automated testing api for mods

[NightHawk]

I believe mod creators would greatly benefit from capability to test the mods (and their interactions).
Since you guys (devs) mentioned, you're already running automated tests for Factorio, I hope to see it soon.

[Rseding91]

You can already make a test in your mod that tests it? Simply add in functions that do the relevant testing of your mod to your mod.

I'm not sure what you're requesting.

[NightHawk]

The dev mentioned, they're doing automated tests. How I understand it, they have some scenarios defined for each particular function they want to test. These scenarios are then run and you get feedback on which scenarios passed and which falied. The feedback needs to be presented in such a way, you can process it from outside the game - printing it to console won't do the job.

The modding API is inadequate for testing purposes (e.g. for testing events). We have no way to fake user input - we can't test GUI (without resorting to unreliable hacks). Also do we have access to the CRC value? One of the simplest ways to auto test interaction of different features would be to create a specific map, let it go for a while a compare a CRC at specified tick with precomputed (doesn't tell you what the problem was, thou).

To protect the players, those calls (especially the ones for fake user input) could only be available in "developer" release / mode.

[DaveMcW]

The feedback needs to be presented in such a way, you can process it from outside the game - printing it to console won't do the job.

factorioforums.com/wiki/index.php?title=Lua/Game#makefile