HTTP::WebTest (by Richard Anderson) was released to CPAN today and is
available for download. It is a module for creating automated unit tests
for Apache::ASP pages (and other). Here is the announcement posted to
comp.lang.perl.announce and comp.lang.perl.modules:
NAME
HTTP::WebTest - Test remote URLs or local web files
DESCRIPTION
This module runs tests on remote URLs or local web files containing
Perl/HTML/JavaScript/etc. and generates a detailed test report. The
test specifications can be read from a parameter file or input as
method arguments. If you are testing a local file, Apache is
started on a private/dynamic port with a configuration file in a
temporary directory. The module displays the test results on the
terminal by default or directs them to a file. The module will also
optionally e-mails the test results. When the calling program
exits, the module stops the local instance of Apache and deletes
the temporary directory.
Each test consists of literal strings or regular expressions that
are either required to exist or forbidden to exist in the fetched
~ page. You can also specify tests for the minimum and maximum number
of bytes in the returned page. If you are testing a local file, the
module checks the error log in the temporary directory before and
after the file is fetched from Apache. If messages are written to
the error log during the fetch, the module flags this as an error
and writes the messages to the output test report.
SYNOPSIS
This module can accept input parameters from a parameter file or
subroutine arguments.
TO RUN WEB TESTS DEFINED BY SUBROUTINE ARGUMENTS:
use HTTP::WebTest; run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail,
\$num_succeed, \%test_options)
or
use HTTP::WebTest; run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail,
\$num_succeed)
TO RUN WEB TESTS DEFINED BY A PARAMETER FILE:
use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals); # Recommended, not necessary
use HTTP::WebTest; $webtest = HTTP::WebTest->new();
$webtest->web_test('my_web_tests.wt', \$num_fail, \$num_succeed);
The web_test() method has an option to test a local file by
starting Apache on a private port, copying the file to a temporary
htdocs directory and fetching the page from Apache. If you are
testing with multiple parameter files, you can avoid restarting
Apache each time by calling new() only once and recycling the
object:
use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals); # Recommended, not necessary
use HTTP::WebTest;
$webtest = HTTP::WebTest->new();
foreach $file (@ARGV) {
$webtest->web_test($file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed);
}
TO ENABLE DEBUGGING MESSAGES (OUTPUT TO STDOUT):
If you are calling the web_test method, use the debug parameter.
If you are calling the run_web_test method, do this:
use HTTP::WebTest;
$HTTP::WebTest::Debug = 1; # Diagnostic messages
$HTTP::WebTest::Debug = 2; # Messages and preserve temp Apache dir
run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed)
RESTRICTIONS / BUGS
This module only works on Unix (e.g., Solaris, Linux, AIX, etc.).
The module's HTTP requests time out after 3 minutes (the default
value for LWP::UserAgent). If the file_path parameter is specified,
Apache must be installed. If the file_path parameter is specified,
the directory /tmp cannot be NFS-mounted, since Apache's lockfile
and the SSL mutex file must be stored on a local disk.
VERSION
This document describes version 0.01, release date 13 January 2001.
TODO
Add option to validate HTML syntax using HTML::Validator. Add
option to check links (see
http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/perl/pm/lc/linkcheck.html).
AUTHOR
Richard Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2000 Richard Anderson. All rights reserved. This
module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or
modified under the terms of the Perl Artistic License.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] RayCosoft, LLC
Perl/Java/Oracle/Unix software engineering www.unixscripts.com
www.zipcon.net/~starfire/home Seattle, WA, USA
