Support

For support open an issue with detailed description and please attach logs.

BUT before that read ALL this document.

Quick Tips

• Do your test names matches the directory and pattern the extension is looking for?
• Do your test exectuable depend on some dynamic library?
• Did you set up the cwd working directory propery?
• Did you read the rest of this document?

F.A.Q

The extension cannot find my test executables.

In version 4.8.0 a new filtering was introduced. Searching for executables respects files.watcherExclude vscode config. One can try removing their executable files' pattern from this config. Read: vscode watcher doc

Link / Build process fails because the executable is locked by this extension.

Check testMate.cpp.test.advancedExecutables -> executableCloning.

and

Check testMate.cpp.test.advancedExecutables -> waitForBuildProcess.

Debug button doesn't work / stopped working

Please check the documentation of debug.configTemplate.

Custom scripts and environment variables

Check

• advancedExecutables.dependsOn
• advancedExecutables.envFile (usually used togheter with dependsOn)
• advancedExecutables.runTask
• advancedExecutables.executionWrapper

I want to add custom environment variables

Easiest: advancedExecutables.env

If you want dynamically set enviranment variables generate a file which contains those variables in a JSON format and set envFile and dependsOn.

I want to run some custom script before the tests (for example to set some environment variables and do some init), how should I do that?

Create command line wrapper (.sh/.bat) or a python script wrapper. The most convenient way is to generate one.

Would you show me an example?

Sure! For example in case of CMake: check this. Note: However this is the easiest, not the best solution. There is a drawback: Debugging button won't work, since the debuger will attach to the script not to the executable started by the script.

Is there a solution for that?

Yes. One can enhance their test executable from c++. The example is here

Wanna set cwd to the source file's dir to use the resources next to it and my structure looks like (because I use cmake):

<workspaceFolder>/src/a/resources/
<workspaceFolder>/src/a/test1.cpp
<workspaceFolder>/build/a/test1.exe

You can try this:

"testMate.cpp.test.advancedExecutables": [
  {
    "pattern": "build/**/test*.exe",
    "cwd": "/src/${relDirpath[1:]}/resources"
  }
]

This will remove the build/ from the beggining of the relative path of the executable.

My tests are fine from command line but running fails using this extension

What are the values of

• testMate.cpp.test.parallelExecutionLimit,
• testMate.cpp.test.advancedExecutables's
  • parallelizationLimit or
  • maxTestsPerExecutable ?

These values can make a mess if your excutable/executables depending on the same resource(s).

Loading takes a lot of time

Enable testMate.cpp.discovery.testListCaching.

Can I run test disovery or all my tests at startup?

Sure you can. VSCode provides a fine way to do it: Create a task (.vscode/tasks.json) which will be triggered at startup:

{
  "label": "Activate Test Explorer",
  "command": "${command:test-explorer.reload}",
  "problemMatcher": [],
  "runOptions": {
    "runOn": "folderOpen" // This will cause the triggering. Have to run manually once!
  }
}

Can I run my tests at startup?

Well that is a bit triciker due to the activation event has to arrive before the run command. Here is the workaround:

"tasks": [
 {
   "label": "LoadTests",
   "type": "shell",
   "command": "sleep 1; echo ${command:test-explorer.reload}",
   "problemMatcher": []
 },
 {
   "label": "LoadAndRunAllTests",
   "command": "echo ${command:test-explorer.run-all}",
   "problemMatcher": [],
   "runOptions": {
     "runOn": "folderOpen"
   },
   "dependsOn": ["LoadTests"]
 }
]

Test parsing fails because my executable writes some stuff to the error channel / std::cerr

Check test.advancedExecutables -> ignoreTestEnumerationStdErr

The extension doesn't notice if an executable has changed

By default the extension watches the workspaceFolder for changes by using the vscode.workspace.createFileSystemWatcher API endpoint. This is good because we are using the same resources but the files.watcherExclude setting affects this. So for example one would like to save some resources and adds **/build/** to files.watcherExclude then vscode won't notify the extension about the changes and this will limit the functionality of the extension.

I have environment variable with new line character which causes debugging issue

Add your own "testMate.cpp.debug.configTemplate" variable where you can unset the problematic environment variables with null. Example:

"testMate.cpp.debug.configTemplate": {
  "type": "cppvsdbg",
  "linux": " type: 'cppdbg', MIMode: 'gdb' ",
  "darwin": " type: 'cppdbg', MIMode: 'lldb' ",
  "windows": " type: 'cppvsdbg' ",
  "program": "${exec}",
  "args": "${argsArray}",
  "cwd": "${cwd}",
  "env": "${envObj}",
  "environment": "${envObjArray}",
  "sourceFileMap": "${sourceFileMapObj}",
  "testMate.cpp.debug.setEnv": {
    "ENV_WITH_NEWLINE": null
  }
}

Getting logs

Set testMate.cpp.log.logpanel: true and check the VSCode oputput window. Change the window to "Test Explorer: ...". The log should be there.

Or one can set the testMate.cpp.log.logfile: "<full path>". In this case a logfile will be created to the given path. Close VSCode to flush the log before you attach to an issue.

Don't forget to disable after it by un-setting. Unnecessary logging can have a performance impact on VSCode.

Known issues

for all

• (2018-09-03) On windows the navigate to source button isn't working. It is a framework bug.

for Catch2

• (2018-11-17) Catch2: Long (>80 character) filename, test-name or description can cause test-list parsing failures. Workaround: #define CATCH_CONFIG_CONSOLE_WIDTH 300 and it has to be defined before every #include "catch.hpp" lines.
• (2020-04-19) Catch2 version < 2.11.4 have a parameter parsing problem issue which makes some test name restrictions. The extension will notify if you are affected.
• (2020-12-05) Catch2 test result parsing can fail if the test outputs unescaped "xml-like" text: <Pin:10>.

for doctest

• (2019-12-27) doctest 2.3.6 is support file and line informations. Previous version will recognise the tests but navigation will be disabled.
• (2021-10-22) doctest does not provide the skipped information at test listing phase so this extension does not mark the tests skipped.
• (2021-11-20) doctest SubCase statuses are not set. No point to do int now because the framework doesn't provide partial result just overall result.

For self-service

Check CONTRIBUTING.md.