--- title: "Using odiffr with shinytest2" output: rmarkdown::html_vignette vignette: > %\VignetteIndexEntry{Using odiffr with shinytest2} %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown} %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8} --- ```{r, include = FALSE} knitr::opts_chunk$set( collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>", eval = FALSE ) ``` ## Why [shinytest2](https://rstudio.github.io/shinytest2/) can take screenshots of a running Shiny app with `app$expect_screenshot()` and store them as testthat snapshots. Its own documentation calls screenshots the most brittle kind of expectation, for good reasons: - By default a screenshot must match the stored snapshot exactly (or within a blur-based threshold). Chromium renders the edges of rounded corners, circles, borders and text with slightly different anti-aliasing from run to run and from machine to machine, so screenshots that look identical often do not match. - When a screenshot does change, you get a new `.new.png` file but no picture of *what* changed. odiffr's `compare_file_odiff()` plugs into the `compare` argument of `expect_screenshot()` and addresses both: - It compares the images with [odiff](https://github.com/dmtrKovalenko/odiff), with a perceptual colour threshold and optional detection of anti-aliased pixels. - When a comparison fails, it writes a diff image highlighting the changed pixels and prints where it is. odiffr does not drive the browser; shinytest2 still takes the screenshots. You need the odiff binary (see `vignette("getting-started")`). ## The one-liner ```{r, eval = FALSE} library(shinytest2) test_that("app renders", { app <- AppDriver$new(variant = platform_variant(), name = "app") app$expect_screenshot( compare = odiffr::compare_file_odiff(preset = "screenshot") ) }) ``` `compare_file_odiff()` returns a function of the old and new screenshot paths that returns `TRUE` or `FALSE`, which is what `expect_screenshot()` expects. When you supply `compare`, shinytest2's `threshold` and `kernel_size` arguments are not used. ## Presets `preset` chooses the comparison settings (see `?odiff_preset`): | Preset | `threshold` | `antialiasing` | Use for | |:-------------------|------------:|:---------------|:--------| | `"strict"` | 0 | `FALSE` | Any pixel change fails | | `"default"` | 0.1 | `FALSE` | odiffr's usual defaults | | `"screenshot"` | 0.1 | `TRUE` | Browser screenshots on one platform | | `"cross_platform"` | 0.2 | `TRUE` | Baselines shared across machines | `"screenshot"` ignores anti-aliased pixels but keeps the colour threshold low, so a real colour change is still caught. In odiffr's calibration tests, rounded shapes and 1px borders shifted by a quarter or half pixel fail with the default settings and pass with `"screenshot"`, while a new 10 x 10 pixel element or a 10 x 10 pixel patch changing from blue to green fails. `"cross_platform"` also tolerates edges moved by about half a pixel and small colour or gamma shifts. The price is that it can miss changes between colours of similar brightness (blue to green) and very faint elements. Arguments you pass explicitly override the preset, and you can still add `ignore_regions`, e.g. for a clock or a random plot: ```{r, eval = FALSE} app$expect_screenshot( compare = odiffr::compare_file_odiff( preset = "screenshot", threshold = 0.15, ignore_regions = list(odiffr::ignore_region(0, 0, 300, 40)) ) ) ``` ## Use it in every test Define a small helper once in `tests/testthat/setup.R` (or a `helper-*.R` file): ```{r, eval = FALSE} # tests/testthat/setup.R compare_screenshot <- odiffr::compare_file_odiff(preset = "screenshot") expect_app_screenshot <- function(app, ...) { app$expect_screenshot(..., compare = compare_screenshot) } ``` and use it in your tests: ```{r, eval = FALSE} test_that("filters update the table", { app <- AppDriver$new(variant = platform_variant(), name = "filters") app$set_inputs(species = "setosa") expect_app_screenshot(app) expect_app_screenshot(app, selector = "#table") }) ``` ## Where the diff images go testthat deletes unrecognised files inside `tests/testthat/_snaps/`, so diff images are written elsewhere: by default to `tests/testthat/_odiffr/`, mirroring the snapshot layout and named after the snapshot. For example, a failing ``` tests/testthat/_snaps/linux-4.4/app/filters-001.png ``` produces ``` tests/testthat/_odiffr/linux-4.4/app/filters-001_diff.png ``` and the test output shows a message such as ``` odiff: 1.26% pixels differ (126 px) in 'filters-001.png'; diff image: /path/to/tests/testthat/_odiffr/linux-4.4/app/filters-001_diff.png ``` Re-running overwrites the diff, and a diff is removed once the screenshot matches again. Add `tests/testthat/_odiffr/` to `.gitignore` and `^tests/testthat/_odiffr$` to `.Rbuildignore`. To put the diff images somewhere else, pass `diff_dir`, or set an option in `setup.R`; `diff_dir = FALSE` turns them off: ```{r, eval = FALSE} options(odiffr.snapshot_diff_dir = file.path(tempdir(), "screenshot-diffs")) ``` ## Reviewing changes Changed screenshots are handled with testthat's usual tools. Run ```{r, eval = FALSE} testthat::snapshot_review("app") ``` to compare the old and new screenshots side by side, and accept intended changes with `testthat::snapshot_accept("app")`. The diff image in `_odiffr/` shows exactly which pixels changed, which helps when a change is only a few pixels wide. ## Continuous integration `snapshot_review()` is interactive. On CI, use `snapshot_report()` after the tests: it finds every `.new.png` under `tests/testthat/_snaps/`, compares it with its baseline and writes an HTML report (baseline, new and diff images side by side, embedded in one file), a Markdown summary or JUnit XML. ```yaml # .github/workflows/shinytest2.yaml (excerpt) - name: Run tests run: | res <- testthat::test_local(stop_on_failure = FALSE) odiffr::snapshot_report(format = "markdown", preset = "screenshot") odiffr::snapshot_report(output_file = "snapshot-report.html", preset = "screenshot") if (any(as.data.frame(res)$failed > 0)) stop("Tests failed") shell: Rscript {0} - name: Upload snapshot report if: always() uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4 with: name: snapshot-report path: | snapshot-report.html tests/testthat/_snaps/**/*.new.png ``` `format = "markdown"` appends to the job summary page (via `GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY`). Use the same settings as your tests so the report agrees with the test results. The `.new.png` files in the artifact can be copied into `_snaps/` locally to accept the changes. ## Variants or the cross_platform preset? Screenshots differ between operating systems (fonts, font rendering, scrollbars), and between browser versions. There are two strategies: - **Variants** (recommended by shinytest2): store one set of screenshots per platform with `AppDriver$new(variant = platform_variant())` and compare with `preset = "screenshot"`. This is the most reliable option, but you need to create and update a baseline per platform, and you can only update a platform's screenshots on that platform (or from its CI artifacts). - **One shared baseline** compared with `preset = "cross_platform"`. Fewer files, but it only absorbs anti-aliasing, sub-pixel and small colour differences. Different fonts or text rendering still fail; hide such areas with `ignore_regions`, or take screenshots of selected elements (`selector`) that do not contain text. A common compromise is to run screenshot tests on one platform only, e.g. with `skip_on_os(c("windows", "mac"))` or by checking an environment variable on CI, and keep `preset = "screenshot"`.