elementary-dev-community team mailing list archive

[xapantu <xapantu@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey,

I do not really have the time to read the whole conversation, but a few 
points:

An unfinished article on the subject (lack of time, etc...): 
http://xapantu.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/writing-tests-using-ldtp-for-elementary/


I have already implented a few tests in the past (unfortunately, due to 
lack of time there is nearly nothing), for instance for scratch:
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~elementary-apps/scratch/scratch/view/head:/scratchcore/core-tests/main.vala 
<http://bazaar.launchpad.net/%7Eelementary-apps/scratch/scratch/view/head:/scratchcore/core-tests/main.vala> 
(and more generally all the scratchcore/ folder)
I think there were a few things for marlin/pantheon files too, but I 
cannot remember wether it has been erased by some crazy merges or not.

You can use accessibility features to do efficient testing, see mago, 
ldtp, at-spi:
https://live.gnome.org/DesktopTesting
http://ldtp.freedesktop.org/ (it looks like it is down at this moment 
but this is the most interesting one).

I recommend you to not sart with Noise, it has a complex UI (code side), 
and it does some weird things when you try to do automation with it (I 
tested, at-spi was not strong enough to work with Noise if I recall 
correctly). Marlin/pantheon-files seems a better target for an 
experiment (the widgets are simplier).

Inline replies below:

On 06/04/2013 19:56, Craig wrote:
> Alright guys,
>
> I think it would be a good start to select an application and try to 
> start writing tests with it. It seems like GLib's testing environment 
> should be satisfactory (see this: 
> http://blog.remysaissy.com/2012/11/setting-up-unit-tests-in-vala-project.html); 
> however, Vala's development environment is too complicated for me (a 
> Vala noob) to get a project set up for tests.
See scratch build systems and our custom cmake modules, it should be 
sufficient to do everything you want, and quite easily I think ;) (for 
someone who knows CMake reasonably).
> If someone would be willing to volunteer to get GLib's testing set up 
> for Noise (or something else if they so desire) including a quick 
> example test (so those of us with testing--but not Vala--experience 
> can have a starting point), I would be willing to start writing tests 
> and working with the project's primary developer(s) to get them 
> started toward Test Driven Development (other developers with TDD 
> experience also expressed interest).
Unfortunately, starting unit testing means a lot of code reorganization, 
so this is actually the point that someone needs to work on. Writing 
tests once the API is clear is the easiest part -.-
> [...]
>
> My "vision" for this experiment is that someone can set up Noise (or 
> some other project) for testing, and then I (and/or other volunteers) 
> can start writing a few tests for it and sort of coach the developers 
> in TDD for the purpose of getting the developers to a self-sufficient 
> state before potentially moving onto another project and doing the same.
>
> Thoughts?
In my opinion, writing a few blog posts would be also an interesting 
thing, there are very few good articles about GUI testing for 
Vala/GTK/CMake.

Lucas