maszyna/tests/unit/README.md

Unit tests

C++ tests of the simulation logic: set up the conditions, run the code, check the outcome. They run as part of every build of the game, in CI and locally alike, and from the IDE. They need no game data and no window: the test vehicles are JSON definitions in data/, loaded from memory by the game's own vehicle loader.

The code under test is eu07_core, the library of the simulation parts the game links as well (physics, vehicle definition loader, ...): built once, with the game's settings, and tested as the game uses it. The python library gets linked along with the game's settings, but the tests don't use it and run without it.

Running

• With the build: building the game (WITH_TESTS, on by default) runs them at the end, once the game is linked, and prints Unit tests: 11/11 passed (80 checks). A failing test prints the full report and fails the build; the game binary gets removed, so the next build links it again and reruns them. They also run when only the tests, a definition in data/ or run_tests.cmake changed (Ninja and Makefile generators). -DWITH_TESTS=OFF builds the game without them.
• From the IDE: run or debug the eu07_unit_tests target. CLion recognises doctest and lists the test cases, so a single one can be run or debugged from the gutter.
• By hand: ctest --test-dir <build dir> --build-config Release, or the binary itself, which takes doctest options, e.g. eu07_unit_tests -tc="brakes*". EU07_UNIT_TESTS_LOG=1 shows the engine log, quiet otherwise.

Writing a test

Add a test_<topic>.cpp here, it's picked up on its own.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include "doctest.h"
#include "vehicle.h"

TEST_CASE("brakes: service braking stops a heavier wagon too") {
	// conditions: the wagon from data/wagon.json, heavier, running at 40 km/h
	test::vehicle wagon{test::definition::load("wagon").set("Param", "M", 60000), 40.0 /* km/h */};
	// action: full service application, as a coupled locomotive would make it
	wagon.hold_brake_pipe(3.5); // bar
	wagon.run(40.0 /* s */, test::track{0.15 /* friction */, 0.0 /* gradient */});
	// outcome
	CHECK(std::abs(wagon.speed()) < 0.1);
}

• definition::load("<name>") reads data/<name>.json, with the sections and keys of the game's vehicle definitions; set() and remove() change it for the test. Table sections give their rows as "rows": [[...], ...], keys starting with _ are comments. A section the loader doesn't know is an error (the table of them is in vehicle.cpp); a misspelt key isn't caught, so check in the test that the value the test is about made it to the vehicle. Keep the definitions physically sensible: some parts need keys others don't (the ESt brake valves need Brake.Size), and a test on a half-defined vehicle tests the definition rather than the simulation.
• The random numbers of the simulation are reseeded before every test case, so a test gives the same result alone or among the others.
• Logic which lives in classes too big to set up in a test (the AI driver, the cab) goes into free functions on the vehicle state the class calls, and the test calls them the same way: see vehicle/handover.h, which TController::TakeControl() uses, and test_handover.cpp.
• vehicle creates the vehicle the way TDynamicObject::Init() does and steps it the way the simulation loop does, on a straight track of the given friction and gradient. Coupled vehicles aren't supported yet.
• Check behaviour (speeds, pressures, states the player sees) rather than internal flags, and make the test check its own preconditions (REQUIRE that the braking skidded, before checking what a skid leads to).

Code to test, and when the tests fail to link

A source joins the tested code by moving from SOURCES to CORE_SOURCES in the main CMakeLists.txt; the game links it from the library from then on. The library reaches for a little of the rest of the engine, which engine_stubs.cpp stands in for in the tests (logs, settings, scenery layers). If a change makes it use something new, either move the real source into the library too, when it stands on its own, or add a stub to engine_stubs.cpp.