CODEWITHSUNDEEP
unit-testing
Citrone
Citrone

Reputation: 200

Organizing unit testing for existing code

I recently received as a new task to maintain and improve existing code written in C++ with MS Visual Studio. The code builds into an exe file (not a dll). I would like to add unit tests for the code and the problem I encountered is how to organize my testing projects. Basically I want to have 2 projects, one would be the original project I received and the second the testing project.

I saw on the Internet that usually when the subject being tested is built into a dll it's quite easy you have to statically link in your testing project the lib built from the main project and you have access to the function being tested. But how can this be done when the subject under test is an exe file?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 496

Answers (2)

philant
philant

Reputation: 35856

Whatever the project deliverable is, unit testing is testing the smallest units: the functions. A unit test typically follows the tripe A pattern: Arrange (create the environment for the test), Act (invoke the method under test), Assert (verify the method behaved as expected).

There are several possible project[s] structures: modify the project so that it compiles into a DLL, a production executable and a unit test program. The executable source has to be as small as possible, possibly just the main() function that create an Application object. It is also possible to have three projects, one for the DLL, one for the application and the third one for the tests.

An alternative is to embed the unit tests inside the executable and to have a mean to invoke them, e.g. with a special --unit-test parameter.

Upvotes: 0

Ed Guiness
Ed Guiness

Reputation: 35287

Surely you can arrange the solution into projects that share code, where one project outputs to exe and the other(s) to DLL?

Upvotes: 1

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