NAME¶
Test::Inline - Embed your tests in your code, next to what is being tested
DESCRIPTION¶
Embedding tests allows tests to be placed near the code being tested.
This is a nice supplement to the traditional .t files.
How does it work?¶
"Test::Inline" lets you write small fragments of general or
function-specific testing code, and insert it anywhere you want in your
modules, inside a specific tagged POD segment, like the following.
=begin testing
# This code assumes we have a cpuinfo file
ok( -f /proc/cpuinfo, 'Host has a standard /proc/cpuinfo file' );
=end testing
=begin testing label
# Test generation of the <label> HTML tag
is( My::HTML->label('foo'), '<label>foo</label>', '->label(simple) works' );
is( My::HTML->label('bar', 'foo'), '<label for="bar">foo</label>', '->label(for) works' );
=end testing
You can add as many, or as few, of these chunks of tests as you wish. The key
condition when writing them is that they should be logically independent of
each other. Each chunk of testing code should not die or crash if it is run
before or after another chunk.
Using inline2test or another test compiler, you can then transform these chunks
in a test script, or an entire tree of modules into a complete set of standard
Test::More-based test scripts.
These test scripts can then be executed as normal.
What is Test::Inline good for?¶
"Test::Inline" is incredibly useful for doing ad-hoc unit testing.
In any large groups of modules, you can add testing code here, there and
everywhere, anywhere you want. The next time the test compiler is run, a new
test script will just appear.
This also makes it great for testing assumptions you normally wouldn't bother to
write run-time code to test. It ensures that your assumptions about the way
Perl does some operation, or about the state of the host, are confirmed at
install-time.
If your assumption is ever wrong, it gets picked up at install-time and based on
the test failures, you can correct your assumption.
It's also extremely useful for systematically testing self-contained code.
That is, any code which can be independent tested without the need for external
systems such as databases, and that has no side-effects on external systems.
All of this code, written by multiple people, can then have one single set of
test files generated. You can check all the bits and pieces of a large API, or
anything you like, in fine detail.
Test::Inline also introduces the concept of unit-tested documentation.
Not only can your code be tested, but if you have a FAQ or some other pure
documentation module, you can validate that the documentation is correct for
the version of the module installed.
If the module ever changes to break the documentation, you can catch it and
correct the documentation.
What is Test::Inline bad for?¶
"Test::Inline" is
not a complete testing solution, and there
are several types of testing you probably DON'T want to use it for.
- •
- Static testing across the entire codebase
- •
- Functional testing
- •
- Tests with side-effects such as those that might change a testing
database
Getting Started¶
Because Test::Inline creates test scripts with file names that
don't
start with a number (for ordering purposes), the first step is to create your
normal test scripts using file names in the CPAN style of
01_compile.t,
02_main.t,
03_foobar.t, and so on.
You can then add your testing fragments wherever you like throughout your code,
and use the
inline2test script to generate the test scripts for the
inline tests. By default the test scripts will be named after the
packages/classes that the test fragments are found in.
Tests for Class::Name will end up in the file "class_name.t".
These test files sit quite happily alongside your number test scripts.
When you run the test suite as you normally would, the inline scripts will be
run after the numbered tests.
METHODS¶
new¶
my $Tests = Test::Inline->new(
verbose => 1,
readonly => 1,
output => 'auto',
manifest => 'auto/manifest',
);
The "new" constructor creates a new test generation framework. Once
the constructor has been used to create the generator, the
"add_class" method can be used to specify classes, or class
heirachies, to generate tests for.
verbose - The "verbose" option causes the generator to write
state and debugging information to STDOUT as it runs.
manifest - The "manifest" option, if provided, will cause a
manifest file to be created and written to disk. The manifest file contains a
list of all the test files generated, but listed in the preferred order they
should be processed to best satisfy the class-level dependency of the tests.
check_count - The "check_count" value controls how strictly the
test script will watch the number of tests that have been executed.
When set to false, the script does no count checking other than the standard
total count for scripts (where all section counts are known)
When set to 1 (the default), "Test::Inline" does smart count checking,
doing section-by-section checking for known-count sections
only when
the total for the entire script is not known.
When set to 2 or higher, "Test::Inline" does full count checking,
doing section-by-section checking for every section with a known number of
tests.
file_content - The "file_content" option should be provided as
a CODE reference, which will be passed as arguments the
"Test::Inline" object, and a single Test::Inline::Script object, and
should return a string containing the contents of the resulting test file.
This will be written to the "OutputHandler".
output - The "output" option provides the location of the
directory where the tests will be written to. It should both already exist,
and be writable. If using a custom "OutputHandler", the value of
"output" should refer to the location
within the
OutputHandler that the files will be written to.
readonly - The "readonly" option, if provided, indicates that
any generated test files should be created (or set when updated) with
read-only permissions, to prevent accidentally adding to or editing the test
scripts directly (instead of via the classes).
This option is currently disabled by default, by may be enabled by default in a
future release, so if you do NOT want your tests being created as read-only,
you should explicitly set this option to false.
InputHandler - The "InputHandler" option, if provided, supplies
an alternative "FileHandler" from which source modules are
retrieved.
OuputHandler - The "OutputHandler" option, if provided,
supplies an alternative "FileHandler" to which the resulting test
scripts are written.
Returns a new "Test::Inline" object on success.
Returns "undef" if there is a problem with one of the options.
exception¶
The "exception" method returns a flag which indicates whether error
will be returned via exceptions.
The "InputHandler" method returns the file handler object that will be
used to find and load the source code.
ExtractHandler¶
The "ExtractHandler" accessor returns the object that will be used to
extract the test sections from the source code.
ContentHandler¶
The "ContentHandler" accessor return the script content generation
handler.
OutputHandler¶
The "OutputHandler" accessor returns the file handler object that the
generated test scripts will be written to.
add $file, $directory, \$source, $Handle¶
The "add" method is a parameter-sensitive method for adding something
to the build schedule.
It takes as argument a file path, a directory path, a reference to a SCALAR
containing perl code, or an IO::Handle (or subclass) object. It will retrieve
code from the parameter as appropriate, parse it, and create zero or more
Test::Inline::Script objects representing the test scripts that will be
generated for that source code.
Returns the number of test scripts added, which could be zero, or
"undef" on error.
add_class¶
$Tests->add_class( 'Foo::Bar' );
$Tests->add_class( 'Foo::Bar', recursive => 1 );
The "add_class" method adds a class to the list of those to have their
tests generated. Optionally, the "recursive" option can be provided
to add not just the class you provide, but all classes below it as well.
Returns the number of classes found with inline tests, and added, including 0 if
no classes with tests are found. Returns "undef" if an error occurs
while adding the class or it's children.
add_all¶
The "add_all" method will search the "InputHandler" for all
*.pm files, and add them to the generation set.
Returns the total number of test scripts added, which may be zero, or
"undef" on error.
classes¶
The "classes" method returns a list of the names of all the classes
that have been added to the "Test::Inline" object, or the null list
"()" if nothing has been added.
class¶
For a given class name, fetches the Test::Inline::Script object for that class,
if it has been added to the "Test::Inline" object. Returns
"undef" if the class has not been added to the
"Test::Inline" object.
filenames¶
For all of the classes added, the "filenames" method generates a map
of the filenames that the test files for the various classes should be written
to.
Returns a reference to a hash with the classes as keys, and filenames as values.
Returns 0 if there are no files to write.
Returns "undef" on error.
schedule¶
While the "filenames" method generates a map of the files for the
various classes, the "schedule" returns the list of file names in
the order in which they should actually be executed.
Returns a reference to an array containing the file names as strings.
Returns 0 if there are no files to write.
Returns "undef" on error.
manifest¶
The "manifest" generates the contents of the manifest file, if it is
both wanted and needed.
Returns the contents of the manifest file as a normal string, false if it is
either not wanted or needed, or "undef" on error.
save¶
$Tests->save;
The "save" method generates the test files for all classes, and saves
them to the "output" directory.
Returns the number of test files generated. Returns "undef" on error.
BUGS¶
The "Extended =begin" syntax used for non-trivial sections is not
formalised as part of the POD spec yet, although it is on the track to being
included.
While simple '=begin testing' sections are fine and will pass POD testing,
extended begin sections may cause POD errors.
TO DO¶
- Add support for "example" sections
- Add support for "=for" sections
SUPPORT¶
Bugs should always be submitted via the CPAN bug tracker
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Test-Inline
<
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Test-Inline>
Professional support, assistance, or customisations for large scale uses of
"Test::Inline" are available from
http://phase-n.com/
<
http://phase-n.com/>.
For other issues, contact the maintainer.
AUTHOR¶
Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS¶
Thank you to Phase N (
http://phase-n.com/ <
http://phase-n.com/>) for
permitting the open sourcing and release of this distribution.
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright 2004 - 2013 Adam Kennedy.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.
The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this
module.