yaze/docs/A1-testing-guide.md

A1 - Testing Guide

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the testing framework for the yaze project, including unit tests, integration tests, and the end-to-end GUI automation system.

1. Test Categories

Tests are organized into three categories using labels to allow for flexible and efficient execution.

Stable Tests (STABLE)

Always run in CI/CD - Required for releases

• AsarWrapperTest: Core Asar functionality tests
• SnesTileTest: SNES tile format handling
• CompressionTest: Data compression/decompression
• SnesPaletteTest: SNES palette operations
• HexTest: Hexadecimal utilities
• AsarIntegrationTest: Asar integration without ROM dependencies

Characteristics:

• Fast execution (< 30 seconds total)
• No external dependencies (ROMs, complex setup)
• High reliability and deterministic results

ROM-Dependent Tests (ROM_DEPENDENT)

Only run in development with available ROM files

• AsarRomIntegrationTest: Real ROM patching and symbol extraction
• ROM-based integration tests: Tests requiring actual game ROM files

Characteristics:

• Require specific ROM files to be present
• Test real-world functionality
• Automatically skipped in CI if ROM files unavailable

Experimental Tests (EXPERIMENTAL)

Run separately, allowed to fail

• CpuTest: 65816 CPU emulation tests
• Spc700Test: SPC700 audio processor tests
• ApuTest: Audio Processing Unit tests
• PpuTest: Picture Processing Unit tests

Characteristics:

• May be unstable due to emulation complexity
• Test advanced/experimental features
• Allowed to fail without blocking releases

2. Running Tests

Using CMake Presets

The easiest way to run tests is with ctest presets.

# Configure a development build (enables ROM-dependent tests)
cmake --preset mac-dev -DYAZE_TEST_ROM_PATH=/path/to/your/zelda3.sfc

# Build the tests
cmake --build --preset mac-dev --target yaze_test

# Run stable tests (fast, run in CI)
ctest --preset dev

# Run all tests, including ROM-dependent and experimental
ctest --preset all

Manual Execution

You can also run tests by invoking the test executable directly or using CTest with labels.

# Run all tests via the executable
./build/bin/yaze_test

# Run only stable tests using CTest labels
ctest --test-dir build --label-regex "STABLE"

# Run tests matching a name
ctest --test-dir build -R "AsarWrapperTest"

# Exclude ROM-dependent tests
ctest --test-dir build --label-exclude "ROM_DEPENDENT"

3. Writing Tests

Stable Tests

TEST(SnesTileTest, UnpackBppTile) {
    std::vector<uint8_t> tile_data = {0xAA, 0x55, 0xAA, 0x55};
    std::vector<uint8_t> result = UnpackBppTile(tile_data, 2);
    EXPECT_EQ(result.size(), 64);
    // Test specific pixel values...
}

ROM-Dependent Tests

YAZE_ROM_TEST(AsarIntegration, RealRomPatching) {
    auto rom_data = TestRomManager::LoadTestRom();
    if (!rom_data.has_value()) {
        GTEST_SKIP() << "ROM file not available";
    }
    
    AsarWrapper wrapper;
    wrapper.Initialize();
    
    auto result = wrapper.ApplyPatch("test.asm", *rom_data);
    EXPECT_TRUE(result.ok());
}

4. E2E GUI Testing Framework

An agent-friendly, end-to-end testing framework built on ImGuiTestEngine to automate UI interaction testing for the YAZE editor.

Architecture

Test Execution Flow:

1. z3ed test-gui command invokes the modified yaze_test executable
2. yaze_test initializes an application window and ImGuiTestEngine
3. Tests are registered and executed against the live GUI
4. Results are reported back with detailed logs and assertions

Key Components:

• test/yaze_test.cc - Main test executable with GUI initialization
• test/e2e/framework_smoke_test.cc - Basic infrastructure verification
• test/e2e/canvas_selection_test.cc - Canvas interaction tests
• test/test_utils.h - High-level action wrappers (LoadRomInTest, OpenEditorInTest, etc.)

Widget Registration for Automation

All modern UI components are fully integrated with the ImGui Test Engine for seamless automation.

Toolbar Components: All toolbar buttons are automatically registered with descriptive paths:

• ModeButton:Pan (1)
• ModeButton:Draw (2)
• ToolbarAction:Toggle Tile16 Selector
• ToolbarAction:Open Tile16 Editor

Editor Cards: All EditorCard windows are registered as discoverable windows:

• EditorCard:Tile16 Selector
• EditorCard:Area Graphics

State Introspection: Card visibility states are tracked for test automation:

• OverworldToolbar/state:tile16_selector_visible

Running GUI Tests with z3ed

The z3ed CLI provides a powerful interface for running GUI tests.

# Run all E2E tests
z3ed gui replay --ci-mode

# Run a specific test suite from a YAML file
z3ed gui replay test_overworld_workflow.yaml --ci-mode

# Click a specific button
z3ed gui click "ModeButton:Draw (2)"

# Wait for a window to become visible
z3ed gui wait "window_visible:Tile16 Selector"

# Assert that a card is visible
z3ed gui assert "visible:EditorCard:Tile16 Selector"

Widget Discovery

You can discover all registered UI elements for scripting and testing.

# List all widgets in the Overworld window
z3ed gui discover --window="Overworld" --format=yaml > overworld_widgets.yaml

# Find all toolbar actions
z3ed gui discover --path-prefix="ToolbarAction:"

# Find all editor cards
z3ed gui discover --path-prefix="EditorCard:"

Integration with AI Agent

The agent can leverage the GUI testing framework to perform actions.

1. Discover UI Elements: Agent> describe gui
2. Interact with UI: Agent> click toolbar button "Toggle Tile16 Selector"
3. Monitor State: Agent> check if "Tile16 Selector" is visible

GUI Automation Scenarios

Scenarios are defined in JSONL files, where each line is a JSON action.

Example Scenario (overworld_single_tile_paint.jsonl):

{"action": "start_test", "name": "overworld_single_tile_paint", "description": "Paint single tile and verify"}
{"action": "setup", "rom": "zelda3.sfc", "window": "Overworld Editor", "map": 0}
{"action": "wait_for_window", "window_name": "Overworld Editor", "timeout_ms": 5000}
{"action": "select_tile", "tile_id": 66, "tile_id_hex": "0x0042"}
{"action": "click_canvas_tile", "canvas_id": "Overworld Canvas", "x": 10, "y": 10}
{"action": "assert_tile", "x": 10, "y": 10, "expected_tile_id": 66}
{"action": "end_test", "status": "pass"}

Run a scenario:

z3ed agent test replay overworld_single_tile_paint.jsonl --rom zelda3.sfc --grpc localhost:50051