[VerusCoin.git] / src / test / README.md

# Notes
The sources in this directory are unit test cases.  Boost includes a
unit testing framework, and since bitcoin already uses boost, it makes
sense to simply use this framework rather than require developers to
configure some other framework (we want as few impediments to creating
unit tests as possible).

The build system is setup to compile an executable called "test_bitcoin"
that runs all of the unit tests.  The main source file is called
test_bitcoin.cpp, which simply includes other files that contain the
actual unit tests (outside of a couple required preprocessor
directives).  The pattern is to create one test file for each class or
source file for which you want to create unit tests.  The file naming
convention is "<source_filename>_tests.cpp" and such files should wrap
their tests in a test suite called "<source_filename>_tests".  For an
examples of this pattern, examine uint160_tests.cpp and
uint256_tests.cpp.

Add the source files to /src/Makefile.test.include to add them to the build.

For further reading, I found the following website to be helpful in
explaining how the boost unit test framework works:
[http://www.alittlemadness.com/2009/03/31/c-unit-testing-with-boosttest/](http://www.alittlemadness.com/2009/03/31/c-unit-testing-with-boosttest/).
Commit	Line	Data
d3081fa2	1	# Notes
8baf865c GA	2	The sources in this directory are unit test cases. Boost includes a
	3	unit testing framework, and since bitcoin already uses boost, it makes
	4	sense to simply use this framework rather than require developers to
	5	configure some other framework (we want as few impediments to creating
	6	unit tests as possible).
	7
	8	The build system is setup to compile an executable called "test_bitcoin"
	9	that runs all of the unit tests. The main source file is called
	10	test_bitcoin.cpp, which simply includes other files that contain the
	11	actual unit tests (outside of a couple required preprocessor
	12	directives). The pattern is to create one test file for each class or
	13	source file for which you want to create unit tests. The file naming
	14	convention is "<source_filename>_tests.cpp" and such files should wrap
	15	their tests in a test suite called "<source_filename>_tests". For an
	16	examples of this pattern, examine uint160_tests.cpp and
	17	uint256_tests.cpp.
	18
e42bf16a EL	19	Add the source files to /src/Makefile.test.include to add them to the build.
e42bf16a EL	20
8baf865c GA	21	For further reading, I found the following website to be helpful in
8baf865c GA	22	explaining how the boost unit test framework works:
5c27f124	23	[http://www.alittlemadness.com/2009/03/31/c-unit-testing-with-boosttest/](http://www.alittlemadness.com/2009/03/31/c-unit-testing-with-boosttest/).