FIXTURES_SETUP

Specifies a list of fixtures for which the test is to be treated as a setup test. These fixture names are distinct from test case names and are not required to have any similarity to the names of tests associated with them.

Fixture setup tests are ordinary tests with all of the usual test functionality. Setting the FIXTURES_SETUP property for a test has two primary effects:

  • CTest will ensure the test executes before any other test which lists the fixture name(s) in its FIXTURES_REQUIRED property.

  • If CTest is asked to run only a subset of tests (e.g. using regular expressions or the --rerun-failed option) and the setup test is not in the set of tests to run, it will automatically be added if any tests in the set require any fixture listed in FIXTURES_SETUP.

A setup test can have multiple fixtures listed in its FIXTURES_SETUP property. It will execute only once for the whole CTest run, not once for each fixture. A fixture can also have more than one setup test defined. If there are multiple setup tests for a fixture, projects can control their order with the usual DEPENDS test property if necessary.

A setup test is allowed to require other fixtures, but not any fixture listed in its FIXTURES_SETUP property. For example:

# Ok: dependent fixture is different to setup
set_tests_properties(setupFoo PROPERTIES
  FIXTURES_SETUP    Foo
  FIXTURES_REQUIRED Bar
)

# Error: cannot require same fixture as setup
set_tests_properties(setupFoo PROPERTIES
  FIXTURES_SETUP    Foo
  FIXTURES_REQUIRED Foo
)

If any of a fixture’s setup tests fail, none of the tests listing that fixture in its FIXTURES_REQUIRED property will be run. Cleanup tests will, however, still be executed.

See FIXTURES_REQUIRED for a more complete discussion of how to use test fixtures.