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>
70 =head1 RUNNING THE "CANNED" CATALYST TESTS
72 There are a variety of ways to run Catalyst and Perl tests (for example,
73 C<perl Makefile.PL> and C<make test>), but one of the easiest is with the
74 C<prove> command. For example, to run all of the tests in the C<t>
79 There will be a lot of output because we have the C<-Debug> flag enabled
80 in C<lib/MyApp.pm> (see the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0> tip below for a quick
81 and easy way to reduce the clutter). Look for lines like this for
84 # Failed test 'Request should succeed'
85 # in t/controller_Books.t at line 8.
86 # Looks like you failed 1 test of 3.
88 The redirection used by the Authentication plugins will cause several
89 failures in the default tests. You can fix this by making the following
92 1) Change the line in C<t/01app.t> that read:
94 ok( request('/')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
98 ok( request('/login')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
100 2) Change the C<request('/logout')-E<gt>is_success> to
101 C<request('/logout')-E<gt>is_redirect> in C<t/controller_Logout.t>.
103 3) Change the C<request('/books')-E<gt>is_success> to
104 C<request('/books')-E<gt>is_redirect> in C<t/controller_Books.t>.
106 As you can see in the C<prove> command line above, the C<--lib> option
107 is used to set the location of the Catalyst C<lib> directory. With this
108 command, you will get all of the usual development server debug output,
109 something most people prefer to disable while running tests cases.
110 Although you can edit the C<lib/MyApp.pm> to comment out the C<-Debug>
111 plugin, it's generally easier to simply set the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0>
112 environment variable. For example:
114 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t
116 During the C<t/02pod> and C<t/03podcoverage> tests, you might notice the
117 C<all skipped: set TEST_POD to enable this test> warning message. To
118 execute the Pod-related tests, add C<TEST_POD=1> to the C<prove>
121 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib t
123 If you omitted the Pod comments from any of the methods that were
124 inserted, you might have to go back and fix them to get these tests to
127 Another useful option is the C<verbose> (C<-v>) option to C<prove>. It
128 prints the name of each test case as it is being run:
130 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib -v t
133 =head1 RUNNING A SINGLE TEST
135 You can also run a single script by appending its name to the C<prove>
136 command. For example:
138 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t/01app.t
140 Also note that you can also run tests directly from Perl without C<prove>.
143 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -Ilib t/01app.t
146 =head1 ADDING YOUR OWN TEST SCRIPT
148 Although the Catalyst helper scripts provide a basic level of checks
149 "for free," testing can become significantly more helpful when you write
150 your own script to exercise the various parts of your application. The
151 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> module
152 is very popular for writing these sorts of test cases. This module
153 extends L<Test::WWW::Mechanize|Test::WWW::Mechanize> (and therefore
154 L<WWW::Mechanize|WWW::Mechanize>) to allow you to automate the action of
155 a user "clicking around" inside your application. It gives you all the
156 benefits of testing on a live system without the messiness of having to
157 use an actual web server, and a real person to do the clicking.
159 To create a sample test case, open the C<t/live_app01.t> file in your
160 editor and enter the following:
167 # Load testing framework and use 'no_plan' to dynamically pick up
168 # all tests. Better to replace "'no_plan'" with "tests => 30" so it
169 # knows exactly how many tests need to be run (and will tell you if
170 # not), but 'no_plan' is nice for quick & dirty tests
172 use Test::More 'no_plan';
174 # Need to specify the name of your app as arg on next line
176 # use Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst "MyApp";
178 use ok "Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst" => "MyApp";
180 # Create two 'user agents' to simulate two different users ('test01' & 'test02')
181 my $ua1 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
182 my $ua2 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
184 # Use a simplified for loop to do tests that are common to both users
185 # Use get_ok() to make sure we can hit the base URL
186 # Second arg = optional description of test (will be displayed for failed tests)
187 # Note that in test scripts you send everything to 'http://localhost'
188 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/", "Check redirect of base URL") for $ua1, $ua2;
189 # Use title_is() to check the contents of the <title>...</title> tags
190 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
191 # Use content_contains() to match on text in the html body
192 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
193 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
195 # Log in as each user
196 # Specify username and password on the URL
197 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
198 # Use the form for user 'test02'; note there is no description here
201 username => 'test02',
202 password => 'mypass',
205 # Go back to the login page and it should show that we are already logged in
206 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Return to '/login'") for $ua1, $ua2;
207 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login page") for $ua1, $ua2;
208 $_->content_contains("Please Note: You are already logged in as ",
209 "Check we ARE logged in" ) for $ua1, $ua2;
211 # 'Click' the 'Logout' link (see also 'text_regex' and 'url_regex' options)
212 $_->follow_link_ok({n => 1}, "Logout via first link on page") for $ua1, $ua2;
213 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
214 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
215 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
218 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
219 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
220 # Should be at the Book List page... do some checks to confirm
221 $_->title_is("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
223 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
224 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Login Page");
225 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
227 $_->content_contains("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
228 # Make sure the appropriate logout buttons are displayed
229 $_->content_contains("/logout\">Logout</a>",
230 "Both users should have a 'User Logout'") for $ua1, $ua2;
231 $ua1->content_contains("/books/form_create\">Create</a>",
232 "Only 'test01' should have a create link");
234 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "View book list as 'test01'");
236 # User 'test01' should be able to create a book with the "formless create" URL
237 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle/2/4",
238 "'test01' formless create");
239 $ua1->title_is("Book Created", "Book created title");
240 $ua1->content_contains("Added book 'TestTitle'", "Check title added OK");
241 $ua1->content_contains("by 'Stevens'", "Check author added OK");
242 $ua1->content_contains("with a rating of 2.", "Check rating added");
243 # Try a regular expression to combine the previous 3 checks & account for whitespace
244 $ua1->content_like(qr/Added book 'TestTitle'\s+by 'Stevens'\s+with a rating of 2./, "Regex check");
246 # Make sure the new book shows in the list
247 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
248 $ua1->title_is("Book List", "Check logged in and at book list");
249 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
250 $ua1->content_contains("TestTitle", "Look for 'TestTitle'");
252 # Make sure the new book can be deleted
253 # Get all the Delete links on the list page
254 my @delLinks = $ua1->find_all_links(text => 'Delete');
255 # Use the final link to delete the last book
256 $ua1->get_ok($delLinks[$#delLinks]->url, 'Delete last book');
257 # Check that delete worked
258 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
259 $ua1->content_contains("Book deleted", "Book was deleted");
261 # User 'test02' should not be able to add a book
262 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle2/2/5", "'test02' add");
263 $ua2->content_contains("Unauthorized!", "Check 'test02' cannot add");
265 The C<live_app.t> test cases uses copious comments to explain each step
266 of the process. In addition to the techniques shown here, there are a
267 variety of other methods available in
268 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> (for
269 example, regex-based matching). Consult the documentation for more
272 B<TIP>: For I<unit tests> vs. the "full application tests" approach used
273 by L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>, see
274 L<Catalyst::Test|Catalyst::Test>.
276 B<Note:> The test script does not test the C<form_create> and
277 C<form_create_do> actions. That is left as an exercise for the reader
278 (you should be able to complete that logic using the existing code as a
281 To run the new test script, use a command such as:
283 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
287 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
289 Experiment with the C<DBIC_TRACE>, C<CATALYST_DEBUG>
290 and C<-v> settings. If you find that there are errors, use the
291 techniques discussed in the "Catalyst Debugging" section (Part 6) to
292 isolate and fix any problems.
294 If you want to run the test case under the Perl interactive debugger,
295 try a command such as:
297 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -d -Ilib t/live_app01.t
299 Note that although this tutorial uses a single custom test case for
300 simplicity, you may wish to break your tests into different files for
303 B<TIP:> If you have a test case that fails, you will receive an error
304 similar to the following:
306 # Failed test 'Check we are NOT logged in'
307 # in t/live_app01.t at line 31.
308 # searched: "\x{0a}<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Tran"...
309 # can't find: "You need to log in to use this application."
311 Unfortunately, this only shows us the first 50 characters of the HTML
312 returned by the request -- not enough to determine where the problem
313 lies. A simple technique that can be used in such situations is to
314 temporarily insert a line similar to the following right after the
319 This will cause the full HTML returned by the request to be displayed.
322 =head1 SUPPORTING BOTH PRODUCTION AND TEST DATABASES
324 You may wish to leverage the techniques discussed in this tutorial to
325 maintain both a "production database" for your live application and a
326 "testing database" for your test cases. One advantage to
327 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> is that
328 it runs your full application; however, this can complicate things when
329 you want to support multiple databases. One solution is to allow the
330 database specification to be overridden with an environment variable.
331 For example, open C<lib/MyApp/Model/MyAppDB.pm> in your editor and
332 change the C<__PACKAGE__-E<gt>config(...> declaration to resemble:
334 my $dsn = $ENV{MYAPP_DSN} ||= 'dbi:SQLite:myapp.db';
336 schema_class => 'MyApp::Schema::MyAppDB',
342 Then, when you run your test case, you can use commands such as:
344 $ cp myapp.db myappTEST.db
345 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 MYAPP_DSN="dbi:SQLite:myappTEST.db" prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
347 This will modify the DSN only while the test case is running. If you
348 launch your normal application without the C<MYAPP_DSN> environment
349 variable defined, it will default to the same C<dbi:SQLite:myapp.db> as
355 Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com>
357 Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The
358 most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at
359 L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/Catalyst-Manual/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>.
361 Copyright 2006, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
362 (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>).