Cosmin Cremarenco – Cosmin's Blog

JUnit Categories

Hey there, this is my second post on JUnit and its lesser known features. To read the first one go here.

JUnit Categories allow tagging tests thus dividing the tests into separate buckets. This, in turn, becomes important in order to choose which tests run at a later time.

I find categories in combination with maven quite useful in splitting tests into unitary and integration tests. This is probably better understood with an example.

package com.cremarenco.junit.categories;

// Marker interface for integration tests.
public interface IntegrationTest {
}

public class DownloaderTest {
    @Test
    @Category(IntegrationTest.class)
    public void download_file() {
        // Slow integration tests.
    }
}

package com.cremarenco.junit.categories;

// Marker interface for integration tests.

public interface IntegrationTest {

}

public class DownloaderTest {

@Test

@Category(IntegrationTest.class)

public void download_file() {

// Slow integration tests.

}

Following maven config will split the tests into unitary tests and integration tests. Note how we’re using surefire for the unitary tests and failsafe for the integration tests. We could have used surefire all the way and by all means do if you only have unitary tests. However, failsafe makes sure that failing tests are torn down correctly and that the post-integration-test phase (that comes after the integration-test) is called. The surefire plugin would just stop everything during the integration-test phase. But, anyways, this is maybe an article for another time. Here’s the example:

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <excludedGroups>com.cremarenco.junit.categories.IntegrationTest</excludedGroups>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <groups>com.cremarenco.junit.categories.IntegrationTest</groups>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

<build>

<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>

<excludedGroups>com.cremarenco.junit.categories.IntegrationTest</excludedGroups>

</configuration>

</plugin>

<artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>

<groups>com.cremarenco.junit.categories.IntegrationTest</groups>

</configuration>

</plugin>

</plugins>

</build>

In order to skip the integration tests you can add -DskipITs command line parameter to the maven invocation.

JUnit Rules

We all know testing is good for our health right? “Testing rocks, debugging sucks”, I think the good guys at google said it.

When in Java when writing unitary tests, we use JUnit most of the time. JUnit is a *wealth* of features which are mostly unexplored and that can truly make test writing easier and more enjoyable.

I’m planning to write a series on the hidden or the lesser known JUnit.

And the first one today is: Rules.

What Rules allow is, in a word, to run code that wraps the test code under execution. In many cases that’s just code that
initializes and destroys some helper objects that you need in the testing code. So why wouldn’t you put that in methods annotated with @Before/@After? The answer is convenience.

An example is worth 1000 words. Let’s see how @Rule TemporaryFolder is used.

public class FileDownloaderTest {
	@Rule
	public TemporaryFolder temporaryFolder = new TemporaryFolder();

	@Test
	public void testWeCanDownloadFiles() {
		File targetFile = temporaryFolder.newFile("download.zip");
		
		// Exercise an imaginary FileDownloader class.
		FileDownloader fileDownloader = new FileDownloader(targetFile);
		fileDownloader.download("url-to-download");
		
		// Here assert that targetFile contains the correct contents.
		
		// At the end of the test targetFile is automatically removed.
	}
}

public class FileDownloaderTest {

@Rule

public TemporaryFolder temporaryFolder = new TemporaryFolder();

@Test

public void testWeCanDownloadFiles() {

File targetFile = temporaryFolder.newFile("download.zip");

// Exercise an imaginary FileDownloader class.

FileDownloader fileDownloader = new FileDownloader(targetFile);

fileDownloader.download("url-to-download");

// Here assert that targetFile contains the correct contents.

// At the end of the test targetFile is automatically removed.

}

What’s nice about the @Rule in the example above is how the TemporaryFolder functionality is encapsulated, brought up and torn down for each test.

Rules classes like the TemporaryFolder that we just saw need to inherit interface TestRule which only contains the method below:

public interface TestRule {
    Statement apply(Statement base, Description description);
}

public interface TestRule {

Statement apply(Statement base, Description description);

}

In the above, the base parameter represents the actual test code. Calling base.evaluate() will trigger the test.

However implementing the TestRule directly is awkward. A more useful class is ExternalResource (which TemporaryFolder also inherits and specializes for temporary files). This allows using in the test code a resource which is initialized/destroyed. As example, say we wanted to use in our test an http client.

public class HttpClientResource extend ExternalResource {
    private final HttpClient httpClient;
	
    public HttpClientResource(String address) {
	this.httpClient = new HttpClient(address);
    }

    public Statement apply(Statement base, Description description) {
        return statement(base);
    }

    private Statement statement(final Statement base) {
        return new Statement() {
            @Override
            public void evaluate() throws Throwable {
				httpClient.connect();
                try {
                    base.evaluate();
                } finally {
                    httpClient.close();
                }
            }
        };
    }
}

public class HttpClientResource extend ExternalResource {

private final HttpClient httpClient;

public HttpClientResource(String address) {

this.httpClient = new HttpClient(address);

}

public Statement apply(Statement base, Description description) {

return statement(base);

}

private Statement statement(final Statement base) {

return new Statement() {

@Override

public void evaluate() throws Throwable {

httpClient.connect();

try {

base.evaluate();

} finally {

httpClient.close();

}

};

}

And to use this rule in an actual test:

public class HttpClientTest {
	@Rule
	HttpClientResource httpClientResource = new HttpClientResource("localhost:8080");
	
	@Test
	public void can_download_index_html() {
		File file = httpClientResource.download();
	}
}

public class HttpClientTest {

@Rule

HttpClientResource httpClientResource = new HttpClientResource("localhost:8080");

@Test

public void can_download_index_html() {

File file = httpClientResource.download();

}

There are a bunch of other @Rule that ship with JUnit which be tremendously useful:

TemporaryFolder – as described above, makes dealing with temporary files pretty painless
ExternalResource – generalizes resource set up and tear down
ErrorCollector – allows test to continue even after the first problem occurs; the purpose here is to collect all problems in one go
Verifier – do checks *after* the test has run and was successful
TestWatcher – offers hooks into tests passing or failing; can, for instance, be used in order to make a log of tests that passed/failed
TestName – makes possible to have the current test name accessible inside the test itself
TimeoutRule – enforce a timeout for the whole test execution
ExpectedException – allows specifying exceptions that are allowed to be thrown from the test body. This can also be implemented using the “expect” parameter of the @Test annotation, but I find the ExpectedException easier to use than writing an annotation array
ClassRule – applies the same lifecycle as the standard @Rule, but this time to the whole fixture
RuleChain – used to order rules

I hope this was a good introduction to rules and that you will put them to good use in your tests.

My Swift strings cheatsheet

The Swift strings support representing Unicode strings natively. As such it is no longer possible to have random access inside the string because some characters might be represented on more than one byte.

I always forget how to do basic things so I put together a cheatsheet that might be useful to others too.

Counting characters

print("abc".characters.count) // 3
print("abc".utf8.count) // 3
print("abc".utf16.count) // 3

print("abc".characters.count) // 3

print("abc".utf8.count) // 3

print("abc".utf16.count) // 3

Lowercasing/uppercasing

print("ABC".lowercaseString) // abc
print("aBC".uppercaseString) // ABC

1 2	print("ABC".lowercaseString) // abc print("aBC".uppercaseString) // ABC

Iterating through the string characters

// Prints a b c
for c in "abc".characters {
print(c)
}

// Prints 0 1 2
for i in "abc".characters.indices {
print(i)
}

// Prints a b c

for c in "abc".characters {

print(c)

}

// Prints 0 1 2

for i in "abc".characters.indices {

print(i)

}

Indexes inside the string

print("abc".endIndex) // 3
print("abc".startIndex) // 0</code>

print("abc".startIndex.successor()) // 1
print("abc".endIndex.predecessor()) // 2
print("abc".startIndex.advancedBy(2)) // 2

"abc".startIndex.predecessor() // Runtime error
"abc".endIndex.successor() // Runtime error

print("abc".endIndex) // 3

print("abc".startIndex) // 0</code>

print("abc".startIndex.successor()) // 1

print("abc".endIndex.predecessor()) // 2

print("abc".startIndex.advancedBy(2)) // 2

"abc".startIndex.predecessor() // Runtime error

"abc".endIndex.successor() // Runtime error

Is string contained in another string

print("abc".rangeOfString("bc")) // Optional(Range(1..<3))</code>

// Or make an extension to String
extension String {
func contains(find: String) -> Bool {
return self.rangeOfString(find) != nil
}
}

print("abc".rangeOfString("bc")) // Optional(Range(1..<3))</code>

// Or make an extension to String

extension String {

func contains(find: String) -> Bool {

return self.rangeOfString(find) != nil

}

Split a string by separator, iteratively

let testStr = "www.microsoft.com"
func split1(str: String, _ withSep: Character) -> [String] {
    var result = [String]()
    var pos = str.startIndex
    for i in str.characters.indices {
        if str[i] == withSep {
            result.append(str[pos..<i])
            pos = i.successor()
        }
    }
    result.append(str[pos..<str.endIndex])
    return result
}

print(split1(testStr, ".")) // ["www", "microsoft", "com"]
print(split1(".", ".")) // ["", ""]

let testStr = "www.microsoft.com"

func split1(str: String, _ withSep: Character) -> [String] {

var result = [String]()

var pos = str.startIndex

for i in str.characters.indices {

if str[i] == withSep {

result.append(str[pos..<i])

pos = i.successor()

}

result.append(str[pos..<str.endIndex])

return result

}

print(split1(testStr, ".")) // ["www", "microsoft", "com"]

print(split1(".", ".")) // ["", ""]

Split a string by separator, recursively

let testStr = "www.microsoft.com"

func splitRecurse(str: String, _ sep: String, var _ result: [String]) -> [String] {
    if str.characters.count == 0 {
        result.append("")
        return result
    }
    if let pos = str.rangeOfString(sep) {
        result.append(str[str.startIndex..<pos.startIndex])
        return splitRecurse(str.substringFromIndex(pos.endIndex), sep, result)
    } else {
        result.append(str)
        return result
    }
}

func split2(str: String, _ sep: String) -> [String] {
    let ret = [String]()
    return splitRecurse(str, sep, ret)
}

print(split2(testStr, ".")) // ["www", "microsoft", "com"]
print(split2(".", ".")) // ["", ""]
print(split2("..", ".")) // ["", "", ""]

let testStr = "www.microsoft.com"

func splitRecurse(str: String, _ sep: String, var _ result: [String]) -> [String] {

if str.characters.count == 0 {

result.append("")

return result

}

if let pos = str.rangeOfString(sep) {

result.append(str[str.startIndex..<pos.startIndex])

return splitRecurse(str.substringFromIndex(pos.endIndex), sep, result)

} else {

result.append(str)

return result

}

func split2(str: String, _ sep: String) -> [String] {

let ret = [String]()

return splitRecurse(str, sep, ret)

}

print(split2(testStr, ".")) // ["www", "microsoft", "com"]

print(split2(".", ".")) // ["", ""]

print(split2("..", ".")) // ["", "", ""]

Fix UITabBar icon images as alpha-channel

Apple asks that your UITabBar icons be pure alpha-channel images with added anti-alias. That means that usual RGB channel images will just show as a blue square.

So how to go from a normal RGB channel image to a pure alpha-channel. I use Photoshop and there is probably more than one way, but what works best for me is creating a “Gradient map” adjustment layer.

To create a gradient map adjustment layer go to the “Layers” tab and click “Create fill or adjustment layer…” like below.

Afterwards save your image and all should be fine.

Fix putty garbled text after window resize

So you resized your putty window. When going through history, if there are lines which are longer than 80 chars, the default putty window, then just going through the will show the text garbled.

The fix is simple: tell the terminal the new window size. Arguably this should be automatically done by putty, but hey, there’s a workaround. Checkout the stty command.

Pass the cols parameter to specify the new width of the window in columns.

stty cols <width-in-cols>

1	stty cols <width-in-cols>

Find your home directory in the iPhone simulator

This is huge.

Start your application, then “Debug/Pause” it.

Then type this magic into your lldb console (the debugging pane should be at the bottom of the Xcode window).

po NSHomeDirectory()

1	po NSHomeDirectory()

Your debugger console should now show the local directory where your application has its home.

Reminder to self: generic Makefile target for compiling cpp files

How to write a generic Makefile target that will compile any .cpp file?

%.o: %.cpp
        $(CC) -c $(CC_FLAGS) $< -o $@

%.o: %.cpp

$(CC) -c $(CC_FLAGS) $< -o $@

$@: Contains the target file name
$<: Contains the first dependency file name

WatchKit simulator displays spinner, willActivate is not called

So you developed your first WatchKit app, except when you’re testing it in the simulator all it does is display the spinner.

More over, method willActivate from WKInterfaceController is never called. That means the app is never displayed on the watch for the user to see. It’s as if the display was locked.

In my experience there is nothing wrong with the app, might be just small bugs that will be fixed in the later versions of XCode/simulator. You can force display on the watch. With the Simulator in focus go to menu “Hardware” and choose “Lock”. At this time your phone/watch is locked. Now, do the same thing “Hardware” then “Lock” and unlock the phone by dragging on the screen. Method “willActivate” should no be called and your app screen will be displayed on the watch display.

Push segue from button doesn’t work

First of make sure your source controller is embedded inside a navigation controller, otherwise push segues don’t work.

But, in my case, even after that clicking the button wouldn’t change the view. What I discovered is that messed up auto layout constraints can do that. If in doubt remove all your constraints and try your segue like that.

Navigation bar pushes view down

I came across recently a problem where I had a UITableView just below the navigation bar of a UINavigationController. Even though they aligned perfectly in the storyboard, the simulator showed the table view as if pushed down with the exact size of the UINavigationBar.

The solution was to uncheck “Translucent” checkbox in the “Navigation bar”