Elements of a Test Fixture

The elements of a complete test fixture are coded as entry points in a COBOL program. The entry points shown in the code snippets below are using call prototypes found in the mfunit.cpy copybook, available from the cpylib folder of your product installation directory.

The main elements are:

The test setup

Any pre-requisite conditions that need to be satisfied before the test case is run can be set up in this section. For example, if the test case requires that a data file already exists or is open ready for input, you can code such things in this section. This section is optional.

...
entry MFU-TC-SETUP-PREFIX & "MyTestCase"
//initial setup code goes here//
goback
...

The test setup for data-driven tests

This section performs a similar function to the test setup (above), except that for data-driven, it will only run once, before the first time that the test case is run. Using a normal test setup section would result in the setup being run each time that the test case is executed, and due to the nature of data-driven tests, that would be for each selected row in the data file, which could be inefficient.

This type of setup could be used to include connection details, that ideally only need to run once per test run. This section is optional.

...
entry MFU-TC-SETUP-DD-PREFIX & "MyTestCase"
//initial data-driven setup code goes here//
goback
...

The test metadata setup

There are a number of metadata details that you add directly through your source code that can relate to a single test case, such as test description and test timeout; see Using Dynamic Metadata. For data-driven tests, this section must at least contain the MFU-MD-TESTDATA metadata declaration; for all other test types, this section is optional.

...
entry MFU-TC-METADATA-SETUP-PREFIX & "MyTestCase"
//initial metadata setup code goes here//
goback
...

The test case

This section contains the actual testing logic and test assertions.

...
entry MFU-TC-PREFIX & "MyTestCase"
//test case code goes here//
goback
...

The test teardown

This section enables you to tidy up the environment, such as releasing or closing resources, after the test has been run. This may be critical if you run multiple test cases within a test suite. This section is optional.

...
entry MFU-TC-TEARDOWN-PREFIX & "MyTestCase"
//clean-up code goes here//
goback
...

The test teardown for data-driven tests

This section performs a similar function to the test teardown (above), except that for data-driven, it will only run once, after the last time that the test case is run. Using a normal test teardown section would result in the test environment being torn down after test case was executed, and due to the nature of data-driven tests, that would be for each selected row in the data file.

This type of teardown could be used to include disconnection details, that ideally only need to run once per test run. This section is optional.

...
entry MFU-TC-TEARDOWN-DD-PREFIX & "MyTestCase"
//clean-up code goes here//
goback
...

If you have multiple test cases, each must have their own setup and teardown. COBOL programs that contain more than one test fixture are commonly referred to as test suites.

These sections can appear in your code in any order, but are run in the order shown here.

There are also other elements that affect a test case, either by applying a number of attributes (metadata) to the test cases, or setting command line options for the test run:

The global command line options

You can add test runner command line arguments within the MFU-GLOBAL-COMMANDLINE-PREFIX entry point. The arguments should be set in the COBOL variable MFU-GLOBAL-COMMANDLINE-ARG, which is available through the mfunit.cpy copybook. This section is optional.

...
entry MFU-GLOBAL-COMMANDLINE-PREFIX & "MyProgramName"
//global command line arguments here//
//for example: move "-verbose -high-res-timer:true -report:markdown to MFU-GLOBAL-COMMANDLINE-ARG
goback
...

See Examples of Using Metadata for a more comprehensive example of using this entry point.

The global metadata setup

There are a number of metadata details that you add directly through your source code that can relate to all test cases within the test fixture. For example, you can add a trait to all test case in the test fixture file. This section is optional.

...
entry MFU-GLOBAL-METADATA-PREFIX & "CMDOptions"
//global metadata is set up here//
goback
...

Note: You can specify any literal name within parentheses in place of "CMDOptions".

See Examples of Using Metadata for a more comprehensive example of using this entry point.