Parameterizing a test using CppUnit

Question

My organization is using CppUnit and I am trying to run the same test using different parameters. Running a loop inside the test is not a good option as any failure will abo

Answer 1

This is a very old question, but I just needed to do something similar and came up with the following solution. I'm not 100% happy with it, but it seems to do the job quite well

1. Define a set of input parameters to a testing method. For example, let's say these are strings, so let's do:

   std::vector testParameters = { "string1", "string2" };
   size_t testCounter = 0;
   

2. Implement a generic tester function, which with each invocation will take the next parameter from the test array, e.g.:

   void Test::genericTester()
   {
     const std::string ¶m = testParameters[testCounter++];
   
     // do something with param
   } 
   

3. In the test addTestToSuite() method declaration (hidden by the CPPUNIT macros) instead of (or next to) defining methods with the CPPUNIT_TEST macros, add code similar to this:

   CPPUNIT_TEST_SUITE(StatementTest);
   
   testCounter = 0;
   for (size_t i = 0; i < testParameters.size(); i++) {
     CPPUNIT_TEST_SUITE_ADD_TEST(
       ( new CPPUNIT_NS::TestCaller(
                 // Here we use the parameter name as the unit test name.
                 // Of course, you can make test parameters more complex, 
                 // with test names as explicit fields for example.
                 context.getTestNameFor( testParamaters[i] ),
                 // Here we point to the generic tester function.
                 &TestFixtureType::genericTester,
                 context.makeFixture() ) ) );
   }
   
   CPPUNIT_TEST_SUITE_END();
   

This way we register genericTester() multiple times, one for each parameter, with a name specified. This seems to work for me quite well.

Hope this helps someone.