3 Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Testing - Catalyst Tutorial - Part 8: Testing
8 This is B<Part 8 of 10> for the Catalyst tutorial.
10 L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial>
16 L<Introduction|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>
20 L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::CatalystBasics>
24 L<More Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::MoreCatalystBasics>
28 L<Basic CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::BasicCRUD>
32 L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication>
36 L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>
40 L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Debugging>
48 L<Advanced CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::AdvancedCRUD>
52 L<Appendices|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Appendices>
59 You may have noticed that the Catalyst Helper scripts automatically
60 create basic C<.t> test scripts under the C<t> directory. This part of
61 the tutorial briefly looks at how these tests can be used to not only
62 ensure that your application is working correctly at the present time,
63 but also provide automated regression testing as you upgrade various
64 pieces of your application over time.
66 You can checkout the source code for this example from the catalyst
67 subversion repository as per the instructions in
68 L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>.
70 B<Note:> Some of the tests in this section currently fail under
71 Ubuntu 8.10 and Catalyst v5.7014. We are looking for a fix. They
72 do work under Ubuntu 8.04 and Catalyst v5.7011.
76 =head1 RUNNING THE "CANNED" CATALYST TESTS
78 There are a variety of ways to run Catalyst and Perl tests (for example,
79 C<perl Makefile.PL> and C<make test>), but one of the easiest is with the
80 C<prove> command. For example, to run all of the tests in the C<t>
85 There will be a lot of output because we have the C<-Debug> flag enabled
86 in C<lib/MyApp.pm> (see the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0> tip below for a quick
87 and easy way to reduce the clutter). Look for lines like this for
90 # Failed test 'Request should succeed'
91 # in t/controller_Books.t at line 8.
92 # Looks like you failed 1 test of 3.
94 The redirection used by the Authentication plugins will cause several
95 failures in the default tests. You can fix this by making the following
98 1) Change the line in C<t/01app.t> that read:
100 ok( request('/')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
104 ok( request('/login')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
106 2) Change the C<request('/logout')-E<gt>is_success> to
107 C<request('/logout')-E<gt>is_redirect> in C<t/controller_Logout.t>.
109 3) Change the C<request('/books')-E<gt>is_success> to
110 C<request('/books')-E<gt>is_redirect> in C<t/controller_Books.t>.
112 As you can see in the C<prove> command line above, the C<--lib> option
113 is used to set the location of the Catalyst C<lib> directory. With this
114 command, you will get all of the usual development server debug output,
115 something most people prefer to disable while running tests cases.
116 Although you can edit the C<lib/MyApp.pm> to comment out the C<-Debug>
117 plugin, it's generally easier to simply set the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0>
118 environment variable. For example:
120 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t
122 During the C<t/02pod> and C<t/03podcoverage> tests, you might notice the
123 C<all skipped: set TEST_POD to enable this test> warning message. To
124 execute the Pod-related tests, add C<TEST_POD=1> to the C<prove>
127 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib t
129 If you omitted the Pod comments from any of the methods that were
130 inserted, you might have to go back and fix them to get these tests to
133 Another useful option is the C<verbose> (C<-v>) option to C<prove>. It
134 prints the name of each test case as it is being run:
136 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib -v t
139 =head1 RUNNING A SINGLE TEST
141 You can also run a single script by appending its name to the C<prove>
142 command. For example:
144 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t/01app.t
146 Also note that you can also run tests directly from Perl without C<prove>.
149 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -Ilib t/01app.t
152 =head1 ADDING YOUR OWN TEST SCRIPT
154 Although the Catalyst helper scripts provide a basic level of checks
155 "for free," testing can become significantly more helpful when you write
156 your own script to exercise the various parts of your application. The
157 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> module
158 is very popular for writing these sorts of test cases. This module
159 extends L<Test::WWW::Mechanize|Test::WWW::Mechanize> (and therefore
160 L<WWW::Mechanize|WWW::Mechanize>) to allow you to automate the action of
161 a user "clicking around" inside your application. It gives you all the
162 benefits of testing on a live system without the messiness of having to
163 use an actual web server, and a real person to do the clicking.
165 To create a sample test case, open the C<t/live_app01.t> file in your
166 editor and enter the following:
173 # Load testing framework and use 'no_plan' to dynamically pick up
174 # all tests. Better to replace "'no_plan'" with "tests => 30" so it
175 # knows exactly how many tests need to be run (and will tell you if
176 # not), but 'no_plan' is nice for quick & dirty tests
178 use Test::More 'no_plan';
180 # Need to specify the name of your app as arg on next line
182 # use Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst "MyApp";
184 use ok "Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst" => "MyApp";
186 # Create two 'user agents' to simulate two different users ('test01' & 'test02')
187 my $ua1 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
188 my $ua2 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
190 # Use a simplified for loop to do tests that are common to both users
191 # Use get_ok() to make sure we can hit the base URL
192 # Second arg = optional description of test (will be displayed for failed tests)
193 # Note that in test scripts you send everything to 'http://localhost'
194 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/", "Check redirect of base URL") for $ua1, $ua2;
195 # Use title_is() to check the contents of the <title>...</title> tags
196 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
197 # Use content_contains() to match on text in the html body
198 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
199 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
201 # Log in as each user
202 # Specify username and password on the URL
203 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
204 # Use the form for user 'test02'; note there is no description here
207 username => 'test02',
208 password => 'mypass',
211 # Go back to the login page and it should show that we are already logged in
212 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Return to '/login'") for $ua1, $ua2;
213 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login page") for $ua1, $ua2;
214 $_->content_contains("Please Note: You are already logged in as ",
215 "Check we ARE logged in" ) for $ua1, $ua2;
217 # 'Click' the 'Logout' link (see also 'text_regex' and 'url_regex' options)
218 $_->follow_link_ok({n => 1}, "Logout via first link on page") for $ua1, $ua2;
219 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
220 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
221 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
224 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
225 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
226 # Should be at the Book List page... do some checks to confirm
227 $_->title_is("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
229 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
230 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Login Page");
231 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
233 $_->content_contains("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
234 # Make sure the appropriate logout buttons are displayed
235 $_->content_contains("/logout\">Logout</a>",
236 "Both users should have a 'User Logout'") for $ua1, $ua2;
237 $ua1->content_contains("/books/form_create\">Create</a>",
238 "Only 'test01' should have a create link");
240 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "View book list as 'test01'");
242 # User 'test01' should be able to create a book with the "formless create" URL
243 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle/2/4",
244 "'test01' formless create");
245 $ua1->title_is("Book Created", "Book created title");
246 $ua1->content_contains("Added book 'TestTitle'", "Check title added OK");
247 $ua1->content_contains("by 'Stevens'", "Check author added OK");
248 $ua1->content_contains("with a rating of 2.", "Check rating added");
249 # Try a regular expression to combine the previous 3 checks & account for whitespace
250 $ua1->content_like(qr/Added book 'TestTitle'\s+by 'Stevens'\s+with a rating of 2./, "Regex check");
252 # Make sure the new book shows in the list
253 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
254 $ua1->title_is("Book List", "Check logged in and at book list");
255 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
256 $ua1->content_contains("TestTitle", "Look for 'TestTitle'");
258 # Make sure the new book can be deleted
259 # Get all the Delete links on the list page
260 my @delLinks = $ua1->find_all_links(text => 'Delete');
261 # Use the final link to delete the last book
262 $ua1->get_ok($delLinks[$#delLinks]->url, 'Delete last book');
263 # Check that delete worked
264 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
265 $ua1->content_contains("Book deleted", "Book was deleted");
267 # User 'test02' should not be able to add a book
268 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle2/2/5", "'test02' add");
269 $ua2->content_contains("Unauthorized!", "Check 'test02' cannot add");
271 The C<live_app.t> test cases uses copious comments to explain each step
272 of the process. In addition to the techniques shown here, there are a
273 variety of other methods available in
274 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> (for
275 example, regex-based matching). Consult the documentation for more
278 B<TIP>: For I<unit tests> vs. the "full application tests" approach used
279 by L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>, see
280 L<Catalyst::Test|Catalyst::Test>.
282 B<Note:> The test script does not test the C<form_create> and
283 C<form_create_do> actions. That is left as an exercise for the reader
284 (you should be able to complete that logic using the existing code as a
287 To run the new test script, use a command such as:
289 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
293 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
295 Experiment with the C<DBIC_TRACE>, C<CATALYST_DEBUG>
296 and C<-v> settings. If you find that there are errors, use the
297 techniques discussed in the "Catalyst Debugging" section (Part 7) to
298 isolate and fix any problems.
300 If you want to run the test case under the Perl interactive debugger,
301 try a command such as:
303 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -d -Ilib t/live_app01.t
305 Note that although this tutorial uses a single custom test case for
306 simplicity, you may wish to break your tests into different files for
309 B<TIP:> If you have a test case that fails, you will receive an error
310 similar to the following:
312 # Failed test 'Check we are NOT logged in'
313 # in t/live_app01.t at line 31.
314 # searched: "\x{0a}<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Tran"...
315 # can't find: "You need to log in to use this application."
317 Unfortunately, this only shows us the first 50 characters of the HTML
318 returned by the request -- not enough to determine where the problem
319 lies. A simple technique that can be used in such situations is to
320 temporarily insert a line similar to the following right after the
325 This will cause the full HTML returned by the request to be displayed.
328 =head1 SUPPORTING BOTH PRODUCTION AND TEST DATABASES
330 You may wish to leverage the techniques discussed in this tutorial to
331 maintain both a "production database" for your live application and a
332 "testing database" for your test cases. One advantage to
333 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> is that
334 it runs your full application; however, this can complicate things when
335 you want to support multiple databases. One solution is to allow the
336 database specification to be overridden with an environment variable.
337 For example, open C<lib/MyApp/Model/DB.pm> in your editor and
338 change the C<__PACKAGE__-E<gt>config(...> declaration to resemble:
340 my $dsn = $ENV{MYAPP_DSN} ||= 'dbi:SQLite:myapp.db';
342 schema_class => 'MyApp::Schema',
348 Then, when you run your test case, you can use commands such as:
350 $ cp myapp.db myappTEST.db
351 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 MYAPP_DSN="dbi:SQLite:myappTEST.db" prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
353 This will modify the DSN only while the test case is running. If you
354 launch your normal application without the C<MYAPP_DSN> environment
355 variable defined, it will default to the same C<dbi:SQLite:myapp.db> as
361 Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com>
363 Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The
364 most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at
365 L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/Catalyst-Manual/5.70/trunk/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>.
367 Copyright 2006-2008, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
368 (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/>).