# Testing OS X and iOS Applications

*[Setting Up Tests in Your Xcode Project](SettingUpYourXcodeProject.md)*
covers everything you need to know to test any Objective-C or Swift function or class.
In this section, we'll go over a few additional hints for testing
classes like `UIViewController` subclasses.

> You can see a short lightning talk covering most of these topics
  [here](https://vimeo.com/115671189#t=37m50s) (the talk begins at 37'50").

## Triggering `UIViewController` Lifecycle Events

Normally, UIKit triggers lifecycle events for your view controller as it's
presented within the app. When testing a `UIViewController`, however, you'll
need to trigger these yourself. You can do so in one of three ways:

1. Accessing `UIViewController.view`, which triggers things like `UIViewController.viewDidLoad()`.
2. Use `UIViewController.beginAppearanceTransition()` to trigger most lifecycle events.
3. Directly calling methods like `UIViewController.viewDidLoad()` or `UIViewController.viewWillAppear()`.

```swift
// Swift

import Quick
import Nimble
import BananaApp

class BananaViewControllerSpec: QuickSpec {
  override func spec() {
    var viewController: BananaViewController!
    beforeEach {
      viewController = BananaViewController()
    }

    describe(".viewDidLoad()") {
      beforeEach {
        // Method #1: Access the view to trigger BananaViewController.viewDidLoad().
        let _ =  viewController.view
      }

      it("sets the banana count label to zero") {
        // Since the label is only initialized when the view is loaded, this
        // would fail if we didn't access the view in the `beforeEach` above.
        expect(viewController.bananaCountLabel.text).to(equal("0"))
      }
    }

    describe("the view") {
      beforeEach {
        // Method #2: Triggers .viewDidLoad(), .viewWillAppear(), and .viewDidAppear() events.
        viewController.beginAppearanceTransition(true, animated: false)
        viewController.endAppearanceTransition()
      }
      // ...
    }

    describe(".viewWillDisappear()") {
      beforeEach {
        // Method #3: Directly call the lifecycle event.
        viewController.viewWillDisappear(false)
      }
      // ...
    }
  }
}
```

```objc
// Objective-C

@import Quick;
@import Nimble;
#import "BananaViewController.h"

QuickSpecBegin(BananaViewControllerSpec)

__block BananaViewController *viewController = nil;
beforeEach(^{
  viewController = [[BananaViewController alloc] init];
});

describe(@"-viewDidLoad", ^{
  beforeEach(^{
    // Method #1: Access the view to trigger -[BananaViewController viewDidLoad].
    [viewController view];
  });

  it(@"sets the banana count label to zero", ^{
    // Since the label is only initialized when the view is loaded, this
    // would fail if we didn't access the view in the `beforeEach` above.
    expect(viewController.bananaCountLabel.text).to(equal(@"0"))
  });
});

describe(@"the view", ^{
  beforeEach(^{
    // Method #2: Triggers .viewDidLoad(), .viewWillAppear(), and .viewDidAppear() events.
    [viewController beginAppearanceTransition:YES animated:NO];
    [viewController endAppearanceTransition];
  });
  // ...
});

describe(@"-viewWillDisappear", ^{
  beforeEach(^{
    // Method #3: Directly call the lifecycle event.
    [viewController viewWillDisappear:NO];
  });
  // ...
});

QuickSpecEnd
```

## Initializing View Controllers Defined in Storyboards

To initialize view controllers defined in a storyboard, you'll need to assign
a **Storyboard ID** to the view controller:

![](http://f.cl.ly/items/2X2G381K1h1l2B2Q0g3L/Screen%20Shot%202015-02-27%20at%2011.58.06%20AM.png)

Once you've done so, you can instantiate the view controller from within your tests:

```swift
// Swift

var viewController: BananaViewController!
beforeEach {
  // 1. Instantiate the storyboard. By default, it's name is "Main.storyboard".
  //    You'll need to use a different string here if the name of your storyboard is different.
  let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
  // 2. Use the storyboard to instantiate the view controller.
  viewController = 
    storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier(
      "BananaViewControllerID") as! BananaViewController
}
```

```objc
// Objective-C

__block BananaViewController *viewController = nil;
beforeEach(^{
  // 1. Instantiate the storyboard. By default, it's name is "Main.storyboard".
  //    You'll need to use a different string here if the name of your storyboard is different.
  UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"Main" bundle:nil];
  // 2. Use the storyboard to instantiate the view controller.
  viewController = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"BananaViewControllerID"];
});
```

## Triggering UIControl Events Like Button Taps

Buttons and other UIKit classes inherit from `UIControl`, which defines methods
that allow us to send control events, like button taps, programmatically.
To test behavior that occurs when a button is tapped, you can write:

```swift
// Swift

describe("the 'more bananas' button") {
  it("increments the banana count label when tapped") {
    viewController.moreButton.sendActionsForControlEvents(
      UIControlEvents.TouchUpInside)
    expect(viewController.bananaCountLabel.text).to(equal("1"))
  }
}
```

```objc
// Objective-C

describe(@"the 'more bananas' button", ^{
  it(@"increments the banana count label when tapped", ^{
    [viewController.moreButton sendActionsForControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    expect(viewController.bananaCountLabel.text).to(equal(@"1"));
  });
});
```