer" },
2312        "time": { "type": "string" },
2313        "testsuite": {
2314          "type": "array",
2315          "items": {
2316            "$ref": "#/definitions/TestInfo"
2317          }
2318        }
2319      }
2320    },
2321    "TestInfo": {
2322      "type": "object",
2323      "properties": {
2324        "name": { "type": "string" },
2325        "status": {
2326          "type": "string",
2327          "enum": ["RUN", "NOTRUN"]
2328        },
2329        "time": { "type": "string" },
2330        "classname": { "type": "string" },
2331        "failures": {
2332          "type": "array",
2333          "items": {
2334            "$ref": "#/definitions/Failure"
2335          }
2336        }
2337      }
2338    },
2339    "Failure": {
2340      "type": "object",
2341      "properties": {
2342        "failures": { "type": "string" },
2343        "type": { "type": "string" }
2344      }
2345    }
2346  },
2347  "properties": {
2348    "tests": { "type": "integer" },
2349    "failures": { "type": "integer" },
2350    "disabled": { "type": "integer" },
2351    "errors": { "type": "integer" },
2352    "timestamp": {
2353      "type": "string",
2354      "format": "date-time"
2355    },
2356    "time": { "type": "string" },
2357    "name": { "type": "string" },
2358    "testsuites": {
2359      "type": "array",
2360      "items": {
2361        "$ref": "#/definitions/Testsuite"
2362      }
2363    }
2364  }
2365}
2366```
2367
2368The report uses the format that conforms to the following Proto3 using the [JSON
2369encoding](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json):
2370
2371```proto
2372syntax = "proto3";
2373
2374package googletest;
2375
2376import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto";
2377import "google/protobuf/duration.proto";
2378
2379message UnitTest {
2380  int32 tests = 1;
2381  int32 failures = 2;
2382  int32 disabled = 3;
2383  int32 errors = 4;
2384  google.protobuf.Timestamp timestamp = 5;
2385  google.protobuf.Duration time = 6;
2386  string name = 7;
2387  repeated Testsuite testsuites = 8;
2388}
2389
2390message TestCase {
2391  string name = 1;
2392  int32 tests = 2;
2393  int32 failures = 3;
2394  int32 disabled = 4;
2395  int32 errors = 5;
2396  google.protobuf.Duration time = 6;
2397  repeated TestInfo testsuite = 7;
2398}
2399
2400message TestInfo {
2401  string name = 1;
2402  enum Status {
2403    RUN = 0;
2404    NOTRUN = 1;
2405  }
2406  Status status = 2;
2407  google.protobuf.Duration time = 3;
2408  string classname = 4;
2409  message Failure {
2410    string failures = 1;
2411    string type = 2;
2412  }
2413  repeated Failure failures = 5;
2414}
2415```
2416
2417For instance, the following program
2418
2419```c++
2420TEST(MathTest, Addition) { ... }
2421TEST(MathTest, Subtraction) { ... }
2422TEST(LogicTest, NonContradiction) { ... }
2423```
2424
2425could generate this report:
2426
2427```json
2428{
2429  "tests": 3,
2430  "failures": 1,
2431  "errors": 0,
2432  "time": "0.035s",
2433  "timestamp": "2011-10-31T18:52:42Z",
2434  "name": "AllTests",
2435  "testsuites": [
2436    {
2437      "name": "MathTest",
2438      "tests": 2,
2439      "failures": 1,
2440      "errors": 0,
2441      "time": "0.015s",
2442      "testsuite": [
2443        {
2444          "name": "Addition",
2445          "status": "RUN",
2446          "time": "0.007s",
2447          "classname": "",
2448          "failures": [
2449            {
2450              "message": "Value of: add(1, 1)\n  Actual: 3\nExpected: 2",
2451              "type": ""
2452            },
2453            {
2454              "message": "Value of: add(1, -1)\n  Actual: 1\nExpected: 0",
2455              "type": ""
2456            }
2457          ]
2458        },
2459        {
2460          "name": "Subtraction",
2461          "status": "RUN",
2462          "time": "0.005s",
2463          "classname": ""
2464        }
2465      ]
2466    },
2467    {
2468      "name": "LogicTest",
2469      "tests": 1,
2470      "failures": 0,
2471      "errors": 0,
2472      "time": "0.005s",
2473      "testsuite": [
2474        {
2475          "name": "NonContradiction",
2476          "status": "RUN",
2477          "time": "0.005s",
2478          "classname": ""
2479        }
2480      ]
2481    }
2482  ]
2483}
2484```
2485
2486IMPORTANT: The exact format of the JSON document is subject to change.
2487
2488**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2489
2490### Controlling How Failures Are Reported
2491
2492#### Turning Assertion Failures into Break-Points
2493
2494When running test programs under a debugger, it's very convenient if the
2495debugger can catch an assertion failure and automatically drop into interactive
2496mode. googletest's *break-on-failure* mode supports this behavior.
2497
2498To enable it, set the `GTEST_BREAK_ON_FAILURE` environment variable to a value
2499other than `0` . Alternatively, you can use the `--gtest_break_on_failure`
2500command line flag.
2501
2502**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2503
2504#### Disabling Catching Test-Thrown Exceptions
2505
2506googletest can be used either with or without exceptions enabled. If a test
2507throws a C++ exception or (on Windows) a structured exception (SEH), by default
2508googletest catches it, reports it as a test failure, and continues with the next
2509test method. This maximizes the coverage of a test run. Also, on Windows an
2510uncaught exception will cause a pop-up window, so catching the exceptions allows
2511you to run the tests automatically.
2512
2513When debugging the test failures, however, you may instead want the exceptions
2514to be handled by the debugger, such that you can examine the call stack when an
2515exception is thrown. To achieve that, set the `GTEST_CATCH_EXCEPTIONS`
2516environment variable to `0`, or use the `--gtest_catch_exceptions=0` flag when
2517running the tests.
2518
2519**Availability**: Linux, Windows, Mac.
2520