Question

I am trying to write some application tests for my app based on the iPhoneUnitTests examples on Apple dev site. Particularly I am having trouble “tapping” through elements in the app, that is, simulating the tap calling methods that make view controllers appear o disappear.

For instance I have this test:

- (void)testAddMeal
{
  HomeScreenController *hsCtrl = (HomeScreenController*)mainViewController;
  [hsCtrl tableView:hsCtrl.tblView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];
  nutritionStrategyController = (NutritionStrategyController*)((UINavigationController*)mainViewController.modalViewController).topViewController;
  [nutritionStrategyController tableView:nutritionStrategyController.tblView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:1]];
}

Which opens a first UIViewController selecting a table cell and then a second UIViewController should appear selecting a table cell in the new UIViewController.
Problem is, the test fails with this error:

 Unknown.m:0: error: -[NutritionStrategyTests testAddMeal] : Attempting to begin a modal transition from <UINavigationController: 0x113a2fc0> to <NewMealTrackingController: 0x9353090> while a transition is already in progress. Wait for viewDidAppear/viewDidDisappear to know the current transition has completed

So my question is, how do I create a test for this?

Answer 1

Unit tests are for testing the behavior of specific bits of code, classes, modules etc. If you want to automate user input, it is a different kind of test, you can look into the UIAutomation instrument, which is dedicated to this type of testing.

The Automation instrument, guided by your test scripts, exercises the
user interface elements of your application, allowing you to log the
results for your analysis. The Automation feature can simulate many
user actions supported by devices that support multitasking and run
iOS 4.0 or later. Your test script can run both on the iOS device and
in the iOS Simulator without modification.

An important benefit of the Automation instrument is that you can use
it with other instruments to perform sophisticated tests such as
tracking down memory leaks and isolating causes of performance
problems.