Test the Dashboard extension of the template with PluginExtensionChecks

AGENTS.md

@@ -151,6 +151,12 @@ against a fake that encodes what you believe the driver does. They say nothing a
 real ranges and units. A passing run is not a hardware validation: never state that a plugin works on an instrument
 that was not used, say what was tested on the real device and what only against a fake.
 
+**Testing a Dashboard extension.** `tests/test_plugin_extensions.py` subclasses `PluginExtensionChecks`
+(`pymodaq.utils.plugin_testing.extension_testing`, PyMoDAQ >= 5.3.7): every module of `extensions/` that defines
+`EXTENSION_NAME` is loaded in an empty Dashboard and closed. For the behaviour of your extension, write tests with the
+`loaded_extension(MyExtension)` context manager, which yields `(dashboard, extension)` and closes and deletes the windows
+at exit (leaving them alive slows down every test that runs afterwards). Delete the file if the package has no extension.
+
 **Legacy patterns to avoid** (older tutorials and models still produce them; `check_plugin` flags several):
 `stage_names` (use `_axis_names`), `_epsilon` (use `_epsilons`), `data_actuator_type = float` (use
 `DataActuatorType.DataActuator`), the group names `multiaxes` and `multi_status` (now `controller` and

pyproject.toml

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ package-url = 'https://github.com/PyMoDAQ/pymodaq_plugins_template' #todo modify
 name = "pymodaq_plugins_template" #todo modify template by your plugin short name
 description = 'some word about your plugin'
 dependencies = [
-    "pymodaq>=5.3.2",
+    "pymodaq>=5.3.7",
     "pymodaq_utils>=5.3.1",
     "pymodaq_gui>=5.3.0",
     "pymodaq_data>=5.3.0",

tests/test_plugin_extensions.py

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+"""Tests of the Dashboard extensions of the plugin, provided by PyMoDAQ (from version 5.3.7).
+
+Each extension of the ``extensions`` folder is loaded in an empty Dashboard and closed. Add the tests of the behaviour of
+your extensions in this file, with ``loaded_extension`` (from ``pymodaq.utils.plugin_testing``). Delete this file if your
+plugin has no extension.
+"""
+import importlib.util
+
+import pytest
+
+try:
+    available = importlib.util.find_spec('pymodaq.utils.plugin_testing.extension_testing') is not None
+except ModuleNotFoundError:  # pymodaq is not installed
+    available = False
+if not available:
+    pytest.skip('The extension checks need PyMoDAQ >= 5.3.7', allow_module_level=True)
+
+from pymodaq.utils.plugin_testing.extension_testing import PluginExtensionChecks
+
+
+class TestExtensions(PluginExtensionChecks):
+    # package_name = 'pymodaq_plugins_xxxx'  # only if it cannot be found from the pyproject.toml and the package folder
+    strict_imports = False  # True: an extension that cannot be imported (missing dependency) fails instead of being skipped