# Test Resources

Test resources are maintained input and reference files for integration and
resource-management tests. Integration-test resources are maintained in the
versioned `simtools-tests` repository. Ordinary unit tests must not depend on
repository-local, downloaded, or external resource files; generate minimal
inputs in `tmp_test_directory` instead.

Resource files require updates, e.g., when file formats change or new features
are added to the software.

## Types of resource files

The examples in the description of the
[`simtools-resources-test-generate`](../user-guide/applications/simtools-resources-test-generate.md) application provides guidance on
how to test and generate the different types of resource files.

### Static test files

Static test files are manually maintained by the developers. The number of static files should be kept to a minimum.

Static test files are located in the `static` directory of the versioned bundle.
All static files are listed in `static/static_manifest.yml` in the `simtools-tests` repository.

### Downloaded test files

Downloaded test files are downloaded from external sources (e.g., from the simulation models repository)
into the `downloaded` directory of the versioned bundle.
The list of files to download is defined in the file `config_files/download_files.yml` in the `simtools-tests` repository.

### Generated test files

Most test files are generated by simtools applications.
Config files for generating test files are located in `config_files/*yml` and can be generated using the
[`simtools-resources-test-generate`](../user-guide/applications/simtools-resources-test-generate.md) application.

## Resource files and simtools releases

For a new simtools release, the workflow is:

1. Define a release candidate in `simtools` (e.g., `v0.34.0-rc`). The simtools CI workflow builds and publishes release-candidate containers for this release candidate.
2. Define a new test resource version in `simtools-tests` (e.g., `v0.34.0`), update the workflow definitions with the above container version, and generate the new resource set with the release-candidate container.
3. Run the relevant integration and unit tests locally against the new resources.
4. On failure, fix the resource generation workflow or the simtools code and repeat steps 1-3.
5. Release both `simtools` and `simtools-tests`.

This keeps the archived resource set aligned with the released software and
avoids generating release resources from an unpinned development environment.

## Applications

- [`simtools-resources-test-generate`](../user-guide/applications/simtools-resources-test-generate.md)
  generates a versioned resource set from workflow definitions.