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An introduction to unit testing
Cookbook chevron_right Testing chevron_right Unit chevron_right Introduction
Contents
1. Add the test dependency
2. Create a test file
3. Create a class to test
4. Write a test for our class
5. Combine multiple tests in a group
6. Run the tests
Run tests using IntelliJ or VSCode
Run tests in a terminal
How can you ensure that your app continues to work as you add more features or change
existing functionality? By writing tests.
Unit tests are handy for verifying the behavior of a single function, method, or class. The
test package provides the core framework for writing unit tests, and the flutter_test
package provides additional utilities for testing widgets.
This recipe demonstrates the core features provided by the test package using the
following steps:
1. Add the test or flutter_test dependency.
2. Create a test file.
3. Create a class to test.
4. Write a test for our class.
5. Combine multiple tests in a group .
6. Run the tests.
For more information about the test package, see the test package documentation.
1. Add the test dependency
The test package provides the core functionality for writing tests in Dart. This is the best
approach when writing packages consumed by web, server, and Flutter apps.
To add the test package as a dev dependency, run flutter pub add :
$ flutter pub add dev:test
2. Create a test file
In this example, create two files: counter.dart and counter_test.dart .
The counter.dart file contains a class that you want to test and resides in the lib
folder. The counter_test.dart file contains the tests themselves and lives inside the
test folder.
In general, test files should reside inside a test folder located at the root of your Flutter
application or package. Test files should always end with _test.dart , this is the
convention used by the test runner when searching for tests.
When you're finished, the folder structure should look like this:
counter_app/
lib/
counter.dart
test/
counter_test.dart
3. Create a class to test
Next, you need a "unit" to test. Remember: "unit" is another name for a function, method,
or class. For this example, create a Counter class inside the lib/counter.dart file. It is
responsible for incrementing and decrementing a value starting at 0 .
dart
class Counter {
int value = 0;
void increment() => value++;
void decrement() => value--;
}
Note: For simplicity, this tutorial does not follow the "Test Driven Development" approach.
If you're more comfortable with that style of development, you can always go that route.
4. Write a test for our class
Inside the counter_test.dart file, write the first unit test. Tests are defined using the
top-level test function, and you can check if the results are correct by using the top-
level expect function. Both of these functions come from the test package.
dart
// Import the test package and Counter class
import 'package:counter_app/counter.dart';
import 'package:test/test.dart';
void main() {
test('Counter value should be incremented', () {
final counter = Counter();
counter.increment();
expect(counter.value, 1);
});
}
5. Combine multiple tests in a group
If you want to run a series of related tests, use the flutter_test package group
function to categorize the tests. Once put into a group, you can call flutter test on all
tests in that group with one command.
dart
import 'package:counter_app/counter.dart';
import 'package:test/test.dart';
void main() {
group('Test start, increment, decrement', () {
test('value should start at 0', () {
expect(Counter().value, 0);
});
test('value should be incremented', () {
final counter = Counter();
counter.increment();
expect(counter.value, 1);
});
test('value should be decremented', () {
final counter = Counter();
counter.decrement();
expect(counter.value, -1);
});
});
}
6. Run the tests
Now that you have a Counter class with tests in place, you can run the tests.
Run tests using IntelliJ or VSCode
The Flutter plugins for IntelliJ and VSCode support running tests. This is often the best
option while writing tests because it provides the fastest feedback loop as well as the
ability to set breakpoints.
IntelliJ
1. Open the counter_test.dart file
2. Go to Run > Run 'tests in counter_test.dart'. You can also press the
appropriate keyboard shortcut for your platform.
VSCode
1. Open the counter_test.dart file
2. Go to Run > Start Debugging. You can also press the appropriate keyboard
shortcut for your platform.
Run tests in a terminal
To run the all tests from the terminal, run the following command from the root of the
project:
flutter test test/counter_test.dart
To run all tests you put into one group , run the following command from the root of the
project:
flutter test --plain-name "Test start, increment, decrement"
This example uses the group created in section 5.
To learn more about unit tests, you can execute this command:
flutter test --help
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License, and code samples are licensed under the 3-Clause BSD License.
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