Can I check my program's output with boost test?

Question

Like in:

void f()
{
  cout << "blah" << endl;
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(f)
{
  f();
  // This would be a beauty
  // BOOST_CHECK_PROGRAM_OUTPUT_MATCH("blah");
}

Answer 1

Yes, you can do it by redirecting std::cout to a boost::test_tools::output_test_stream, which provides special methods to compare the output. To make sure std::cout is always restored correctly, you can use a custom struct, like shown in the following example.

#define BOOST_TEST_MAIN

#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
#include <boost/test/output_test_stream.hpp>
#include <iostream>

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE( TestSuite1 )

struct cout_redirect {
    cout_redirect( std::streambuf * new_buffer ) 
        : old( std::cout.rdbuf( new_buffer ) )
    { }

    ~cout_redirect( ) {
        std::cout.rdbuf( old );
    }

private:
    std::streambuf * old;
};

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE( test1 )
{
    boost::test_tools::output_test_stream output;
    {
        cout_redirect guard( output.rdbuf( ) );

        std::cout << "Test" << std::endl;
    }

    BOOST_CHECK( output.is_equal( "Test\n" ) );
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()

Answer 2

I have followed @Björn Pollex 's answer for some days. But one day I found that it's not necessary to do it like that. Just use boost::test_tools::output_test_stream.

#define BOOST_TEST_MAIN
#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
#include <boost/test/output_test_stream.hpp>

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE(TestSuite1)

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test1)
{
    boost::test_tools::output_test_stream output;
    output << "Test";

    BOOST_CHECK(output.is_equal("Test"));
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()

For more information, read the official documentation.