Question

When creating a new project with unit tests, Xcode sets the build configuration to Debug for the Test scheme (same for the Run scheme).

Should I differentiate between Run (Command-R) & Test (Command-U) schemes?

I.e., should I create a new Build Configuration called Test, add a preprocessor macro TEST=1 to it, and use it as the build configuration for the Test scheme instead? Or, should I just keep Run & Test both as Debug?

I come from a Ruby/Rails background, where you usually have test, development, and production environments. It seems to me that Debug is like development and Release is like production, but we’re missing a test, which is why I’m thinking it might make sense to add Test.

Comments? Opinions? Suggestions?

I’m specifically asking this because I want to compile something for Test with:

#ifdef TEST
// Do something when I test.
#endif

I don’t think it matters if I also compile this for Debug. So, I really could just do:

#ifdef DEBUG
// Do something when I run or test.
#endif

But, I’m really only intending to do it for tests for now. So, that’s why I’m thinking I should differentiate between debug & test but am wondering why Xcode doesn’t do that for you by default? Does Apple think you shouldn’t differentiate between them?

Answer 1

Instead of creating a Test build configuration, I:

1. created a Tests-Prefix.pch file:

   #define TEST 1
   #import <SenTestingKit/SenTestingKit.h>
   #import "CocoaPlant-Prefix.pch"
   

2. entered its path in the Prefix Header field of the Tests target’s build settings.

3. added the following code to the top of a file I created called MyAppDefines.h, imported in MyApp-Prefix.pch:

   #ifdef TEST
   #define TEST_CLASS NSClassFromString(@"AppDelegateTests") // any test class
   #define BUNDLE [NSBundle bundleForClass:TEST_CLASS]
   #define APP_NAME @"Tests"
   #else
   #define BUNDLE [NSBundle mainBundle]
   #define APP_NAME [[BUNDLE infoDictionary] objectForKey:(NSString *)kCFBundleNameKey]
   #endif
   

This allows me to use BUNDLE where ever I mean [NSBundle mainBundle] and also have it work when I run Tests.

Importing SenTestingKit in Tests-Prefix.pch also speeds up the compiling of the SenTestingKit Framework and allows me to leave out #import <SenTestingKit/SenTestingKit.h> from the top of all the tests files.