--- On Fri, 2/4/10, Erik Osheim <e...@plastic-idolatry.com> wrote:
> From: Erik Osheim <e...@plastic-idolatry.com>
> > I assume either
> some code builds it
> > and others then need it or it's expensive to
> build? If it's the
> > former, it implies an ordering dependency and coupling
> in your tests
> > which greatly lowers their utility.
>
> It's more the former than the latter, and yes, it does
> lower the tests'
> utility.
Ouch. On the other hand, plenty of legacy systems get created this way :)
> The application suffers from its monolithic
> architecture. We
> had previously tried to use mock objects to do all the
> testing but most
> of the mock objects ended up needing to be "close enough"
> to the real
> thing to defeat the purpose.
I've never been a fan of mock objects. If your interface changes but you've
mocked it up, your tests can generate false positives. For that matter, it's
why I lean towards integration tests over unit tests (there are trade-offs, of
course).
> Maybe I should port my solution to Test::Class and write
> something
> similar to Test::Class::Load (maybe called
> Test::Class::Dependency) to
> manage the automatic loading of dependent classes (e.g. for
> test D,
> load tests A and B automatically and make sure to run them
> first)? Or
> do you think I should stick with my custom solution?
Actually, I'd love to see a patch to Test::Class which adds "tags" to test
methods. Imagine this:
sub customer_order : Tests(23) Tags(Customer Order) {
my $test = shift;
my $customer = $test->test_customer;
ok $customer->login, '...';
...
}
The idea behind a 'tag' is that your test framework can spot it and take action
accordingly. In the example above, your "setup" method might look like this:
sub setup : Tests(setup) {
my $test = shift;
foreach my $tag ( $test->test_tags ) {
# or whatever code you need
$test->load_fixture($tag);
}
}
By being able to tag tests, you'd be able to:
* Load fixtures as needed.
* Load dependencies as needed.
* Run only '$tag' tests
* ... or anything else you can think of with tags
Yeah, I know it would be more work for you, but you'd really help those who use
Test::Class and want more out of it :)
If you're struggling with Test::Class, I have a tutorial at:
http://www.slideshare.net/Ovid/testing-with-testclass
Cheers,
Ovid
--
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