3 Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Testing - Catalyst Tutorial - Part 7: Testing
7 This is B<Part 7 of 9> for the Catalyst tutorial.
9 L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial>
15 L<Introduction|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>
19 L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::CatalystBasics>
23 L<Basic CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial_BasicCRUD>
27 L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication>
31 L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>
35 L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Debugging>
43 L<AdvancedCRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::AdvancedCRUD>
47 L<Appendices|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Appendices>
53 You may have noticed that the Catalyst Helper scripts automatically
54 create basic C<.t> test scripts under the C<t> directory. This part of
55 the tutorial briefly looks at how these tests can be used to not only
56 ensure that your application is working correctly at the present time,
57 but also provide automated regression testing as you upgrade various
58 pieces of your application over time.
60 B<TIP>: Note that all of the code for this part of the tutorial can be
61 pulled from the Catalyst Subversion repository in one step with the
64 svn co http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/tags/examples/Tutorial/MyApp/5.7/Testing MyApp
67 =head1 RUNNING THE "CANNED" CATALYST TESTS
69 There are a variety of ways to run Catalyst and Perl tests (for example,
70 C<perl Makefile.PL> and C<make test>), but one of the easiest is with the
71 C<prove> command. For example, to run all of the tests in the C<t>
76 The redirection used by the Authentication plugins will cause the
77 default C<t/01app.t> to fail. You can fix this by changing the line in
78 C<t/01app.t> that read:
80 ok( request('/')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
84 ok( request('/login')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
86 So that a redirect is not necessary. Also, the C<t/controller_Books.t>
87 and C<t/controller_Logout.t> default test cases will fail because of the
88 authorization. You can delete these two files to prevent false error
91 $ rm t/controller_Books.t
92 $ rm t/controller_Logout.t
94 As you can see in the C<prove> command line above, the C<--lib> option
95 is used to set the location of the Catalyst C<lib> directory. With this
96 command, you will get all of the usual development server debug output,
97 something most people prefer to disable while running tests cases.
98 Although you can edit the C<lib/MyApp.pm> to comment out the C<-Debug>
99 plugin, it's generally easier to simply set the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0>
100 environment variable. For example:
102 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t
104 During the C<t/02pod> and C<t/03podcoverage> tests, you might notice the
105 C<all skipped: set TEST_POD to enable this test> warning message. To
106 execute the Pod-related tests, add C<TEST_POD=1> to the C<prove>
109 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib t
111 If you omitted the Pod comments from any of the methods that were
112 inserted, you might have to go back and fix them to get these tests to
115 Another useful option is the C<verbose> (C<-v>) option to C<prove>. It
116 prints the name of each test case as it is being run:
118 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib -v t
120 =head1 RUNNING A SINGLE TEST
122 You can also run a single script by appending its name to the C<prove>
123 command. For example:
125 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t/01app.t
127 Note that you can also run tests directly from Perl without C<prove>.
130 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -Ilib t/01app.t
132 =head1 ADDING YOUR OWN TEST SCRIPT
134 Although the Catalyst helper scripts provide a basic level of checks
135 "for free," testing can become significantly more helpful when you write
136 your own script to exercise the various parts of your application. The
137 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> module
138 is very popular for writing these sorts of test cases. This module
139 extends L<Test::WWW::Mechanize|Test::WWW::Mechanize> (and therefore
140 L<WWW::Mechanize|WWW::Mechanize>) to allow you to automate the action of
141 a user "clicking around" inside your application. It gives you all the
142 benefits of testing on a live system without the messiness of having to
143 use an actual web server, and a real person to do the clicking.
145 To create a sample test case, open the C<t/live_app01.t> file in your
146 editor and enter the following:
153 # Load testing framework and use 'no_plan' to dynamically pick up
154 # all tests. Better to replace "'no_plan'" with "tests => 30" so it
155 # knows exactly how many tests need to be run (and will tell you if
156 # not), but 'no_plan' is nice for quick & dirty tests
158 use Test::More 'no_plan';
160 # Need to specify the name of your app as arg on next line
162 # use Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst "MyApp";
164 use ok "Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst" => "MyApp";
166 # Create two 'user agents' to simulate two different users ('test01' & 'test02')
167 my $ua1 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
168 my $ua2 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
170 # Use a simplified for loop to do tests that are common to both users
171 # Use get_ok() to make sure we can hit the base URL
172 # Second arg = optional description of test (will be displayed for failed tests)
173 # Note that in test scripts you send everything to 'http://localhost'
174 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/", "Check redirect of base URL") for $ua1, $ua2;
175 # Use title_is() to check the contents of the <title>...</title> tags
176 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
177 # Use content_contains() to match on text in the html body
178 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
179 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
181 # Log in as each user
182 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
183 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
185 # Go back to the login page and it should show that we are already logged in
186 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Return to '/login'") for $ua1, $ua2;
187 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login page") for $ua1, $ua2;
188 $_->content_contains("Please Note: You are already logged in as ",
189 "Check we ARE logged in" ) for $ua1, $ua2;
191 # 'Click' the 'Logout' link
192 $_->follow_link_ok({n => 1}, "Logout via first link on page") for $ua1, $ua2;
193 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
194 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
195 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
198 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
199 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
200 # Should be at the Book List page... do some checks to confirm
201 $_->title_is("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
203 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
204 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Login Page");
205 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
207 $_->content_contains("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
208 # Make sure the appropriate logout buttons are displayed
209 $_->content_contains("/logout\">Logout</a>",
210 "Both users should have a 'User Logout'") for $ua1, $ua2;
211 $ua1->content_contains("/books/form_create\">Create</a>",
212 "Only 'test01' should have a create link");
214 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "View book list as 'test01'");
216 # User 'test01' should be able to create a book with the "formless create" URL
217 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle/2/4",
218 "'test01' formless create");
219 $ua1->title_is("Book Created", "Book created title");
220 $ua1->content_contains("Added book 'TestTitle'", "Check title added OK");
221 $ua1->content_contains("by 'Stevens'", "Check author added OK");
222 $ua1->content_contains("with a rating of 2.", "Check rating added");
223 # Try a regular expression to combine the previous 3 checks & account for whitespace
224 $ua1->content_like(qr/Added book 'TestTitle'\s+by 'Stevens'\s+with a rating of 2./, "Regex check");
226 # Make sure the new book shows in the list
227 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
228 $ua1->title_is("Book List", "Check logged in and at book list");
229 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
230 $ua1->content_contains("TestTitle", "Look for 'TestTitle'");
232 # Make sure the new book can be deleted
233 # Get all the Delete links on the list page
234 my @delLinks = $ua1->find_all_links(text => 'Delete');
235 # Use the final link to delete the last book
236 $ua1->get_ok($delLinks[$#delLinks]->url, 'Delete last book');
237 # Check that delete worked
238 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
239 $ua1->content_contains("Book deleted.", "Book was deleted");
241 # User 'test02' should not be able to add a book
242 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle2/2/5", "'test02' add");
243 $ua2->content_contains("Unauthorized!", "Check 'test02' cannot add");
245 The C<live_app.t> test cases uses copious comments to explain each step
246 of the process. In addition to the techniques shown here, there are a
247 variety of other methods available in
248 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> (for
249 example, regex-based matching). Consult the documentation for more
252 B<TIP>: For I<unit tests> vs. the "full application tests" approach used
253 by L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>, see
254 L<Catalyst::Test|Catalyst::Test>.
256 B<Note:> The test script does not test the C<form_create> and
257 C<form_create_do> actions. That is left as an exercise for the reader
258 (you should be able to complete that logic using the existing code as a
261 To run the new test script, use a command such as:
263 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
267 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
269 Experiment with the C<DBIC_TRACE>, C<CATALYST_DEBUG>
270 and C<-v> settings. If you find that there are errors, use the
271 techniques discussed in the "Catalyst Debugging" section (Part 6) to
272 isolate and fix any problems.
274 If you want to run the test case under the Perl interactive debugger,
275 try a command such as:
277 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -d -Ilib t/live_app01.t
279 Note that although this tutorial uses a single custom test case for
280 simplicity, you may wish to break your tests into different files for
283 =head1 SUPPORTING BOTH PRODUCTION AND TEST DATABASES
285 You may wish to leverage the techniques discussed in this tutorial to
286 maintain both a "production database" for your live application and a
287 "testing database" for your test cases. One advantage to
288 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> is that
289 it runs your full application; however, this can complicate things when
290 you want to support multiple databases. One solution is to allow the
291 database specification to be overridden with an environment variable.
292 For example, open C<lib/MyApp/Model/MyAppDB.pm> in your editor and
293 change the C<__PACKAGE__-E<gt>config(...> declaration to resemble:
295 my $dsn = $ENV{MYAPP_DSN} ||= 'dbi:SQLite:myapp.db';
297 schema_class => 'MyAppDB',
307 Then, when you run your test case, you can use commands such as:
309 $ cp myapp.db myappTEST.db
310 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 MYAPP_DSN="dbi:SQLite:myappTEST.db" prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
312 This will modify the DSN only while the test case is running. If you
313 launch your normal application without the C<MYAPP_DSN> environment
314 variable defined, it will default to the same C<dbi:SQLite:myapp.db> as
320 Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com>
322 Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The
323 most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at
324 L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/Catalyst-Runtime/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>.
326 Copyright 2006, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
327 (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>).