As a developer knowing how to write code is only half the battle. Equally crucial is making sure that your code functions properly and does so even after updates and modifications. Testing is useful in this situation. We’ll go through the fundamentals of testing in Swift in this post and show you how to start using tests in your own applications.

What to test?

The act of confirming that a piece of code operates as intended is known as testing. This can involve verifying that a function, given a particular input, delivers the right output or that a view controller, when displaying data to the user, does so accurately.

Testing aids in finding and fixing defects early in the development process, ultimately saving you time and effort.

What makes testing crucial?

Testing is crucial in software development for a number of reasons, including the following:

• Before your code is made available to users, it aids in the early detection and correction of issues.
• It gives you peace of mind that your code is functioning properly, enabling you to make updates and changes without fearing that they’ll break something.
• You can rearrange your code more easily because you are certain that no new defects have been caused by your changes.
• As it pushes you to consider edge cases and error handling, it helps to ensure that your code is of a high caliber.

How can I begin using Swift for testing?

You must complete the following in order to begin testing in Swift:

• Create a target for testing in your Xcode project. All of your test code will be included in this separate target.
• Utilizing the XCTest framework, create test scenarios. A test case is a collection of connected tests that verify a certain functionality or feature of your code.
• Execute your tests, then examine the outcomes.

To illustrate how this actually functions, let’s look at an example.

Testing a simple function

Let’s say we have a function that adds two numbers and returns the result, add(x: Int, y: Int) -> Int. To make sure that this function is operating properly, we want to create a test.

In order to begin, we must first create a testing target in our Xcode project:

• Go to the File menu in Xcode and pick New > Target.
• Click Next after selecting iOS, Test, and Unit Test Case Class.
• After selecting your test class, click Finish.

The test case can then be written. We’ll build a method in our test class with the test prefix that calls our add function and confirms that it produces the expected result. Here is an example of our test case:

func testAdd() {
    let result = add(x: 2, y: 3)
    XCTAssertEqual(result, 5)
}

The XCTest framework’s XCTAssertEqual function is a tool that verifies that an expression is equal to the expected value. The test will fail if the expression does not match the predicted value.

The Test button in the top toolbar or the U keyboard shortcut can be used to execute our tests. Our tests will be executed by Xcode, and the results will be shown in the Test Navigator pane.

Conclusion

This post taught us the fundamentals of testing in Swift and how to begin adding tests to our own applications. Testing is a crucial step in the development process that assists us in making sure our code is error-free and of the highest quality. Using the XCTest framework, we saw an example of how to set up a testing target in Xcode and create a test case.