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  26 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
  27 <a name="boost_test.tests_organization"></a><a class="link" href="tests_organization.html" title="Declaring and organizing tests">Declaring and organizing
  28     tests</a>
  29 </h2></div></div></div>
  30 <div class="toc"><dl class="toc">
  31 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases.html">Test cases</a></span></dt>
  32 <dd><dl>
  33 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_organization_nullary.html">Test
  34         cases without parameters</a></span></dt>
  35 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_case_generation.html">Data-driven
  36         test cases</a></span></dt>
  37 <dd><dl>
  38 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_case_generation/datasets.html">Datasets</a></span></dt>
  39 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_case_generation/datasets_auto_registration.html">Declaring
  40           and registering test cases with datasets</a></span></dt>
  41 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_case_generation/operations.html">Operations
  42           on dataset</a></span></dt>
  43 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_case_generation/generators.html">Datasets
  44           generators</a></span></dt>
  45 </dl></dd>
  46 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/test_organization_templates.html">Template
  47         test cases</a></span></dt>
  48 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_cases/param_test.html">Parametrized
  49         test cases</a></span></dt>
  50 </dl></dd>
  51 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_tree.html">Test tree</a></span></dt>
  52 <dd><dl>
  53 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_tree/test_suite.html">Test
  54         suite</a></span></dt>
  55 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_tree/master_test_suite.html">Master
  56         test suite</a></span></dt>
  57 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_tree/test_naming.html">Tests
  58         naming</a></span></dt>
  59 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/test_tree/test_tree_content.html">Test
  60         tree content</a></span></dt>
  61 </dl></dd>
  62 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/decorators.html">Decorators</a></span></dt>
  63 <dd><dl>
  64 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/decorators/suite_level_decorators.html">Suite-level
  65         decorators</a></span></dt>
  66 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/decorators/explicit_decorator_declaration.html">Explicit
  67         decorator declaration</a></span></dt>
  68 </dl></dd>
  69 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/fixtures.html">Fixtures</a></span></dt>
  70 <dd><dl>
  71 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/fixtures/models.html">Fixture
  72         models</a></span></dt>
  73 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/fixtures/case.html">Test case
  74         fixture</a></span></dt>
  75 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/fixtures/per_test_suite_fixture.html">Test
  76         suite entry/exit fixture</a></span></dt>
  77 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/fixtures/global.html">Global
  78         fixture</a></span></dt>
  79 </dl></dd>
  80 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/tests_dependencies.html">Managing
  81       test dependencies</a></span></dt>
  82 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/tests_grouping.html">Grouping
  83       tests into logical units by labels</a></span></dt>
  84 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/enabling.html">Enabling or disabling
  85       test unit execution</a></span></dt>
  86 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/semantic.html">Adding semantic
  87       to a test</a></span></dt>
  88 <dt><span class="section"><a href="tests_organization/summary_of_the_api_for_declaring.html">Summary
  89       of the API for declaring and organizing tests</a></span></dt>
  90 </dl></div>
  91 <p>
  92       If you look at many legacy test modules, big chance is that it's implemented
  93       as one big test function that consists of a mixture of check and output statements.
  94       Is there anything wrong with it? Yes. There are various disadvantages in single
  95       test function approach:
  96     </p>
  97 <div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
  98 <li class="listitem">
  99           One big function tends to become really difficult to manage if the number
 100           of checks exceeds a reasonable limit (true for any large function). What
 101           is tested and where - who knows?
 102         </li>
 103 <li class="listitem">
 104           Many checks require similar preparations. This results in code repetitions
 105           within the test function.
 106         </li>
 107 <li class="listitem">
 108           If a fatal error or an exception is caused by any checks within the test
 109           function the rest of tests are skipped and there is no way to prevent this.
 110         </li>
 111 <li class="listitem">
 112           No way to perform only checks for a particular subsystem of the tested
 113           unit.
 114         </li>
 115 <li class="listitem">
 116           No summary of how different subsystems of the tested unit performed under
 117           in the test.
 118         </li>
 119 </ul></div>
 120 <p>
 121       The above points should make it clear that it's preferable to split a <a class="link" href="section_glossary.html#ref_test_module">test module</a> into smaller <span class="bold"><strong>units</strong></span>.
 122       These units are the <span class="bold"><strong>test cases</strong></span>, the <span class="bold"><strong>test suites</strong></span> and the <span class="bold"><strong>fixtures</strong></span>.
 123     </p>
 124 <div class="variablelist">
 125 <p class="title"><b>Subjects covered by this section</b></p>
 126 <dl class="variablelist">
 127 <dt><span class="term">Declaration</span></dt>
 128 <dd><p>
 129             The <span class="emphasis"><em>Unit Test Framework</em></span> supports several methods
 130             for declaring a <a class="link" href="tests_organization/test_cases.html" title="Test cases">test
 131             case</a>. Test cases can be implemented using free function like syntax
 132             or based on actual free function, function object, that can be defined
 133             with or without parameters/data, or as template functions to be run against
 134             various types.
 135           </p></dd>
 136 <dt><span class="term">Organization</span></dt>
 137 <dd><p>
 138             The <span class="emphasis"><em>Unit Test Framework</em></span> provides facilities to group
 139             several test cases into <a class="link" href="tests_organization/test_tree/test_suite.html" title="Test suite">test
 140             suites</a>. The test suites can be nested, and the set of test suites
 141             and test cases defines the <a class="link" href="tests_organization/test_tree.html" title="Test tree">test
 142             tree</a>, where the leaves are the test cases. Besides hierarchical
 143             structure the <span class="emphasis"><em>Unit Test Framework</em></span> allows you to
 144             organize the test tree using <a class="link" href="tests_organization/tests_grouping.html" title="Grouping tests into logical units by labels">logical
 145             grouping</a> and <a class="link" href="tests_organization/tests_dependencies.html" title="Managing test dependencies">dependencies</a>
 146             and provides you with controls to utilize the defined test tree organization
 147             the way you want (eg. from command line).
 148           </p></dd>
 149 <dt><span class="term">Attributes</span></dt>
 150 <dd><p>
 151             It is possible to specify test unit <span class="emphasis"><em>attributes</em></span> by
 152             using <a class="link" href="tests_organization/decorators.html" title="Decorators">decorators</a>.
 153             Attributes are used for a fine grained control over various aspects of
 154             test module execution, such as <span class="emphasis"><em>logical grouping</em></span>,
 155             <span class="emphasis"><em>dependencies</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>expected failures</em></span>,
 156             etc.
 157           </p></dd>
 158 <dt><span class="term">Setup/teardown test unit actions</span></dt>
 159 <dd><p>
 160             When several tests shares the same set-up (environment, test data preparation,
 161             etc.), the preparation and cleanup code may be factorized in <a class="link" href="tests_organization/fixtures.html" title="Fixtures">fixtures</a>.
 162             In the <span class="emphasis"><em>Unit Test Framework</em></span>, fixtures can be associated
 163             to test cases, test suites or globally to the test module.
 164           </p></dd>
 165 </dl>
 166 </div>
 167 </div>
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