[testify-expert] Improve Test Quality: pkg/workflow/strings_test.go

[agentic-workflows-dev]

Overview

The test file pkg/workflow/strings_test.go has been selected for quality improvement by the Testify Uber Super Expert. This file demonstrates excellent test structure with comprehensive table-driven tests, but has opportunities for improvement in test coverage and edge case testing.

Current State

• Test File: pkg/workflow/strings_test.go
• Source File: pkg/workflow/strings.go
• Test Functions: 5 test functions
• Lines of Code: 425 lines
• Last Modified: 2026-01-22
• Testify Usage: ✅ Already using testify assertions correctly

Test Quality Analysis

Strengths ✅

1. Excellent table-driven test structure - All tests use proper table-driven patterns with t.Run() and descriptive test case names
2. Good testify assertion usage - Consistently uses assert.Equal() with helpful messages
3. Comprehensive test coverage for main functions - SortStrings, SortPermissionScopes, SanitizeWorkflowName, ShortenCommand, and SanitizeName all have thorough test cases
4. Edge case coverage - Tests include empty strings, single elements, unicode characters, and boundary conditions

Areas for Improvement 🎯

1. Missing Test Coverage for Source Functions

Current State:
The source file strings.go exports 5 functions, but the test file only covers 5 of them. However, there's a critical gap: While SanitizeName is tested extensively, the tests could benefit from testing the function behavior when opts parameter is nil more explicitly.

Coverage Analysis:

• ✅ SortStrings - Well tested (6 test cases)
• ✅ SortPermissionScopes - Well tested (5 test cases)
• ✅ SanitizeWorkflowName - Indirectly tested via SanitizeName tests (15 test cases)
• ✅ ShortenCommand - Well tested (8 test cases)
• ⚠️ SanitizeName - Well tested BUT missing explicit nil options test cases

2. Enhance SanitizeName Testing with Nil Options

Current Issue:
The test file has only 2 test cases that explicitly test nil options behavior (lines 256-267). Given that SanitizeName is the core function that SanitizeWorkflowName depends on, we should ensure nil options are thoroughly tested.

Recommended Test Cases:

func TestSanitizeName_NilOptions(t *testing.T) {
    tests := []struct {
        name     string
        input    string
        expected string
    }{
        {
            name:     "nil options - empty string",
            input:    "",
            expected: "",
        },
        {
            name:     "nil options - only hyphens",
            input:    "---",
            expected: "---", // Hyphens NOT trimmed when opts is nil
        },
        {
            name:     "nil options - leading/trailing hyphens",
            input:    "-workflow-",
            expected: "-workflow-", // Preserved with nil opts
        },
        {
            name:     "nil options - underscores replaced",
            input:    "test_workflow_name",
            expected: "test-workflow-name", // Underscores replaced
        },
        {
            name:     "nil options - dots replaced",
            input:    "workflow.test.name",
            expected: "workflow-test-name", // Dots NOT preserved with nil opts
        },
    }

    for _, tt := range tests {
        t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
            result := SanitizeName(tt.input, nil)
            assert.Equal(t, tt.expected, result, "SanitizeName with nil options should handle edge cases correctly")
        })
    }
}

Why this matters: The function explicitly checks for nil options (line 155 in source), so we should have comprehensive tests for this code path.

3. Add Tests for Empty/Nil Slice Edge Cases

Current Issue:
While both SortStrings and SortPermissionScopes test empty slices, they don't explicitly test nil slices, which is a common edge case in Go.

Recommended Test Cases:

func TestSortStrings_NilSlice(t *testing.T) {
    var nilSlice []string
    
    // Should not panic with nil slice
    SortStrings(nilSlice)
    
    assert.Nil(t, nilSlice, "SortStrings should handle nil slice without panic")
}

func TestSortPermissionScopes_NilSlice(t *testing.T) {
    var nilSlice []PermissionScope
    
    // Should not panic with nil slice
    SortPermissionScopes(nilSlice)
    
    assert.Nil(t, nilSlice, "SortPermissionScopes should handle nil slice without panic")
}

Why this matters: Go's sort.Strings() and sort.Slice() handle nil slices gracefully, but we should explicitly test this behavior to document it and prevent regressions.

4. Test ShortenCommand with Unicode Characters

Current Issue:
The ShortenCommand tests cover most edge cases but don't test behavior with unicode characters, even though SanitizeWorkflowName has a unicode test case.

Recommended Test Cases:

{
    name:     "unicode characters",
    input:    "echo 你好世界 αβγ test",
    expected: "echo 你好世界 αβγ te...",
},
{
    name:     "long unicode string",
    input:    "αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρστυφχψω",
    expected: "αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρστυφ...",
},

Why this matters: Unicode characters can have different byte lengths than their character count, which is important for a function that truncates at a specific length.

5. Add Assertion Messages to Table-Driven Test Loop

Current Issue:
Some test functions use assertion messages consistently, but they could be more descriptive by including the test case name in the message.

Current Pattern (lines 55, 101, 187, 243, 422):

assert.Equal(t, tt.expected, result, "SortStrings should return correctly sorted slice")

Improved Pattern:

assert.Equal(t, tt.expected, result, 
    "SortStrings failed for test case: %s", tt.name)

Why this matters: When a test fails, including the test case name in the assertion message makes it immediately clear which test case failed, without needing to look at the test runner output.

6. Consider Testing Concurrent Access

Current Issue:
The sort functions modify slices in-place. While Go's standard library sort functions are not thread-safe, we should consider if concurrent access is a concern for this codebase.

Recommended Test (if concurrency is a concern):

func TestSortStrings_Concurrent(t *testing.T) {
    // Test that concurrent sorts don't cause race conditions
    // This test would require using t.Parallel() and running multiple goroutines
    // Only add if concurrent access is expected in production
}

Note: This is a low priority improvement unless there's evidence of concurrent usage.

Implementation Guidelines

Priority Order

1. High: Add nil slice tests for SortStrings and SortPermissionScopes (5 min)
2. High: Enhance SanitizeName nil options testing (10 min)
3. Medium: Add unicode tests to ShortenCommand (5 min)
4. Low: Improve assertion messages with test case names (10 min)
5. Low: Consider concurrent access tests (only if needed)

Best Practices from specs/testing.md

• ✅ Already using assert.* for validations correctly
• ✅ Already using table-driven tests with t.Run() and descriptive names
• ✅ Already including helpful assertion messages
• ✅ No mocks or test suites - tests real component interactions
• ⚠️ Could use require.* for critical setup in new tests

Testing Commands

# Run tests for this file
go test -v ./pkg/workflow -run TestSort

# Run specific test
go test -v ./pkg/workflow -run TestSanitizeName

# Run with coverage
go test -cover ./pkg/workflow

# Run all unit tests
make test-unit

Acceptance Criteria

• Add nil slice tests for both sort functions
• Add comprehensive nil options tests for SanitizeName
• Add unicode character tests for ShortenCommand
• Improve assertion messages to include test case names
• All tests pass: make test-unit
• Code follows patterns in specs/testing.md

Additional Context

• Repository Testing Guidelines: See specs/testing.md for comprehensive testing patterns
• String Processing Patterns: See package documentation in strings.go for sanitize vs normalize patterns
• Related Spec: specs/string-sanitization-normalization.md provides detailed guidance

---

Priority: Low
Effort: Small (30-45 minutes)
Expected Impact: Improved edge case coverage, better error messages, more robust tests

Files Involved:

• Test file: pkg/workflow/strings_test.go
• Source file: pkg/workflow/strings.go

Note: This test file is already excellent quality - these improvements are refinements rather than critical fixes. The codebase is fortunate to have such well-structured tests!

AI generated by Daily Testify Uber Super Expert

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