given-when-then in XCTest

I started writing a new Mac app, and I started doing it by driving the implementation through Xcode UI Automation tests. But then it turned out I was driving the test infrastructure as much as the tests, and it’s that I want to talk about.

Given, When, Then

My (complete, Xcode UI Automation) test looks like this:

func testAddingANoteResultsInANoteBeingAdded() {
    given("An empty notebook")
    when("I add a note to the notebook")
    then("There is a note in the notebook")
}

The test case class has an object called a World, which holds, well, the test’s world. There are two parts to this.

The World holds regular expressions associated with blocks, where each block does some part of the test if its associated regular expression matched the description of the test. As an example, my test fixture sets up this association:

try world.then(matchingExpectation: "^There is a note in the notebook$",
                work: { _, world in
                guard let notebook:LabraryNotebook
                  = world.getFromState("TheNotebook") as? LabraryNotebook else {
                    XCTFail("No notebook to test")
                    return
                }
                XCTAssertEqual(notebook.countOfNotes(), 1,
                  "There should be one row in the notes table")
})

We’ll get back to how that block is implemented later. For the moment, I want to make it clear that this is a way to organise a UI test (or, indeed, any other functional test) using XCTest: it is not a new test framework. The test case class still subclasses XCTestCase, and assertions are still made with the XCTAssert* macros/functions. That’s just all wrapped up in this given/when/then structure.

Let’s look at the block’s two parameters: the first is an array of the regular expression’s capture groups so that you can find out information about the test specification, should you want.

The other argument is a reference to the World, which enables the second feature of the World: as state storage so that each part of the test can communicate with later parts. Notice that the when clause in my test says it adds a note to “the notebook”, and the then clause checks that there is a note in “the notebook”. How do they both use the same notebook object? The when clause stores it on the World using world.storeInState(), and the then clause retrieves it with world.getFromState().

Page Objects

Rather than putting XCUIElement goop directly in my test blocks, I use an abstraction called the Page Object pattern, popular among people writing browser tests in Selenium. This puts an adapter between my tests and my UI controls, so the test says (for example) app.newDocument() and the Application page object knows that that means finding the “File” menu, clicking it, then clicking the “New” menu item.

The way to create a new document in a Cocoa app has not changed since 1987 and may not change soon. But the details of my own UI surely will, and will change at a different rate than the goals of the people using it. While someone may want to add a note for the rest of time, there may not always be an “Add Note” button. So my test can continue to say:

when("I add a note to the notebook")

but the page object for a document can change from:

func addANote() {
    let app = XCUIApplication()
    let window = app.windows[documentName]
    let control = window.buttons["Add Note"]
    control.click()
}

to whatever will find and drive the interface in my redesigned application.

Would you like this?

I’m happy to package the given/when/then organisation up and release it under an open source licence so that you can use it in your own apps. As I’ve only just written the code, I’ve yet to do that, but it’s coming! I’m aware that there are multiple ways of getting/using Swift libraries, so if you’re interested please let me know whether you would expect to use an Xcode project that builds a framework, a Swift PM package, a CocoaPod or a Carthage…cart… so I can support you using the software in your way.