Helping getting started using Boost.Test

Question

I am trying to start unit testing. I am looking at a few C++ frameworks and want to try Boost.Test. The documentation seems very thorough, and it\'s a bit overwhelming, espe

Answer 1

In your test_foo.cpp, the macros add test suites and test cases in to a global list: master_testsuite, which is the root of all test nodes. You just need to compile all the test files like test_foo.cpp, test_boo.cpp and a runner, then link them all into on executable.

The function unit_test_main is used to run the tests in master_testsuite.

boost::unit_test::unit_test_main(
    &init_unit_test,
    argc,
    argv
)

Based on the macro you defined before including , Boost.Test may already generate the main function for you.[1] The generated main simply invoked unit_test_main with argc and argv in main. It's recommended to use unit_test_main because it can process some console arguments, like run test by name.

The first argument of unit_test_main is a hook. Depending on BOOST_TEST_ALTERNATIVE_INIT_API, it has different definition.

#ifdef BOOST_TEST_ALTERNATIVE_INIT_API
typedef bool        (*init_unit_test_func)();
#else
typedef test_suite* (*init_unit_test_func)( int, char* [] );
#endif

You can customize the master_testsuite in the hook. In the second form, the returned value is the new master testsuite.

[1] if BOOST_TEST_MAIN and BOOST_TEST_MAIN are defined, but BOOST_TEST_NO_MAIN is not.