Testing

This guide will show you how to drive your input from a test instead of the real devices.

You can hand InputHelper a SimulatedInput, set the states you want, then run a frame. There’s no need for a game, a window or a graphics device:

var input = new SimulatedInput();
InputHelper.Setup(input);

input.Keyboard = new KeyboardState(Keys.Space);
InputHelper.UpdateSetup(new GameTime(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(16), TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(16)));

bool jumped = new KeyboardCondition(Keys.Space).Pressed();

Each UpdateSetup reads the states once, the same way it reads the devices in a game. So a key that’s down for two frames in a row is Pressed on the first one and HeldOnly on the second.

Setting the states

The states are the regular MonoGame ones, so you build them with their constructors:

input.Keyboard = new KeyboardState(Keys.LeftControl, Keys.C);
input.Mouse = new MouseState(100, 50, 0, ButtonState.Pressed, ButtonState.Released, ButtonState.Released, ButtonState.Released, ButtonState.Released);
input.GamePads[0] = new GamePadState(new GamePadThumbSticks(), new GamePadTriggers(), new GamePadButtons(Buttons.A), new GamePadDPad());
input.Touch = new TouchCollection([new TouchLocation(1, TouchLocationState.Pressed, new Vector2(200, 100))]);

IsActive, WindowWidth and WindowHeight are there too. Set IsActive to false to test what happens when the game loses focus.

Text goes through Type. It shows up in InputHelper.TextEvents on the next frame:

input.Type("hello");
input.Type('\b', Keys.Back);

Time

Durations like HoldCondition and RepeatCondition read the GameTime you pass to UpdateSetup. Step it by a fixed amount each frame and the results are exact:

TimeSpan time = TimeSpan.Zero;

void Frame(params Keys[] keys) {
    input.Keyboard = new KeyboardState(keys);
    time += TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(20);
    InputHelper.UpdateSetup(new GameTime(time, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(20)));
}

Poll durations every frame like a game would. A frame where nobody asked starts them over.

Your own source

SimulatedInput is one implementation of IInputSource. You can write your own, for example to replay input you recorded from a real play session.

InputHelper is static, so tests that use it can’t run at the same time. With xUnit you can turn off parallel tests for the assembly:

[assembly: CollectionBehavior(DisableTestParallelization = true)]