Error when starting Patrol example test from IDE: Binding is already initialized

[pandoras-toolbox]

When starting example_test.dart in the Patrol source code from Visual Studio as a test it raises an error:

Failed to load "/home/xxx/VsCodeProjects/patrol/packages/patrol/example/integration_test/example_test.dart": 'package:flutter/src/foundation/binding.dart': Failed assertion: line 150 pos 12: '_debugInitializedType == null': Binding is already initialized to IntegrationTestWidgetsFlutterBinding
dart:core

Why? How is this test supposed to be started from an IDE?

Because when I start it with the command-line it works:

patrol test --target integration_test/example_test.dart

[bartekpacia]

Starting from IDE is not supported right now.

We do have some plans to add it in the future - see e.g #1342 and #1504.

[pandoras-toolbox]

Oh. But there is another a way to debug, to stop at a breakpoint in a test?

I think yesterday I could start it from IDE by adding a launch configuration in Visual Code and start the test file with "Run > Start Debugging" instead of starting it directly as a test. But then later in the day it did not work anymore, I could not figure out why, maybe I changed something related to it.

[bartekpacia]

For debugging, we have the patrol develop command. Breakpoints from within IDE are not supported, but hey, you can use good old prints.

Running from VSCode with debugging might be possible if you flutter attach, but I haven't tried it and we don't support it now.

[pandoras-toolbox]

Okay, thank you. I will try to use it this way for debugging purpose.

Maybe it is possible to throw a more specific error message when starting a Patrol test from the IDE, like "NotSupportedException: Starting Patrol is only supported with CLI tools"

[bartekpacia]

That's a nice idea, but there's just too much other more important stuff to do, so minor stuff like this is being pushed back. If you'd like to contribute a PR, I'm happy to review & merge it.

[pandoras-toolbox]

I understand. My Dart/Flutter knowledge is still too small for this, since until now I only used Java, where I would had that knowledge already. I am glad to contribute that when I more Dart/Flutter and Patrol skills.

I am doing a proof of concept for automating tests for our app with Patrol, it looks good to me so far, but a bit rough in the beginning.