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Testing

note

All commands below assume you are already inside the dev container (VS Code opened in the Dev Container or GitHub Codespaces). The dev environment, including all required environment variables, is set up automatically.

Activity Log Tests​

The tests described here live in packages/windmill/src/services/reports/activity_log.rs.

test_generate_export_csv_data_120k_memory​

Verifies the large-scale CSV export path (generate_export_csv_data) under a realistic load and measures its heap usage. The test:

  1. Reads tenant_id and election_event_id from the external config file.
  2. Creates a fresh ImmuDB database (using a time-stamped slug so each run gets a clean database — ImmuDB's delete is unreliable).
  3. Seeds 120 000 log entries by calling the step-cli binary.
  4. Wraps the call to generate_export_csv_data with a dhat heap profiler so peak memory usage is recorded.
  5. Asserts that the produced CSV file contains exactly 120 000 data rows (plus the header), catching any silent truncation in the batching logic.

This test is marked #[ignore] (see Running ignored tests).

Running Ignored Tests​

This test is annotated with #[ignore] because it:

  • Requires a live ImmuDB instance and Keycloak database.
  • Seeds 120 000 entries — expensive in time and resources.
  • Is therefore skipped in GitHub Actions CI.

To run it locally, pass --ignored together with --nocapture so that the progress output is visible:

cd /workspaces/step/packages/windmill && \
  cargo test --release \
    test_generate_export_csv_data_120k_memory \
    -- --nocapture --ignored

Memory Tests​

What they measure​

test_generate_export_csv_data_120k_memory uses dhat::Profiler::new_heap() to record all heap allocations that occur inside generate_export_csv_data. When the profiler is dropped at the end of the test, it writes a dhat-heap.json file to the current working directory and also prints a summary to stdout:

Peak live heap:   <N> bytes
Total allocated:  <N> bytes in <N> blocks
Current live:     <N> bytes in <N> blocks
CSV file size:    <N> bytes
CSV line count:   <N> lines (<N> data rows)

The goal is to confirm that the streaming-batch approach keeps the peak live heap low even for very large electoral logs, rather than loading all 120 000 entries into memory at once.

Viewing the dhat-heap.json file​

After the test finishes, open the DHAT Viewer in a browser and upload the dhat-heap.json file. It provides a flame-graph-style breakdown of allocation sites, showing which call paths consumed the most memory.

The file is written to whichever directory Cargo uses as the current working directory when running tests (typically packages/windmill/).

Why this test is ignored in CI​

Running it in GitHub Actions would:

  • Require a live ImmuDB + Keycloak environment in the CI runner.
  • Seed 120 000 log entries per run, making the job slow and expensive.
  • Produce a dhat-heap.json artefact that is only meaningful when reviewed manually.

It is therefore excluded from CI and intended to be run locally during development when investigating memory regressions.

Seeding Electoral Logs with step-cli​

The test above internally calls the step-cli binary to seed log entries into ImmuDB. You can also run that command manually — for example, to load log entries into an existing election event's electoral log for manual QA or performance testing.

1. Build step-cli in release mode​

You can skip this step if the binary is already there.

cd /workspaces/step/packages/step-cli && \
  cargo build --release

The binary will be at: packages/step-cli/rust-local-target/release/step-cli

2. Set the election_event_id in external_config.json​

Open packages/step-cli/data/external_config.json and update the election_event_id field to match the target election event. This is the only field that normally needs to be changed — the other IDs (tenant_id, area_id, election_id, realm_name) should already match the event in your development environment.

{
  "election_event_id": "<your-election-event-id>",
  ...
}

3. Run the command​

/workspaces/step/packages/step-cli/ \
  step create-electoral-logs \
  --working-directory data/ \
  --num-logs 120000

The command reads tenant_id, election_event_id, election_id, area_id, and realm_name from external_config.json. It queries Keycloak to obtain real user IDs and usernames and inserts synthetic SendCommunications log entries in batches of 1 000 rows.

Open election event's LOGS tab in the Admin Portal to confirm the new entries.