assertNull and assertNotNull assertions

[reymalahay]

hi there,

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
this is neither a bug nor a problem, but rather a feature request.

Describe the solution you'd like
will it be possible to add explicit assertNull and assertNotNull assertions?

Describe alternatives you've considered
my current workaround is to use assertTrue and assertFalse.

Additional context
n/a

please advise.

thanks in advance,
rey malahay

[bxparks]

Does this help?
https://github.com/bxparks/AUnit#pointer-comparisons

test(nullPointer) {
const int aa[] = {1, 2};
assertEqual(aa, nullptr);
}

This will print the following:

AUnitTest.ino:348: Assertion failed: (aa=0x3FFFFF58) == (nullptr=0x0).
Test nullPointer failed.

I don't remember why 'assertNull()' and 'assertNotNull()' were not included. If I recall, early versions of AUnit had some problems with the incomprehensible C++ casting rules, overloaded function rules, and template type matching rules. Also, GoogleTest does not have assertNull() assertNotNull() (https://google.github.io/googletest/reference/assertions.html), it wants you to use ASSERT_EQ().

I probably would not be opposed to adding an assertNull() and assertNotNull() as aliases for assertEqual(x, nullptr) and assertNotEqual(x, nullptr), if we verify that those work probably properly in almost all cases.

[bxparks]

I probably would not be opposed to adding an assertNull() and assertNotNull() as aliases for assertEqual(x, nullptr) and assertNotEqual(x, nullptr), if we verify that those work probably properly in almost all cases.

It occurs to me that one reason to create new assertNull() and assertNotNull() statements, instead of just aliasing them to assertEqual(), is that the assertion messages can be shorter and simpler. Otherwise, it would contain the bit about == (nullptr=0x0). So creating new assertNull() and assertNotNull() would be more work, but definitely better for the end-users.

[bxparks]

Just for future reference (mostly to myself probably), I think the reason I couldn't add those asserts is due to the ambiguous overloaded functions mentioned in the paragraph right after the one I quoted:

Comparing a string type (i.e. const char*, or const __FlashStringHelper*) to a nullptr will cause an error due to ambiguous matches on overloaded functions. The solution is to explicitly cast the nullptr to the corresponding string type

So the assertNull() and assertNotNull() on string types would generate compiler errors. I think this can be solved using a decltype() statement, which is supposed to be supported in C++11, which I think is supported by all Arduino-compatible platforms, but who the heck knows in the Arduino world, so this needs plenty of research and testing.

So, this is more than a trivial amount of work, but hard to say whether it's a small amount or large amount of work.

[reymalahay]

hi @bxparks ,

thank you for the response.

assertEqual works fine. thank you.

however, assertNotEqual times out. this is the sample code that times out when assertNotEqual is used:

MyObject *myobj;

assertNotEqual(myobj, nullptr);

MyObject is just an arbitrary class:

class MyObject {
}

this is the test log:

Test myobject_valid timed out.
TestRunner duration: 10.005 seconds.
TestRunner summary: 0 passed, 0 failed, 0 skipped, 1 timed out, out of 1 test(s).
make: *** [/home/reymalahay/dev/EpoxyDuino/EpoxyDuino.mk:243: run] Error 1

please advise.

thanks in advance,
rey malahay

Does this help? https://github.com/bxparks/AUnit#pointer-comparisons

test(nullPointer) {
const int aa[] = {1, 2};
assertEqual(aa, nullptr);
}
This will print the following:
AUnitTest.ino:348: Assertion failed: (aa=0x3FFFFF58) == (nullptr=0x0).
Test nullPointer failed.

I don't remember why 'assertNull()' and 'assertNotNull()' were not included. If I recall, early versions of AUnit had some problems with the incomprehensible C++ casting rules, overloaded function rules, and template type matching rules. Also, GoogleTest does not have assertNull() assertNotNull() (https://google.github.io/googletest/reference/assertions.html), it wants you to use ASSERT_EQ().

I probably would not be opposed to adding an assertNull() and assertNotNull() as aliases for assertEqual(x, nullptr) and assertNotEqual(x, nullptr), if we verify that those work probably properly in almost all cases.

[bxparks]

I cannot offer any help if the only thing you give me is "it times out". You need to provide: sample code, the environment, the compiler, the commands used... Just any little thing that explains how to reproduce your problem.

[reymalahay]

hi @bxparks ,

thank you for the response. as requested:

my test:

#line 2 "lab1_code_test.ino"

#include "../src/MyObject.cpp"
#include <AUnit.h>

testing(myobject_valid) {

    MyObject *myobj;

    assertNotEqual(myobj, nullptr);
}

void setup() {

}

void loop() {
  aunit::TestRunner::run();
}

MyObject.cpp

class MyObject {
};

environment: Linux

compiler: /usr/bin/g++

Makefile:

APP_NAME := lab1_code_test
ARDUINO_LIBS := AUnit
include ${EPOXY_HOME}/EpoxyDuino.mk

commands used:

make clean
make
make run

thanks in advance,
rey malahay

I cannot offer any help if the only thing you give me is "it times out". You need to provide: sample code, the environment, the compiler, the commands used... Just any little thing that explains how to reproduce your problem.

[bxparks]

testing(myobject_valid) {

Replace testing() with test(). The testing() macro runs forever.