Test Analysis Extensions

C++ Test Frameworks Reference (GoogleTest, Catch2, doctest, Boost.Test)

Reference data for analyzing C++ test code. Used by the polyglot test analysis skills.

Capability tags

Test File Identification

Assertion APIs

EXPECT vs ASSERT/REQUIRE vs CHECK:

• GoogleTest: EXPECT_* continues on failure; ASSERT_* aborts the test.

• Catch2 / doctest: CHECK* continues; REQUIRE* aborts.

• Boost.Test: BOOST_CHECK* continues; BOOST_REQUIRE* aborts.

Sleep/Delay Patterns

Skip/Ignore Annotations

DISABLED_ prefix without a tracking comment is a smell — flag as Ignored Test.

Exception Handling — Idiomatic Alternatives

// GoogleTest:
EXPECT_THROW({
    service.placeOrder(empty);
}, InvalidOrderException);

// Or capture and inspect:
try {
    service.placeOrder(empty);
    FAIL() << "Expected InvalidOrderException";
} catch (const InvalidOrderException& e) {
    EXPECT_STREQ("at least one item", e.what());
}

// Catch2:
REQUIRE_THROWS_AS(service.placeOrder(empty), InvalidOrderException);
REQUIRE_THROWS_WITH(service.placeOrder(empty), Catch::Contains("at least one item"));

The manual try/catch/FAIL pattern is acceptable when message inspection is needed; flag bare try { ... } catch (...) {} (swallowed).

Mystery Guest — Common C++ Patterns

Integration Test Markers

• File suffix: *_integration_test.cc, *_e2e_test.cpp

• GoogleTest suite names containing Integration / EndToEnd

• Catch2 tags: [integration], [e2e], [slow]

• CMake target names ending in _integration_tests

• Conditional compilation: #ifdef BUILD_INTEGRATION_TESTS

Setup/Teardown

Catch2 SECTIONs are re-entered for each combination, so the TEST_CASE body acts as fresh per-section setup — a powerful idiom.

Tag/Trait Attributes (for test-tagging)

Filter syntax:

• Catch2: ./tests "[positive]" ~"[slow]"

• doctest: ./tests -ts="positive"

• GoogleTest: ./tests --gtest_filter='Positive*'

• Boost.Test: ./tests --run_test=@positive

Language-specific calibration notes

• EXPECT_* continues on failure in GoogleTest — many EXPECT_EQ calls in one test may produce cascading messages from one root cause.

• REQUIRE_* / ASSERT_* aborts — use for preconditions in long tests.

• Death tests (EXPECT_DEATH) fork the process and check stderr — slow; acknowledge as integration-style.

• DISABLED_ prefix disables tests silently — --gtest_also_run_disabled_tests is required to opt back in. Flag committed DISABLED_ tests as Ignored Test.

• Catch2 SECTIONs are NOT duplicate tests — each section is a permutation of the parent TEST_CASE.

• GoogleMock EXPECT_CALL(mock, Method(...)) counts as a state/side-effect assertion.

• Template / typed tests (TYPED_TEST, TEMPLATE_TEST_CASE) are parametrized, not duplicates.

• Hidden tests (Catch2 [.] or [!hide]) are excluded by default but runnable on demand — note in audit.

• Sanitizer-only tests (#ifdef __SANITIZE_THREAD__, etc.) are conditional smoke checks — note but don't flag.

• Test binaries that don't link gtest_main require a custom main() — verify it calls RUN_ALL_TESTS().

• SUCCEED() / INFO(...) are not assertions; tests with only SUCCEED() are assertion-free.