SenTestingKit in Xcode 4: Asynchronous testing?

Question

I have been searching for a way to use SenTestingKit to do some integration testing between my client-side code and our server. I haven't had any luck. It seems that once the code is run in a method, the object gets destroyed. This means that any asynchronous responses never call the selectors.

Questions:

1. Is there a way to keep the object instantiated until such time as I see fit to destroy it - ie. after the tests have completed?
2. If not, how could I create a class that blocks (ie. acts synchronously) until the tests are completed?

FYI, I'm running a test server where I know the expected results.

I've done a fair bit of Googling but haven't seen proof one way or another about this. I'm sure others would be interested as well.

Answer 1

You can use a semaphore to wait until the asynchronous method finishes.

- (void)testBlockMethod {
    dispatch_semaphore_t semaphore = dispatch_semaphore_create(0);

    // Your block method eg. AFNetworking
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://httpbin.org/ip"];
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
    AFJSONRequestOperation *operation = [AFJSONRequestOperation JSONRequestOperationWithRequest:request success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, id JSON) {
        NSLog(@"IP Address: %@", [JSON valueForKeyPath:@"origin"]);
        STAssertNotNil(JSON, @"JSON not loaded");
        // Signal that block has completed
        dispatch_semaphore_signal(semaphore);
    } failure:nil];
    [operation start];

    // Run loop
    while (dispatch_semaphore_wait(semaphore, DISPATCH_TIME_NOW))
        [[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] runMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode
                                 beforeDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:10]];
    dispatch_release(semaphore);

}

http://samwize.com/2012/10/03/sentestingkit-does-not-support-wait-for-blocks/