[boost] [test] Using the Boost Unit Test Framework with shared libs

24 Mar 2009

      Hi
I am using Boost.Test from the current boost 1.38 , on cygwin ( gcc )
and I want to use  it with multiple test files and with shared libs ( in
order to speed up the compilation time which is too long for me when
using the header include variant ).

What is the recommended way ? ( I read the doc, several times and I read
the _long_ threads on the mailing list concerning the static/shared
library issue, but I am not sure that I understood all the details).

I did the following:

*in mainTest.cpp:*

#define BOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK
#define BOOST_TEST_MAIN

#include "../inc/globalFixture.hpp"
#include "../inc/testfile1.hpp"
#include "../inc/testfile2.hpp"

*testfile1.hpp:*

#include "globalFixture.hpp"

BOOST_FIXTURE_TEST_SUITE(ATlib1, Fixture)

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Resource_Manager) {
...
....BOOST_CHECK ....
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()

*testfile2.hpp:*

#include "globalFixture.hpp"

BOOST_FIXTURE_TEST_SUITE(ATlib2, Fixture)

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(FileManager {
  ... BOOST_CHECK ....
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()

*globalfixture.hpp:

*#ifndef _GLOBALFIXTURE_HPP
#define    _GLOBALFIXTURE_HPP

#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE ATlib
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
#include <boost/test/detail/unit_test_parameters.hpp>
#include <boost/bind.hpp>
#include <boost/test/output_test_stream.hpp>

using namespace boost::unit_test;

struct GlobalConfig {

    GlobalConfig() {
        std::cout << "GlobalConfig setup\n";
        using namespace boost::unit_test;
       if (runtime_config::log_level() < log_warnings)
            unit_test_log.set_threshold_level(log_successful_tests);
    };

    ~GlobalConfig() {
        std::cout << "GlobalConfig teardown\n";
    }
};

BOOST_GLOBAL_FIXTURE(GlobalConfig);

struct Fixture {

    Fixture() {
        BOOST_TEST_MESSAGE("setup Fixture");
       using namespace boost::unit_test;
       unit_test_log.set_threshold_level(log_successful_tests);
    }

    ~Fixture() {
        BOOST_TEST_MESSAGE("teardown Fixture");
    }
};

#endif    /* _GLOBALFIXTURE_HPP */*

*I then link to  boost_unit_test_framework-gcc34-mt-1_38.so
The link passes , but I get a warning from gcc++ 3.4.4 that auto-linking
has been enabled ( I will provide the exact details if useful ).
I can execute the resulting mainTest.exe without problems, but the
compiler warnings tells that something is not quite right.

Is the above example the right way to use multiple test files ?
Are the flags for shared libs correctly set ?

Thanks for your help.

PS: I think that Boost.Test is not easy to grasp ( at least for me ). I
think this is partially due to a lack of complete examples ( involving
for examples a test suite with more than one test file ).
Also the static/shared library topic and the related macros (
BOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK etc ) could do with a concrete example. Maybe the
mentioned case above could serve as an example after
clarification.

Peter