== <test> tag ==
<<TableOfContents(4)>>

The `<test>` tag is syntactically similar to the [[roslaunch/XML/node|<node>]] tag. They both specify a ROS node to run, but the `<test>` tag indicates that the node is actually a ''test node'' to run. For more information about these test nodes, please see the [[rostest]] documentation.

=== Examples ===
{{{
<test test-name="test_1_2" pkg="mypkg" type="test_1_2.py" time-limit="10.0" args="--test1 --test2" />
}}}
Launches the `"test_1_2"` [[Nodes|node]] using the `test_1_2.py` executable from the `mypkg` [[Packages|package]] with the command-line argument `--test1 --test2`. The test will be terminated as a failure if it takes longer than 10 seconds.

=== Attributes ===
`<test>` tags share most of the normal `<node>` attributes, except:

 * no {{{respawn}}} attribute (test nodes must terminate, so they are not respawnable)
 * no `output` attribute as tests use their own output logging mechanism
 * The `machine` attribute is ignored

It also adds several attributes, which are documented below.

==== Required attributes ====
||`pkg="mypackage"` ||''Required'' ||Package of node. ||
||`test-name="test_name"` ||''Required'' ||Name of test for recording in test results. ||
||`type="nodetype"` ||''Required'' ||Node type. There must be a corresponding executable with the same name. ||


==== Optional attributes ====
||`name="nodename"` ||''(optional)'' ||Node name. NOTE: name cannot contain a namespace. Use the `ns` attribute instead. If this attribute is not specified, value of `test-name` is used as node name ||
||`args="arg1 arg2 arg3"` ||''(optional)'' ||Pass arguments to node. ||
||`clear_params="true|false"` ||''(optional)'' ||Delete all parameters in the node's private namespace before launch. ||
||`cwd="ROS_HOME|node"` ||''(optional)'' ||If 'node', the working directory of the node will be set to the same directory as the node's executable. In C Turtle, the default is 'ROS_HOME'. In [[boxturtle]] (ROS 1.0.x), the default is 'ros-root'. The use of 'ros-root' is deprecated in [[cturtle]]. ||
||`launch-prefix="prefix arguments"` ||''(optional)'' ||Command/arguments to prepend to node's launch arguments. This is a powerful feature that enables you to enable `gdb`, `valgrind`, `xterm`, `nice`, or other handy tools. See [[roslaunch/Tutorials/Roslaunch Nodes in Valgrind or GDB|Roslaunch Nodes in Valgrind or GDB]] for examples. ||
||`ns="foo"` ||''(optional)'' ||Start the node in the 'foo' namespace. ||
||`retry="0"` ||''(optional)'' ||Number of times to retry the test before it is considered a failure. Default is 0. This option is useful for stochastic processes that are sometimes expected to fail. ||
||`time-limit="60.0"` ||''(optional)'' ||Number of seconds before the test is considered a failure. Default is 60 seconds. The time limit is reset after every retry. ||


=== Elements ===
You can use the following XML tags inside of a `<test>` tag||||

 . [[roslaunch/XML/env|<env>]]
  . Set an environment variable for the node.
 [[roslaunch/XML/remap|<remap>]]
  . Set a remapping argument for this node.
 [[roslaunch/XML/rosparam|<rosparam>]]
  . Load a [[rosparam]] file into this node's `~`/local namespace.
 [[roslaunch/XML/param|<param>]]
  . Set a [[Parameters|parameter]] in the node's `~`/local namespace.