1Test::Inter(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Test::Inter(3)
2
6 Test::Inter - framework for more readable interactive test scripts
7
9 This is another framework for writing test scripts. Much of the syntax
10 is loosely inspired by Test::More, and Test::Inter has most of it's
11 functionality, but it is not a drop-in replacement.
12 Test::More (and other existing test frameworks) suffer from two
14 weaknesses, both of which have prevented me from ever using them:
15 None offer the ability to access specific tests in
17 a reasonably interactive fashion, primarily for
18 debugging purposes
19 None offer the ability to write the tests in
21 whatever format would make the tests the most
22 readable
23 The way I write and use test scripts, existing Test::* modules are not
25 nearly as useful as they could be.
26 Test scripts written using Test::More work fine when running as part of
28 the test suite, but debugging an individual test requires extra steps,
29 and the tests themselves are not as readable as they should be.
30
32 One requirement that I have of a test framework is the ability to
33 interact with it.
34 I do most of my debugging using test scripts. When I find a bug, I
36 write a test case for it (typically by adding it to an existing test
37 script) and then debug it using the test script. Then I leave the test
38 there to ensure that the bug won't come back (hopefully).
39 Since I use test scripts in a very interactive way (often in the
41 debugger), I want to be able to do the following trivially:
42 Easy access to a specific test or tests
44 I'd like to be able to run only a single test, or a subset of
45 tests.
46 Easily set breakpoints in the debugger
48 Setting a breakpoint in the debugger to run up to the start of the
49 Nth test is one of the most common tasks I want to do when I'm
50 debugging a failed test.
51 To illustrate the first point, in Test::More, a series of tests might
53 be specified in a test script as shown in the following example (line
54 numbers added for convenience):
55 ...
57 100: # test 1
59 101: $result = func("apples","bushels");
60 102: is($result, "enough");
61 103:
62 104: # test 2
63 105: $result = func("grapefruit","tons");
64 106: is($result, "enough");
65 107:
66 108: # test 3
67 109: $result = func("oranges","boatloads");
68 110: is($result, "insufficient");
69 111:
70 112: # tests 4-6
71 113: foreach my $arg (qw(pears plums pineapple)) {
72 114: $result = func($arg,"boxes");
73 115: is($result, "enough");
74 116: }
75 ...
77 Say you ran the test suite, and test 3 failed. To debug it you have to
79 open up the test script, find the 3rd test, and set the appropriate
80 breakpoint. In this case, you'll want to break at line 109.
81 None of these steps are impossible of course, but it will take some
83 time to get it right. It becomes harder when there are lots of tests
84 (imagine that you want to test the 117th test instead of the 3rd test)
85 or when tests are wrapped up in loops, embedded in subroutines, or
86 other similar situations.
87 As an example, what if it's the 5th test that fails in the example
89 above. Now the break point will be a conditional one, so you have to
90 figure out not only the line, but the condition the appropriate state
91 during that test. In this case, you need to stop at line 114 when $arg
92 is 'plums'.
93 Wouldn't it be far better to set a break point in func when the Nth
95 test is reached? With Test::Inter, you can.
96 So for the above script, the debugger commands that you would use to
98 debug the 3rd test are:
99 Test::More : b 109
101 Test::Inter: b func ($::TI_NUM==3)
102 and the 5th test are:
104 Test::More : b 114 ($arg eq 'plums')
106 Test::Inter: b func ($::TI_NUM==5)
107 It would also be nice to be able to skip the first two tests... perhaps
109 they take a long time to run, and I want to get right to work on test
110 3. You can do this easily too by setting the $::TI_START variable.
111 There are some other variables that can be used to specify which test
113 or tests to run described in the "TEST::INTER VARIABLES" section below.
114 The other thing I want to do when I run the test scripts interactively
116 is to see more information which will assist in debugging a failed
117 test.
118 This can be controlled with variables such as TI_QUIET, TI_MODE, and
120 TI_WIDTH described below in the "TEST::INTER VARIABLES" section.
121
123 The other feature that I wanted in a test suite is the ability to
124 define the tests in a format that is natural and readable FOR THE
125 TESTS. In almost every case, it is best to think of a test script as
126 consisting of two separate parts: a script part, and a test part.
127 The script part of a test script is the least important part! It's
129 usually fairly trivial, rarely needs to be changed, and is not the
130 focus of the test script.
131 The tests part of the script IS the important part, and these should be
133 expressed in a form that is natural to them, easy to maintain, easy to
134 read, and easy to modify, and none of these should involve modifying
135 the script portion of the test script in general. Because the content
136 of the tests is the important part of the script, the emphasis should
137 be in making them more readable, even at the expense of the script
138 portion. As a general rule, if the script portion of the test script
139 obscures the tests in any way, it's not written correctly!
140 The solution to this is well understood, and is common to many other
142 systems where you are mixing two "languages". The task of correctly
143 specifying both the tests and the test script is virtually identical to
144 the task of creating a PHP script which consists of a mixture of PHP
145 and HTML, or the task of creating a template file using some templating
146 system where the file consists of a mixture of text to be displayed and
147 templating commands. It is well understood in each of these cases that
148 the more the two "languages" are interwoven, the less readable both
149 are, and the harder it is to maintain. The more you are able to
150 separate the two, the easier both are to read and maintain.
151 As often as possible, I want the tests to be written in some sort of
153 text format which can be easily viewed and modified (usually as a
154 simple table) with no perl commands interspersed. I want to the freedom
155 to define the tests in one section (a long string, the DATA section, or
156 even in a separate file) which is easily readable. This may introduce
157 the necessity of parsing it, but it makes it significantly easier to
158 maintain the tests.
159 This flexibility makes it much easier to read the tests (as opposed to
161 the script) which is the fundamental content of a test script.
162 Looking again at the example test script, you can see that there is far
164 too much perl interspersed with the tests.
165 It's difficult to read the tests individually in this script because
167 there is too much perl code among them, and virtually impossible to
168 look at them as a whole.
169 It is true that looking at this particular example, it is very
171 simple... but the script ISN'T the content you're interested in (and
172 bear in mind that many test scripts are nowhere near this simple). The
173 REAL content of this script are the tests, which consist of the
174 function arguments and the expected result. Although it's not
175 impossible to see each of these in the script above, it's not in a
176 format that is conducive to studying the tests, and especially not for
177 examining the list of tests as a whole.
178 Now, look at an alternate way of specifying the tests using this
180 module:
181 $tests = "
183 apples bushels => enough
185 grapefruit tons => enough
187 oranges boatloads => insufficient
189 pears boxes => enough
191 plums boxes => enough
193 pineapple boxes => enough
195 ";
197 $o->tests(tests => $tests,
199 func => \&func);
200 Here, it's easy to see the list of tests, and adding additional tests
202 is a breeze.
203
205 This module supports a number of methods for defining tests, so you can
206 use whichever one is most convenient (including methods that are
207 identical to Test::More if that really is the best method).
208 Every test may have several pieces of information:
210 A name
212 Every test is automatically assigned a number, but it may be useful
213 to specify a name of a test (which is actually a short description
214 of the test). Whenever a test result is reported, the name will be
215 given (if one was specified).
216 The name may not have a '#' in it.
218 The name is completely optional, but makes the results more
220 readable.
221 An expected result
223 In order to test something, you need to know what result was
224 expected (or in some cases, what result was NOT expected).
225 A function and arguments OR a result
227 You also need to know the results that you're comparing to the
228 expected results.
229 This can be obtained by simply working with a set of results, or a
231 function name and a set of arguments to pass to it.
232 Conditions
234 It is useful to be able to specify state information at the start
235 of the test suite (for example, to see if certain features are
236 available), and some tests may only run if those conditions are
237 met.
238 If no conditions are set for a test, it will always run.
240 Todo tests
242 Some tests may be marked as 'todo' tests. These are test which are
243 allowed to fail (meaning that they have been put in place for an
244 as-yet unimplemented feature). Since it is expected that the test
245 will fail, the test suite will still pass, even if these tests
246 fail.
247 The tests will still run and if they pass, a message is issued
249 saying that the feature is now implemented, and the tests should be
250 graduated to non-todo state.
251
253 new
254 $o = new Test::Inter [$name] [%options];
255 This creates a new test framework. There are several options which
257 may be used to specify which tests are run, how they are run, and
258 what output is given.
259 The entire test script can be named by passing in $name.
261 All options can be set in four different ways.
263 First, you can pass in a hash of OPT = VAL> pairs in the new
265 method. So, to set the start option, the %options) hash would
266 contain:
267 start => VALUE
269 Second, you can set an environment variable. This will override
271 any value passed in the first way. The environment variable is
272 named TI_XXX where XXX is the fully capitalized option. So:
273 $ENV{TI_START} = VALUE
275 The third method, which overrides the previous two, is to set a
277 global variable. It is also named TI_XXX in the main namespace, so
278 to set it this way, set:
279 $::TI_START = VALUE
281 The final method is to call one of the methods below and these
283 override all other methods.
284 Each of the allowed options are described below in the following
286 base methods:
287 start
289 end
290 testnum
291 plan
292 abort
293 quiet
294 mode
295 skip_all
296 width
297 version
299 $o->version();
300 Returns the version of the module.
302 encoding
304 $o->encoding($encoding);
305 $encoding is any value that can be passed as an encoding to perl's
307 Encode::decode function.
308 Use this if your test strings contain characters in other
310 encodings.
311 start
313 $o = new Test::Inter 'start' => $N;
314 $o->start($N)
315 To define which test you want to start with, set the start option
317 as described in the new method above.
318 When the start test is defined, most tests numbered less than N are
320 completely ignored. If the tests are being run quietly (see the
321 quiet method below), nothing is printed out for these tests.
322 Otherwise, a skip message is printed out.
323 One class of tests IS still executed. Tests run using the
325 require_ok or use_ok methods (to test the loading of modules) are
326 still run.
327 If no value (or a value of 0) is used, tests run from the first
329 test.
330 end
332 $o = new Test::Inter 'end' => $M;
333 $o->end($M);
334 To define which test you want to end with, set the end option as
336 described in the new method above.
337 When the end test is defined, all tests numbered more than M are
339 completely ignored. If the tests are being run quietly (see the
340 quiet method below), nothing is printed out for these tests.
341 Otherwise, a skip message is printed out.
342 If no value is given, it defaults to 0 (which means that all
344 remaining tests are run).
345 testnum
347 $o = new Test::Inter 'testnum' => $N;
348 $o->testnum($N);
349 To run only a single test, set the testnum option as described in
351 the new method above.
352 It is equivalent to setting both the start and end tests to $N.
354 plan
356 done_testing
357 $o = new Test::Inter 'plan' => $N;
358 $o->plan($n);
359 $o->done_testing();
361 $o->done_testing($n);
362 The TAP API (the 'language' used to run a sequence of tests and see
364 which ones failed and which ones passed) requires a statement of
365 the number of tests that are expected to run.
366 This statement can appear at the start of the test suite, or at the
368 end.
369 If you know in advance how many tests should run in the test
371 script, you can set the plan option as described in the new method
372 above to the number of tests.
373 If you know how many tests should run at the end of the test
375 script, you can pass in a non-zero integer to the done_testing
376 method.
377 Frequently, you don't really care how many tests are in the script
379 (especially if new tests are added on a regular basis). In this
380 case, you still need to include a statement that says that the
381 number of tests expected is however many were run. To do this, call
382 the done_testing method with no argument.
383 NOTE: if the plan method is used, it MUST be used before any tests
385 are run (including those that test the loading of modules). If the
386 done_testing method is used, it MUST be called after all tests are
387 run. You must specify a plan or use a done_testing statement, but
388 you cannot do both.
389 It is NOT strictly required to set a plan if the script is only run
391 interactively, so if for some reason this module is used for test
392 scripts which are not part of a standard perl test suite, the plan
393 and done_testing statements are optional. As a matter of fact, the
394 script will run just fine without them... but a perl installer will
395 report a failure in the test suite.
396 abort
398 $o = new Test::Inter 'abort' => 0/1/2;
399 $o->abort(0/1/2);
400 To define how you want a failure to be treated, set the abort
402 option as described in the new method above. The abort option can
403 take a value of 0, 1, or 2.
404 If this is set to 1, the test script will run unmodified until a
406 test fails. At that point, all remaining tests will be skipped. If
407 it is set to 2, the test script will run until a test fails at
408 which point it will exit with an error code of 1. With a value of
409 0, failed tests will be reported, but the script will continue.
410 In both cases, todo tests will NOT trigger the abort behavior.
412 quiet
414 $o = new Test::Inter 'quiet' => 0/1/2;
415 $o->quiet(0/1/2);
416 To define how you want failures to be reported, set the quiet
418 option as described in the new method above. The quiet option can
419 take a value of 0, 1, or 2.
420 If this is set to 0 (the default), all information will be printed
422 out. If it is set to 1, some optional information will not be
423 printed. If it is set to 2, all optional information will not be
424 printed.
425 mode
427 $o = new Test::Inter 'mode' => MODE;
428 $o->mode(MODE);
429 Test::Inter scripts can be run in either an interactive mode, or as
431 part of a test suite with different behaviors. To select the mode,
432 set the mode option as described in the new method above. The mode
433 option can take a value of 'inter' or 'test'.
434 When run in test mode, it prints out the results using the TAP
436 grammar (i.e. 'ok 1', 'not ok 3', etc.).
437 When run in interactive mode, it prints out results in a more human
439 readable format.
440 width
442 $o = new Test::Inter 'width' => WIDTH;
443 $o->width(WIDTH);
444 The width option can be set as described in the new method above.
446 WIDTH is the width of the terminal (for printing out failed test
448 information). It defaults to 80, but it can be set to any width
449 (and lines longer then this are truncated). If WIDTH is set to 0,
450 no truncation is done.
451 skip_all
453 $o = new Test::Inter 'skip_all' => REASON;
454 $o->skip_all(REASON);
455 The skip_all option can be set as described in the new method
457 above.
458 If this is set, the entire test script will be skipped for the
460 reason given. This must be done before any test is run, and before
461 any plan number is set.
462 The skip_all can also be called at any point during the script
464 (i.e. after tests have been run). In this case, all remaining
465 scripts will be skipped.
466 $o->skip_all(REASON,FEATURE,FEATURE,...);
468 $o->skip_all('',FEATURE,FEATURE,...);
469 This will skip all tests (or all remaining tests) unless all
471 <FEATURE>s are available. REASON can be entered as an empty string
472 and the reason the tests are skipped will be a message about the
473 missing feature.
474 feature
476 $o->feature($feature,$val);
477 This defines a feature. If $val is non-zero, the feature is
479 available. Otherwise it is not.
480 diag
482 note
483 $o->diag($message);
484 $o->note($message);
485 Both of these print an optional message. Messages printed with the
487 "note" method are always optional and will be omitted if the quiet
488 option is set to 1 or 2. Messages printed with the "diag" method
489 are optional and will not be printed if the quiet option is set to
490 2, but they will be printed if the quiet method is set to 1.
491 testdir
493 Occasionally, it may be necessary to know the directory where the
494 tests live (for example, there may be a config or data file in
495 there). This method will return the directory.
496
498 Test scripts can load other modules (using either the perl "use" or
499 "require" commands). There are three different modes for doing this
500 which determine how this is done.
501 required
503 By default, this is used to test for a module that is required for
504 all tests in the test script.
505 Loading the module is treated as an actual test in the test suite.
507 The test is to determine whether the module is available and can be
508 loaded. If it can be loaded, it is, and it is reported as a
509 successful test. If it cannot be loaded, it is reported as a failed
510 test.
511 In the result of a failed test, all remaining tests will be skipped
513 automatically (except for other tests which load modules).
514 feature
516 In feature mode, loading the module is not treated as a test (i.e.
517 it will not print out an 'ok' or 'not ok' line. Instead, it will
518 set a feature (named the same as the module) which can be used to
519 determine whether other tests should run or not.
520 forbid
522 In a few very rare cases, we may want to test for a module but
523 expect that it not be present. This is the exact opposite of the
524 required mode.
525 Successfully loading the module is treated as a test failure. In
527 the event of a failure, all remaining tests will be skipped.
528 The methods available are:
530 require_ok
532 $o->require_ok($module [,$mode]);
533 This is used to load a module using the perl "require" function. If
535 $mode is not passed in, the default mode (required) is used to test
536 the existence of the module.
537 If $mode is passed in, it must be either the string 'forbid' or
539 'feature'.
540 If $mode is 'feature', a feature named $module is set if the module
542 was able to be loaded.
543 use_ok
545 $o->use_ok(@args [,$mode]);
546 This is used to load a module with "use", or check a perl version.
548 BEGIN { $o->use_ok('5.010'); }
550 BEGIN { $o->use_ok('Some::Module'); }
551 BEGIN { $o->use_ok('Some::Module',2.05); }
552 BEGIN { $o->use_ok('Some::Module','foo','bar'); }
553 BEGIN { $o->use_ok('Some::Module',2.05,'foo','bar'); }
554 are the same as:
556 use 5.010;
558 use Some::Module;
559 use Some::Module 2.05;
560 use Some::Module qw(foo bar);
561 use Some::Module 2.05 qw(foo bar);
562 Putting the use_ok call in a BEGIN block allows the functions to be
564 imported at compile-time and prototypes are properly honored.
565 You'll also need to load the Test::Inter module, and create the
566 object in a BEGIN block.
567 $mode acts the same as in the require_ok method.
569
571 There are several methods for running tests. The ok, is, and isnt
572 methods are included for those already comfortable with Test::More and
573 wishing to stick with the same format of test script. The tests method
574 is the suggested method though since it makes use of the full power of
575 this module.
576 ok
578 $o->ok(TESTS);
579 A test run with ok looks at a result, and if it evaluates to 0 (or
581 false), it fails. If it evaluates to non-zero (or true), it passes.
582 These tests do not require you to specify the expected results. If
584 expected results are given, they will be compared against the
585 result received, and if they differ, a diagnostic message will be
586 printed, but the test will still succeed or fail based only on the
587 actual result produced.
588 These tests require a single result and either zero or one expected
590 results.
591 To run a single test, use any of the following:
593 $o->ok(); # always succeeds
595 $o->ok($result);
597 $o->ok($result,$name);
598 $o->ok($result,$expected,$name);
599 $o->ok(\&func);
601 $o->ok(\&func,$name);
602 $o->ok(\&func,$expected,$name);
603 $o->ok(\&func,\@args);
605 $o->ok(\&func,\@args,$name);
606 $o->ok(\&func,\@args,$expected,$name);
607 If $result is a scalar, the test passes if $result is true. If
609 $result is a list reference, the test succeeds if the list contains
610 any defined values. If $result is a hash reference, the test
611 succeeds if the hash contains any key with a value that is not
612 "undef".
613 If "\&func" and "\@args" are passed in, then $result is generated
615 by passing @args to &func and behaves identically to the calls
616 where $result is passed in. If "\&func" is passed in but no
617 arguments, the function takes no arguments, but still produces a
618 result.
619 If an expected value is passed in and the result does not match it,
621 a diagnostic warning will be printed, even if the test passes.
622 is
624 isnt
625 $o->is(TESTS);
626 $o->isnt(TESTS);
627 A test run with is looks at a result and tests to see if it is
629 identical to an expected result. If it is, the test passes.
630 Otherwise it fails. In the case of a failure, a diagnostic message
631 will show what result was actually obtained and what was expected.
632 A test run with isnt looks at a result and tests to see if the
634 result obtained is different than an expected result. If it is
635 different, the test passes. Otherwise it fails.
636 The is method can be called in any of the following ways:
638 $o->is($result,$expected);
640 $o->is($result,$expected,$name);
641 $o->is(\&func,$expected);
643 $o->is(\&func,$expected,$name);
644 $o->is(\&func,\@args,$expected);
646 $o->is(\&func,\@args,$expected,$name);
647 The isnt method can be called in exactly the same way.
649 As with the ok method, the result can be a scalar, hashref, or
651 listref. If it is a hashref or listref, the entire structure must
652 match the expected value.
653 tests
655 $o->tests($opt=>$val, $opt=>$val, ...)
656 The options available are described in the following section.
658 file
660 $o->file($func,$input,$outputdir,$expected,$name [,@args]);
661 Sometimes it may be easiest to store the input, output, and
663 expected output from a test in a text file. In this case, each line
664 of output will be treated as a single test, so the output and
665 expected output must match up exactly.
666 $func is a reference to a function which will produce a temporary
668 output file.
669 If $input is specified, it is the name of the input file. If it is
671 empty, no input file will be used. The input file can be fully
672 specified, or it can be relative to the test directory.
673 If $outputdir is passed in, it is the directory where the output
675 file will be written. It can be fully specified, or relative to
676 the test directory. If $outputdir is left blank, the temporary
677 file will be written to the test directory.
678 $expected is the name of a file which contains the expected output.
680 It can be fully specified, or it will be checked for in the test
681 directory.
682 $name is the name of this series of tests.
684 @args are extra arguments to pass to the test function.
686 The function will be called with the arguments:
688 &$func( [$input,] $output,@args);
690 $input is only passed in if it was passed in to this method. If no
692 input file is specified, nothing will be passed to the function.
693 $output is the name of a temporary file where the output will be
695 written to.
696
698 It is expected that most tests (except for those that load a module)
699 will be run using the tests method called as:
700 $o->tests(%options);
702 The following options are available:
704 name
706 name => NAME
707 This sets the name of this set of tests. All tests will be given
709 the same name.
710 tests
712 func
713 expected
714 In order to specify a series of tests, you have to specify either a
715 function and a list of arguments, or a list of results.
716 Specifying the function and list of arguments can be done using the
718 pair:
719 func => \&FUNCTION
721 tests => TESTS
722 If the func option is not set, tests contains a list of results.
724 A list of expected results may also be given. They can be included
726 in the
727 tests => TESTS
729 option or included separately as:
731 expected => RESULTS
733 The way to specify these are covered in the next section SPECIFYING
735 THE TESTS.
736 feature
738 disable
739 feature => [FEATURE1, FEATURE2, ...]
740 disable => [FEATURE1, FEATURE2, ...]
742 The default set of tests to run is determined using the start, end,
744 and skip_all methods discussed above. Using those methods, a list
745 of tests is obtained, and it is expected that these will run.
746 The feature and disable options modify the list.
748 If the feature option is included, the tests given in this call
750 will only run if ALL of the features listed are available.
751 If the disable option is included, the tests will be run unless ANY
753 of the features listed are available.
754 skip
756 skip => REASON
757 Skip these tests for the reason given.
759 todo
761 todo => 0/1
762 Setting this to 1 says that these tests are allowed to fail. They
764 represent a feature that is not yet implemented.
765 If the tests succeed, a message will be printed notifying the
767 developer that the tests are now ready to promote to actual use.
768
770 A series of tests can be specified in two different ways. The tests can
771 be written in a very simple string format, or stored as a list.
772 Demonstrating how this can be done is best done by example, so let's
774 say that there is a function (func) which takes two arguments, and
775 returns a single value. Let's say that the expected output (and the
776 actual output) from 3 different sets of arguments is:
777 Input Expected Output Actual Output
779 ----- --------------- -------------
780 1,2 a a
781 3,4 b x
782 5,6 c c
783 (so in this case, the first and third tests pass, but the 2nd one will
785 fail).
786 Specifying these tests as lists could be done as:
788 $o->tests(
790 func => &func,
791 tests => [ [1,2], [3,4], [5,6] ],
792 expected => [ [a], [b], [c] ],
793 );
794 Here, the tests are stored as a list, and each element in the list is a
796 listref containing the set of arguments.
797 If the func option is not passed in, the tests option is set to a list
799 of results to compare with the expected results, so the following is
800 equivalent to the above:
801 $o->tests(
803 tests => [ [a], [x], [c] ],
804 expected => [ [a], [b], [c] ],
805 );
806 If an argument (or actual result) or an expected result is only a
808 single value, it can be entered as a scalar instead of a list ref, so
809 the following is also equivalent:
810 $o->tests(
812 func => &func,
813 tests => [ [1,2], [3,4], [5,6] ],
814 expected => [ a, b, [c] ],
815 );
816 The only exception to this is if the single value is itself a list
818 reference. In this case it MUST be included as a reference. In other
819 words, if you have a single test, and the expected value for this test
820 is a list reference, it must be passed in as:
821 expected => [ [ \@r ] ]
823 NOT as:
825 expected => [ \@r ]
827 Passing in a set of expected results is optional. If none are passed
829 in, the tests are treated as if they had been passed to the ok method
830 (i.e. if they return something true, they pass, otherwise they fail).
831 The second way to specify tests is as a string. The string is a multi-
833 line string with each tests being separate from the next test by a
834 blank line. Comments (lines which begin with '#') are allowed, and are
835 ignored. Whitespace at the start and end of the line is ignored.
836 The string may contain the results directly, or results may be passed
838 in separately. For example, the following all give the same sets of
839 tests as the example above:
840 $o->tests(
842 func => &func,
843 tests => "
844 # Test 1
845 1 2 => a
846 # Test 2
848 3 4 => b
849 5 6 => c
851 ",
852 );
853 $o->tests(
855 func => &func,
856 tests => "
857 1 2
858 3 4
860 5 6
862 ",
863 expected => [ [a], [b], [c] ]
864 );
865 $o->tests(
867 func => &func,
868 tests => [ [1,2], [3,4], [5,6] ],
869 expected => "
870 a
871 b
873 c
875 ",
876 );
877 $o->tests(
879 func => &func,
880 tests => "
881 1 2
882 3 4
884 5 6
886 ",
887 expected => "
888 a
889 b
891 c
893 ",
894 );
895 The expected results may also consist of only a single set of results
897 (in this case, it must be passed in as a listref). In this case, all of
898 the tests are expected to have the same results.
899 So, the following are equivalent:
901 $o->tests(
903 func => &func,
904 tests => "
905 1 2 => a b
906 3 4 => a b
908 5 6 => a b
910 ",
911 );
912 $o->tests(
914 func => &func,
915 tests => "
916 1 2
917 3 4
919 5 6
921 ",
922 expected => [ [a, b] ],
923 );
924 $o->tests(
926 func => &func,
927 tests => "
928 1 2
929 3 4
931 5 6
933 ",
934 expected => "a b",
935 );
936 The number of expected values must either be 1 (i.e. all of the tests
938 are expected to produce the same value) or exactly the same number as
939 the number of tests.
940 The parser is actually quite powerful, and can handle multi-line tests,
942 quoted strings, and nested data structures.
943 The test may be split across any number of lines, provided there is not
945 a completely blank line (which signals the end of the test), so the
946 following are equivalent:
947 tests => "a b c",
949 tests => "a b
950 c",
951 Arguments (or expected results) may include data structures. For
953 example, the following are equivalent:
954 tests => "[ a b ] { a 1 b 2 }"
956 tests => [ [ [a,b], { a=>1, b=>2 } ] ]
957 Whitespace is mostly optional, but there is one exception. An item must
959 end with some kind of delimiter, so the following will fail:
960 tests => "[a b][c d]"
962 The first element (the list ref [a b]) must be separated from the
964 second element by the delimiter (which is whitespace in this case), so
965 it must be written as:
966 tests => "[a b] [c d]"
968 As already demonstrated, hashrefs and listrefs may be included and
970 nested. Elements may also be included inside parens, but this is
971 optional since all arguments and expected results are already treated
972 as lists, so the following are equivalent:
973 tests => "a b c"
975 tests => "(a b) c"
976 Although parens are optional, they may make things more readable, and
978 allow you to use something other than whitespace as the delimiter.
979 Since parens are actually ignored, a string '()' is also ignored, so do
980 not use empty parentheses.
981 If the character immediately following the opening paren, brace, or
983 bracket is a punctuation mark, then it is used as the delimiter instead
984 of whitespace. For example, the following are all equivalent:
985 [ a b c ]
987 [a b c]
988 [, a,b,c ]
989 [, a, b, c ]
990 A delimiter is a single character, and the following may not be used as
992 a delimiter:
993 any opening/closing characters () [] {}
995 single or double quotes
996 alphanumeric characters
997 underscore
998 Whitespace (including newlines) around the delimiter is ignored, so the
1000 following is valid:
1001 [, a,
1003 b,
1004 c ]
1005 Two delimiters next to each other or a trailing delimiter produce an
1007 empty string.
1008 "(,a,b,)" => (a, b, '')
1010 "(,a,,b)" => (a, '', b)
1011 Hashrefs may be specified by braces and the following are equivalent:
1013 { a 1 b 2 }
1015 {, a,1,b,2 }
1016 {, a,1,b,2, }
1017 Note that a trailing delimiter is ignored if there are already an even
1019 number of elements, or an empty string otherwise.
1020 Nested structures are allowed:
1022 "[ [1 2] [3 4] ]"
1024 For example,
1026 $o->tests(
1028 func => &func,
1029 tests => "a [ b c ] { d 1 e 2 } => x y"
1030 );
1031 is equivalent to:
1033 $o->tests(
1035 func => &func,
1036 tests => [ [a, [b,c], {d=>1,e=>2}] ],
1037 results => [ [x,y] ],
1038 );
1039 Any single value can be surrounded by single or double quotes in order
1041 to include the delimiter. So:
1042 "(, a,'b,c',e )"
1044 is equivalent to:
1046 "( a b,c e )"
1048 Any single value can be the string '__undef__' which will be turned
1050 into an actual undef. If the value is '__blank__' it is turned into an
1051 empty string (''), though it can also be specified as '' directly. Any
1052 value can have an embedded newline by including a __nl__ in the value,
1053 but the value must be written on a single line.
1054 Expected results are separated from arguments by ' => '.
1056
1058 To summarize the information above, the following variables are used by
1059 Test::Inter. Each variable can be set in two different ways: as an
1060 environment variable and as a perl variable in the main namespace.
1061 For example, the TI_END variable can be set as:
1063 $::TI_END
1065 $ENV{TI_END}
1066 The following variables can be used to define which tests are run:
1068 TI_START
1070 Set this to define the test you want to start with.
1071 Example: If you have a perl test script and you want to start
1073 running it at test 12, run the following shell commands:
1074 TI_START=12
1076 ./my_test_script.t
1077 TI_END
1079 Set this to define the test you want to end with.
1080 TI_TESTNUM
1082 Set this to run only a single test
1083 There is also a variable TI_NUM (available only as $::TI_NUM) which is
1085 set automatically by Test::Inter to be the test currently being run.
1086 The following variables control what is output from the tests, and how
1088 it is formatted:
1089 TI_QUIET
1091 How verbose the test script is.
1092 TI_MODE
1094 How the output is formatted.
1095 TI_WIDTH
1097 The width of the terminal.
1098 The following variables control how some tests are run:
1100 TI_NOCLEAN
1102 When running a file test, the temporary output file will not be
1103 removed if this is set.
1104
1106 The history of this module dates back to 1996 when I needed to write a
1107 test suite for my Date::Manip module. At that time, none of the Test::*
1108 modules currently available in CPAN existed (the earliest ones didn't
1109 come along until 1998), so I was left completely on my own writing my
1110 test scripts.
1111 I wrote a very basic version of my test framework which allowed me to
1113 write all of the tests as a string, it would parse the string, count
1114 the tests, and then run them.
1115 Over the years, the functionality I wanted grew, and periodically, I'd
1117 go back and reexamine other Test frameworks (primarily Test::More) to
1118 see if I could replace my framework with an existing module... and I've
1119 always found them wanting, and chosen to extend my existing framework
1120 instead.
1121 As I've written other modules, I've wanted to use the framework in them
1123 too, so I've always just copied it in, but this is obviously tedious
1124 and error prone. I'm not sure why it took me so long... but in 2010, I
1125 finally decided it was time to rework the framework in a module form.
1126 I loosely based my module on Test::More. I like the functionality of
1128 that module, and wanted most of it (and I plan on adding more in future
1129 versions). So this module uses some similar syntax to Test::More
1130 (though it allows a great deal more flexibility in how the tests are
1131 specified).
1132 One thing to note is that I may have been able to write this module as
1134 an extension to Test::More, but after looking into that possibility, I
1135 decided that it would be faster to not do that. I did "borrow" a couple
1136 of routines from it (though they've been modified quite heavily) as a
1137 starting point for a few of the functions in this module, and I thank
1138 the authors of Test::More for their work.
1139
1141 None known.
1142
1144 Test::More - the 'industry standard' of perl test frameworks
1145
1147 If you find a bug in Test::Inter, there are three ways to send it to
1148 me. Any of them are fine, so use the method that is easiest for you.
1149 Direct email
1151 You are welcome to send it directly to me by email. The email
1152 address to use is: sbeck@cpan.org.
1153 CPAN Bug Tracking
1155 You can submit it using the CPAN tracking too. This can be done at
1156 the following URL:
1157 <http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Test-Inter>
1159 GitHub
1161 You can submit it as an issue on GitHub. This can be done at the
1162 following URL:
1163 <https://github.com/SBECK-github/Test-Inter>
1165 Please do not use other means to report bugs (such as forums for a
1167 specific OS or Linux distribution) as it is impossible for me to keep
1168 up with all of them.
1169 When filing a bug report, please include the following information:
1171 Test::Inter version
1173 Please include the version of Test::Inter you are using. You can
1174 get this by using the script:
1175 use Test::Inter;
1177 print $Test::Inter::VERSION,"\n";
1178 If you want to report missing or incorrect codes, you must be running
1180 the most recent version of Test::Inter.
1181 If you find any problems with the documentation (errors, typos, or
1183 items that are not clear), please send them to me. I welcome any
1184 suggestions that will allow me to improve the documentation.
1185
1187 This script is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
1188 under the same terms as Perl itself.
1189
1191 Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)
1192perl v5.28.0 2018-03-15 Test::Inter(3)