tests/testthat/README.md

In patentsview: An R Client to the 'PatentsView' API

Testing Guide

Tests use vcr to record/replay HTTP responses (~8 sec vs minutes).

Running Tests

devtools::test()                    # All tests
devtools::test(filter="search-pv")  # runs just test-search-pv.R 

Re-recording Cassettes

Delete one or more of the YAML files and re-run the test (requires PATENTSVIEW_API_KEY):

unlink("tests/testthat/_vcr/my-test.yml")
devtools::test()

Running test without recordings

The vcr package checks for an environmental variable VCR_TURN_OFF. If true it turns off all vcr usage so that all requests are live. It would be a good idea to do this after an API release.

Sys.setenv(VCR_TURN_OFF = "true")
devtools::test()

API Bug Testing

When running live, test-api-bugs.R hits the API to detect when bugs are fixed. When a test fails, the bug may be fixed - verify and remove the workaround.

unlink("tests/testthat/_vcr/bug*.yml")
devtools::test(filter="api-bugs")

Adding Tests

Use vcr::local_cassette() with a unique name for any test that calls the API:

test_that("my feature works", {
  vcr::local_cassette("my-feature")
  result <- search_pv(...)
  expect_equal(...)
})

API keys are automatically filtered from cassettes.

patentsview documentation built on Feb. 26, 2026, 5:07 p.m.