CODEWITHSUNDEEP
testingocaml
declan
declan

Reputation: 5635

OCaml - testing functions not included in the signature

I'm writing tests for an OCaml module. Some of the functions in the module are not meant to be publicly visible, and so they're not included in the signature (.mli file).

I can't call these functions from my tests, because they're not visible outside of the module. So I'm having a hard time testing them. Is there a good way to get around this? For example, a way to tell ocamlc not to read the signature from the .mli file when it's compiling tests?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 526

Answers (2)

Ashish Agarwal
Ashish Agarwal

Reputation: 3030

Some ideas:

  • Actually export the test functions, but use ocamldoc's stop comment (**/**) feature to avoid displaying the exports in the documentation.
  • Put all of your tests entirely in another module. However, this is difficult if you have abstract types because your tests may very well need access to the internal implementation.
  • Create a submodule Test, where all your tests go. That way it is clear what functions are just for testing. Possibly combine this with the (**/**) feature to also hide the sub-module from documentation.

Upvotes: 4

Jeffrey Scofield
Jeffrey Scofield

Reputation: 66823

I've heard that people sometimes separate their .mli files from their .ml files (in a different directory) so that they can compile with or without them (by telling ocamlc to look in the separate directory or not). I just tried a few experiments with this. I think it can be made to work, but it seems a little bit error prone to me. Maybe you could put the tests of the internal functions into the module. Exporting the test functions might not violate the modularity too badly. (Though of course it clutters up the module.)

Upvotes: 1

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