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Unit Testing

This page was last updated: September 3, 2024

Building the Linux Environment using Docker

First, install Docker Desktop. Creating an account is not necessary for our use case.

Move into the DAQ-Firmware-Libraries sub-module repo.

cd ./Project/DAQ_System/Program/DFR_Libraries

Build the docker image using the Dockerfile: 

docker build -t ubuntu-tests-image ./Tests

image

Using the image, create a container, start the container, and mount the volume to the project:

  • This command must be used at the shared parent directory of both Tests/ and the firmware.
  • Execute this specific command in command prompt, not git bash. Git bash somehow alters the path and causes an error.
docker run -itd --name daq-test-container -v .:/Project ubuntu-tests-image

Attach the image's terminal input/output to yours: 

docker attach daq-test-container

The first two commands only have to be done once. Your host PC will store the docker image and docker container. To use the docker Linux environment in a later session, simply use the attach command and repeat the steps below.

Compiling and Running Unit Tests

Once you are running in the container, move into the unit testing directory: 

cd Tests

Use CMake to generate a build system:

  • Specify Ninja as the build system with the -G flag. Omitting this flag will default to using Make for the compilation process, which is slower than Ninja.
  • Specify the path to the source code to be built with the -S flag.
  • Specify the path for storing the build output (cache, executable, etc.)
    • Creates the DAQ_System/Tests/build folder if it does not exist.
    • This is where configurations for the Ninja build system are stored.
    • This command needs to be used only when you need to create this folder.
cmake -G "Ninja" -S . -B ./build

For compiling, move into the new folder (your build system environment). From here on out, we only need to use Ninja commands. 

cd build

Compile the GoogleTest framework and our unit tests:

  • Ninja detects when the shell terminal is used and automatically overwrites the same terminal line. To see a multi-line output of the order in which the files are being built, concatenate and print the output using cat. That is, use the ninja | cat - command instead.
  • If seeing every detail of the output is necessary, use ninja -v to enable verbose (ugly, but informative) output.
  • Otherwise, the below command will show the build output in only one line.
ninja

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Run the resulting executable: 

./daq-unit-tests

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Cleaning Build Files

Sometimes, a "clean build is necessary." That is, to clean (remove all "dirty" or old build files) and re-build from scratch. You only need two commands: 

ninja clean
ninja

If there is any doubt of whether absolutely everything is removed (such as cached files), you can manually delete the ./build folder and re-run the cmake command to recreate it with new build system configurations.

When you are done, type exit to leave the container.

Good to Know

It is worth noting that building with make instead of ninja more explicitly shows how a file is compiled to a target link library. That is, the output shows the hello_tests.cc was built and linked into the daq-unit-tests target link library (executable). This more accurately reflects the CMakeLists.txt file and may be helpful to keep in mind when adding more files to be linked.

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