Fix test targets arguments for MSVC

[larshg]

Adds arguments to test projects in VS, so clouds etc. is properly found.

However I later found out that running the unit test from the unit test explorer in VS, still doesn't pick them up.

Also, if I run the Tests project, which seems to init ctest, some other arguments are passed and it complains about -C 'release/debug' argument is not present.

[taketwo]

Could you please add a brief description of what problem this PR is solving?

[larshg]

Arguments can't be quoted, when I "build" the test project, as it fails to properly parse the arguments and show error about missing -C (debug/release) configuration argument.

Additionally, I can't run unit tests which has arguments from VS's test explorer, but this is not something we can do about here. I'll eventually add a bug report to MS for both things.

[larshg]

Hmm, I can see that the CIs are also calling ctest without quoted arguments - so maybe it should just be removed for all cases?

[larshg]

@taketwo you "fixed" :D the quotes in #460 after they where introduced in #431 looong time ago... I wonder if no one has used the tests project since then within VS.

How does it work, when you call make tests - does it call ctest automatically, or do you have to call it explicitly afterwards?

[larshg]

Does ctest default to release on linux systems, ie. the configuration is explicit set here

[taketwo]

I can see that the CIs are also calling ctest without quoted arguments

Are you referring to the fact that ctest is called directly in our CI pipelines?

pcl/.ci/azure-pipelines/build-ubuntu-16-04.yaml

Line 45 in 0bfea0e

ctest -V -T Test

We used to do cmake --build . -- tests, which is equivalent to make tests. However, this was changed in #2948. As far as I understand, this was done to add -T Test argument, which enables test results publication. Maybe we should have added it directly to CMake target instead.

I wonder if no one has used the tests project since then within VS.

I wouldn't be surprised. Unit tests are mostly for contributors and most of our contributors don't use VS.

How does it work, when you call make tests - does it call ctest automatically,

Yes.

Does ctest default to release on linux system

Not sure I understand the question. ctest is a test runner, it does not build. So it will call test exectutables, whatever build type they have.

[larshg]

I can see that the CIs are also calling ctest without quoted arguments

Are you referring to the fact that ctest is called directly in our CI pipelines?

Yes, in the cmake target the arguments are in qoutes, which doesn't work when "build" in VS - it just call ctest on build.

pcl/.ci/azure-pipelines/build-ubuntu-16-04.yaml

Line 45 in 0bfea0e

ctest -V -T Test

We used to do cmake --build . -- tests, which is equivalent to make tests. However, this was changed in #2948. As far as I understand, this was done to add -T Test argument, which enables test results publication. Maybe we should have added it directly to CMake target instead.

yes, that would properly give the same result, ie. generating the XML file. Additionally it would also be reflected locally, if you just run make tests. This won't happen now as it only has the -V argument

I wonder if no one has used the tests project since then within VS.

I wouldn't be surprised. Unit tests are mostly for contributors and most of our contributors don't use VS.

How does it work, when you call make tests - does it call ctest automatically,

Yes.

Does ctest default to release on linux system

Not sure I understand the question. ctest is a test runner, it does not build. So it will call test exectutables, whatever build type they have.

If I run ctest.exe directly in my build tree it shows:

E:\Libraries\pclBuild>ctest
Test project E:/Libraries/pclBuild
    Start 1: registration_warp_api
Test not available without configuration.  (Missing "-C <config>"?)
1/9 Test #1: registration_warp_api ............***Not Run   0.00 sec

The -C argument is only present on the two windows CI, but not in the linux variants.
On multi configuration systems you can supply -C Config, to make ctest look for either release or debug version of the tests and run the appropriate.

So I'm puzzled that it is required on windows, but seems optional on linux.

[taketwo]

So I'm puzzled that it is required on windows, but seems optional on linux.

On Linux a build tree can only have a single configuration. So the directory from which ctest is called unambiguously decides the configuration that is used.

[larshg]

Ahh okay.

I'll try update the CI to make use of the --build . --tests again and see if it can work this way.

[taketwo]

Could you please squash everything into two commits: one for the -T change, another for arguments?