.. _testing-custom-queries:

Testing custom queries
======================

CodeQL provides a simple test framework for automated regression testing
of queries. Test your queries to ensure that they behave as expected.

During a query test, CodeQL compares the results the user expects
the query to produce with those actually produced. If the expected and
actual results differ, the query test fails. To fix the test, you should iterate
on the query and the expected results until the actual results and the expected
results exactly match. This topic shows you how to create test files and execute
tests on them using the ``test run`` subcommand.

Setting up a test CodeQL pack for custom queries
------------------------------------------------

All CodeQL tests must be stored in a special "test" CodeQL pack.
That is, a directory for test files with a ``qlpack.yml``
file that defines:

.. code-block:: yaml

   name: <name-of-test-pack>
   version: 0.0.0
   dependencies:
     <codeql-libraries-and-queries-to-test>: "*"
   extractor: <language-of-code-to-test>

The ``dependencies`` value specifies the CodeQL packs containing queries to test.
Typically, these packs will be resolved from source, and so it is not necessary
to specify a fixed version of the pack.
The ``extractor`` defines which language the CLI will use
to create test databases from the code files stored in this CodeQL pack.
For more information, see ":doc:`About CodeQL packs <about-codeql-packs>`."

You may find it useful to look at the way query tests are organized in the
`CodeQL repository <https://github.com/github/codeql>`__.
Each language has a ``src`` directory, ``ql/<language>/ql/src``,
that contains libraries and queries for analyzing codebases.
Alongside the ``src`` directory, there is a ``test`` directory with tests for
these libraries and queries.

Each ``test`` directory is configured as a test CodeQL pack with two subdirectories:

- ``query-tests`` a series of subdirectories with tests for queries stored in the ``src`` directory.
  Each subdirectory contains test code and a QL reference file that specifies the query to test.
- ``library-tests`` a series of subdirectories with tests for QL library files.
  Each subdirectory contains test code and queries that were written as unit tests for a library.

Setting up the test files for a query
-------------------------------------

For each query you want to test, you should create a sub-directory in the test CodeQL pack.
Then add the following files to the subdirectory before you run the test command:

- A query reference file (``.qlref`` file) defining the location of the query to test.
  The location is defined relative to the root of the CodeQL pack that contains the
  query. Usually, this is a CodeQL pack specified in the
  ``dependencies`` block of the test pack.
  For more information, see ":doc:`Query reference files <query-reference-files>`."

  You do not need to add a query reference file if the query you want to
  test is stored in the test directory,
  but it is generally good practice to store queries separately from tests.
  The only exception is unit tests for QL libraries, which tend to be
  stored in test packs, separate from queries that generate alerts or paths.

- The example code you want to run your query against. This
  should consist of one or more files containing examples of the code the
  query is designed to identify.

You can also define the results you expect to see when you run the query against
the example code, by creating a file with the extension ``.expected``.
Alternatively, you can leave the test command to create the ``.expected`` file
for you.

For an example showing how to create and test a query, see the `example
<#example>`__ below.

.. pull-quote:: Important

   Your ``.ql``, ``.qlref``, and ``.expected`` files must have consistent names.

   If you want to directly specify the ``.ql`` file itself in the test command,
   it must have the same base name as the corresponding ``.expected`` file. For
   example, if the query is ``MyJavaQuery.ql``, the expected results file must
   be ``MyJavaQuery.expected``.

   If you want to specify a ``.qlref`` file in the command, it must have the same base
   name as the corresponding ``.expected`` file, but the query itself
   may have a different name.

   The names of the example code files don't have to be consistent with the
   other test files. All example code files found next to the ``.qlref`` (or ``.ql``)
   file and in any subdirectories will be used to create a test database.
   Therefore, for simplicity, we recommend you don't save test files in
   directories that are ancestors of each other.

Running ``codeql test run``
---------------------------

CodeQL query tests are executed by running the following command::

   codeql test run <test|dir>

The ``<test|dir>`` argument can be one or more of the following:

- Path to a ``.ql`` file.
- Path to a ``.qlref`` file that references a ``.ql`` file.
- Path to a directory that will be searched recursively for ``.ql`` and
  ``.qlref`` files.

You can also specify:

- .. include:: ../reusables/threads-query-execution.rst

For full details of all the options you can use when testing queries,
see the `test run reference documentation <../manual/test-run>`__.

Example
-------

The following example shows you how to set up a test for a query that searches
Java code for ``if`` statements that have empty ``then`` blocks. It includes
steps to add the custom query and corresponding test files to separate CodeQL packs
outside your checkout of the CodeQL repository. This ensures when you update the
CodeQL libraries, or check out a different branch, you won't overwrite your
custom queries and tests.

Prepare a query and test files
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

#. Develop the query. For example, the following simple query finds empty ``then``
   blocks in Java code:

   .. code-block:: ql

      import java

      from IfStmt ifstmt
      where ifstmt.getThen() instanceof EmptyStmt
      select ifstmt, "This if statement has an empty then."

#. Save the query to a file named ``EmptyThen.ql`` in a directory with your
   other custom queries. For example,
   ``custom-queries/java/queries/EmptyThen.ql``.

#. If you haven't already added your custom queries to a CodeQL pack,
   create a CodeQL pack now. For example, if your custom Java queries
   are stored in ``custom-queries/java/queries``, add a ``qlpack.yml`` file with the
   following contents to ``custom-queries/java/queries``:

   .. code-block:: yaml

      name: my-custom-queries
      dependencies:
         codeql/java-queries: "*"

   For more information about CodeQL packs, see ":doc:`About CodeQL packs
   <about-codeql-packs>`."

#. Create a CodeQL pack for your Java tests by adding a ``qlpack.yml`` file
   with the following contents to ``custom-queries/java/tests``,
   updating the ``dependencies`` to match the name of your CodeQL pack of custom queries:

   .. include:: ../reusables/test-qlpack.rst

#. Within the Java test pack, create a directory to contain the test files
   associated with ``EmptyThen.ql``.
   For example, ``custom-queries/java/tests/EmptyThen``.

#. In the new directory, create ``EmptyThen.qlref`` to define the location of ``EmptyThen.ql``.
   The path to the query must be specified relative to the root of
   the CodeQL pack that contains the query. In this case, the query is in the
   top level directory of the CodeQL pack named ``my-custom-queries``,
   which is declared as a dependency for ``my-query-tests``.
   Therefore, ``EmptyThen.qlref`` should simply contain ``EmptyThen.ql``.

#. Create a code snippet to test. The following Java code contains an
   empty ``if`` statement on the third line. Save it in
   ``custom-queries/java/tests/EmptyThen/Test.java``.

   .. code-block:: java

      class Test {
        public void problem(String arg) {
          if (arg.isEmpty())
          ;
          {
              System.out.println("Empty argument");
          }
        }

        public void good(String arg) {
          if (arg.isEmpty()) {
              System.out.println("Empty argument");
          }
        }
      }

Execute the test
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To execute the test, move into the ``custom-queries`` directory and run ``codeql
test run java/tests/EmptyThen``.

When the test runs it:

#. Finds one test in the ``EmptyThen`` directory.
#. Extracts a CodeQL database from the ``.java`` files stored in the ``EmptyThen`` directory.
#. Compiles the query referenced by the ``EmptyThen.qlref`` file.

   If this step fails, it's because the CLI can't find your custom CodeQL pack.
   Re-run the command and specify the location of your custom CodeQL pack, for example:

   ``codeql test run --search-path=java java/tests/EmptyThen``

   For information about saving the search path as part of your configuration, see
   ":ref:`Specifying command options in a CodeQL configuration file <specifying-command-options-in-a-codeql-configuration-file>`."
#. Executes the test by running the query and generating an ``EmptyThen.actual`` results file.
#. Checks for an ``EmptyThen.expected`` file to compare with the ``.actual`` results file.
#. Reports the results of the test --- in this case, a failure: ``0 tests passed; 1 tests failed:``.
   The test failed because we haven't yet added a file with the expected results of the query.

View the query test output
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

CodeQL generates the following files in the ``EmptyThen`` directory:

- ``EmptyThen.actual``, a file that contains the actual results generated by the
  query.
- ``EmptyThen.testproj``, a test database that you can load into VS Code and use to debug failing tests.
  When tests complete successfully, this database is deleted in a housekeeping step.
  You can override this step by running ``test run`` with the ``--keep-databases`` option.

In this case, the failure was expected and is easy to fix.
If you open the ``EmptyThen.actual`` file, you can see the results of the test:

   .. code-block:: none

      | Test.java:3:5:3:22 | stmt | This if statement has an empty then. |

This file contains a table, with a column for the location of the result,
along with separate columns for each part of the ``select`` clause the query outputs.
Since the results are what we expected, we can update the file extension to define
this as the expected result for this test (``EmptyThen.expected``).

If you rerun the test now, the output will be similar but it will finish by reporting:
``All 1 tests passed.``.

If the results of the query change, for example, if you revise the ``select`` statement for the query,
the test will fail. For failed results, the CLI output includes a unified diff of the
``EmptyThen.expected`` and ``EmptyThen.actual`` files.
This information may be sufficient to debug trivial test failures.

For failures that are harder to debug, you can import ``EmptyThen.testproj``
into CodeQL for VS Code, execute ``EmptyThen.ql``, and view the results in the
``Test.java`` example code. For more information, see ":ref:`Analyzing your projects
<analyzing-your-projects>`" in the CodeQL for VS Code
help.

Further reading
---------------

- ":ref:`CodeQL queries
  <codeql-queries>`"
- ":ref:`Testing CodeQL queries in Visual Studio Code <testing-codeql-queries-in-visual-studio-code>`"
