Then Dont Call Main Loop

I have been unit-testing GUIs for a while, and was surprised to learn that others had overlooked my most basic technique. For some UI libraries, you must display the window before you simulate clicks on it. This makes running SuperTest a pain. Either windows block until you close them, or your program closes them automatically, so they flash on the screen and slow the run down.

The technique I use is based on how the "toolkit" class of GUIs (Tk, GTK, etc.) work. You create windows with controls on them, then call "mainloop" to receive user events and dispatch the controls' calls-back.

My technique creates the windows, puts data in them, reads it out, and then does not call mainloop. Hence its name.

Following is a sample of this technique in freshly hatched RubyLanguage. Play with $visible to either see & interact with the window, or leave it hidden in batch mode. Comments or additions welcome. -- PhlIp

See also http://www.xp123.com/xplor/xp0001/ for similar article, only about Java. -- mfi

A tuned OneButtonTesting effort in an MS Windows environment may temporarily call DoEvents at the end of a test, to visually inspect it.

A complete UI mini-framework developed using this technique (and ScalableVectorGraphics and RubyLanguage and RubyTk) appears here: http://wiki.rubygarden.org/Ruby/page/show/SvgCanvas

---

 require 'gtk'

 $visible = false

 def assert bool
 throw "get a clue" if not bool
 end

 def testedFunction win
    cbitems = [ "item0", "item1 item1" ]
    win.border_width(0)

    box1 = Gtk::VBox::new(false, 0)
    win.add(box1)
    box1.show

    box2 = Gtk::VBox::new(false, 10)
    box2.border_width(10)
    box1.pack_start(box2, true, true, 0)
    box2.show

    entry = Gtk::Entry::new()
    entry.set_text("hello world")
    entry.select_region(0, 5)
    box2.pack_start(entry, true, true, 0)
    entry.show

    cb = Gtk::Combo::new()
    cb.set_popdown_strings(cbitems)
    cb.entry.set_text("hello world")
    box2.pack_start(cb, true, true, 0)
    cb.show
    return entry, cb
 end

 def test_entryThing
 win = Gtk::Window.new(Gtk::WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
 entry, cb = testedFunction (win)
 assert entry.get_text == "hello world"
 assert cb.entry.get_text == "hello world"

 # click on another cb line
 # assert cb.entry.get_text == "item0"

 if $visible then
  win.show
   Gtk.main
  else
  win.destroy
 end
 end

 test_entryThing

A more complete version of that technique appears here: http://gnomesupport.org/wiki/index.php/TestDrivenDevelopment

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See GuiTesting, GuiUnitTesting, GuiTestingPatterns, TestFirstUserInterfaces