3 Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Testing - Catalyst Tutorial - Part 7: Testing
9 This is B<Part 7 of 9> for the Catalyst tutorial.
11 L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial>
17 L<Introduction|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>
21 L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::CatalystBasics>
25 L<Basic CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial_BasicCRUD>
29 L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication>
33 L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>
37 L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Debugging>
45 L<AdvancedCRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::AdvancedCRUD>
49 L<Appendicies|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Appendicies>
58 You may have noticed that the Catalyst Helper scripts automatically
59 create C<.t> test scripts under the C<t> directory. This part of the
60 tutorial briefly looks at how these tests can be used to not only ensure
61 that your application is working correctly at the present time, but also
62 provide automated regression testing as you upgrade various pieces of
63 your application over time.
65 B<TIP>: Note that all of the code for this part of the tutorial can be
66 pulled from the Catalyst Subversion repository in one step with the
69 svn checkout http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial@###
70 IMPORTANT: Does not work yet. Will be completed for final version.
74 =head1 RUNNING THE "CANNED" CATALYST TESTS
76 There are a variety of ways to run Catalyst and Perl tests (for example,
77 C<perl Makefile.PL> and C<make test>, but one of the easiest is with the
78 C<prove> command. For example, to run all of the tests in the C<t>
83 The redirection used by the Authentication plugins will cause the
84 default C<t/01app.t> to fail. You can fix this by changing the line in
85 C<t/01app.t> that read:
87 ok( request('/')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
91 ok( request('/login')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
93 So that a redirect is not necessary. Also, the C<t/controller_Books.t>
94 and C<t/controller_Logout.t> default test cases will fail because of the
95 authorization. You can delete these two files to prevent false error
98 $ rm t/controller_Books.t
99 $ rm t/controller_Logout.t
101 As you can see in the C<prove> command line above, the C<--lib> option
102 is used to set the location of the Catalyst C<lib> directory. With this
103 command, you will get all of the usual development server debug output,
104 something most people prefer to disable while running tests cases.
105 Although you can edit the C<lib/MyApp.pm> to comment out the C<-Debug>
106 plugin, it's generally easier to simply set the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0>
107 environment variable. For example:
109 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t
111 During the C<t/02pod> and C<t/03podcoverage> tests, you might notice the
112 C<all skipped: set TEST_POD to enable this test> warning message. To
113 execute the Pod-related tests, add C<TEST_POD=1> to the C<prove>
116 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib t
118 If you omitted the Pod comments from any of the methods that were
119 inserted, you might have to go back and fix them to get these tests to
122 Another useful option is the C<verbose> (C<-v>) option to C<prove>. It
123 prints the name of each test case as it is being run:
125 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib -v t
129 =head1 RUNNING A SINGLE TEST
131 You can also run a single script by appending its name to the C<prove>
132 command. For example:
134 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t/01app.t
136 Note that you can also run tests directly from Perl without C<prove>.
139 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -Ilib t/01app.t
142 =head1 ADDING YOUR OWN TEST SCRIPT
144 Although the Catalyst helper scripts provide a basic level of checks
145 "for free," testing can become significantly more helpful when you write
146 your own script to exercise the various parts of your application. The
147 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> module
148 is very popular for writing these sorts of test cases. This module
149 extends L<Test::WWW::Mechanize|Test::WWW::Mechanize> (and therefore
150 L<WWW::Mechanize|WWW::Mechanize>) to allow you to automate the action of
151 a user "clicking around" inside your application. It gives you all the
152 benefits of testing on a live system without the messiness of having to
153 use an actual web server.
155 To create a sample test case, open the C<t/live_app01.t> file in your
156 editor and enter the following:
163 # Load testing framework and use 'no_plan' to dynamically pick up all tests. Better
164 # to replace "'no_plan'" with "tests => 30" so it knows exactly how many tests need
165 # to be run (and will tell you if not), but 'no_plan' is nice for quick & dirty tests
166 use Test::More 'no_plan';
168 # Need to specify the name of your app as arg on next line
170 # use Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst "MyApp";
171 use ok "Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst" => "MyApp";
174 # Create two 'user agents' to simulate two different users ('test01' & 'test02')
175 my $ua1 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
176 my $ua2 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
178 # Use a simplified for loop to do tests that are common to both users
179 # Use get_ok() to make sure we can hit the base URL
180 # Second arg = optional description of test (will be displayed for failed tests)
181 # Note that in test scripts you send everything to 'http://localhost'
182 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/", "Check redirect of base URL") for $ua1, $ua2;
183 # Use title_is() to check the contents of the <title>...</title> tags
184 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
185 # Use content_contains() to match on test in the html body
186 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
187 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
189 # Log in as each user
190 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
191 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
193 # Go back to the login page and it should show that we are already logged in
194 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Return to '/login'") for $ua1, $ua2;
195 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login page") for $ua1, $ua2;
196 $_->content_contains("Please Note: You are already logged in as ",
197 "Check we ARE logged in" ) for $ua1, $ua2;
199 # 'Click' the 'Logout' link
200 $_->follow_link_ok({n => 1}, "Logout via first link on page") for $ua1, $ua2;
201 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
202 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
203 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
206 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
207 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
208 # Should be at the Book List page... do some checks to confirm
209 $_->title_is("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
211 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
212 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Login Page");
213 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
215 $_->content_contains("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
216 # Make sure the appropriate logout buttons are displayed
217 $_->content_contains("/logout\">Logout</a>",
218 "Both users should have a 'User Logout'") for $ua1, $ua2;
219 $ua1->content_contains("/books/form_create\">Create</a>",
220 "Only 'test01' should have a create link");
222 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "View book list as 'test01'");
224 # User 'test01' should be able to create a book with the "formless create" URL
225 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle/2/4",
226 "'test01' formless create");
227 $ua1->title_is("Book Created", "Book created title");
228 $ua1->content_contains("Added book 'TestTitle' by 'Stevens'", "Check added OK");
229 $ua1->content_contains("a rating of 2.", "Check rating added");
231 # Make sure the new book shows in the list
232 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
233 $ua1->title_is("Book List", "Check logged in and at book list");
234 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
235 $ua1->content_contains("TestTitle", "Look for 'TestTitle'");
237 # Make sure the new book can be deleted
238 # Get all the Delete links on the list page
239 my @delLinks = $ua1->find_all_links(text => 'Delete');
240 # Use the final link to delete the last book
241 $ua1->get_ok($delLinks[$#delLinks]->url, 'Delete last book');
242 # Check that delete worked
243 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
244 $ua1->content_contains("Book deleted.", "Book was deleted");
246 # User 'test02' should not be able to add a book
247 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle2/2/5", "'test02' add");
248 $ua2->content_contains("Unauthorized!", "Check 'test02' cannot add");
250 The C<live_app.t> test cases uses copious comments to explain each step
251 of the process. In addition to the techniques shown here, there are a
252 variety of other methods available in
253 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> (for
254 example, regex-based matching). Consult the documentation for more
257 B<TIP>: For I<unit tests> vs. the "full application tests" approach used
258 by L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>, see
259 L<Catalyst::Test|Catalyst::Test>.
261 B<Note:> The test script does not test the C<form_create> and
262 C<form_create_do> actions. That is left as an exercise for the reader
263 (you should be able to complete that logic using the existing code as a
266 To run the new test script, use a command such as:
268 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
272 $ DBIX_CLASS_STORAGE_DBI_DEBUG=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
274 Experiment with the C<DBIX_CLASS_STORAGE_DBI_DEBUG>, C<CATALYST_DEBUG>
275 and C<-v> settings. If you find that there are errors, use the
276 techniques discussed in the "Catalyst Debugging" section (Part 6) to
277 isolate and fix the problem.
279 If you want to run the test case under the Perl interactive debugger,
280 try a command such as:
282 $ DBIX_CLASS_STORAGE_DBI_DEBUG=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -d -Ilib t/live_app01.t
284 Note that although the tutorial uses a single custom test case for
285 simplicity, you may wish to break your tests into different files for
290 =head1 SUPPORTING BOTH PRODUCTION AND TEST DATABASES
292 You may wish to leverage the techniques discussed in this tutorial to
293 maintain both a "production database" for your live application and a
294 "testing database" for your test cases. One advantage to
295 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> is that
296 it runs your full application; however, this can complicate things when
297 you want to support multiple databases. One solution is to allow the
298 database specification to be overridden with an environment variable.
299 For example, open C<lib/MyApp/Model/MyAppDB.pm> in your editor and
300 change the C<__PACKAGE__-E<gt>config(...> declaration to resemble:
302 my $dsn = $ENV{MYAPP_DSN} ||= 'dbi:SQLite:myapp.db';
304 schema_class => 'MyAppDB',
314 Then, when you run your test case, you can use commands such as:
316 $ cp myapp.db myappTEST.db
317 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 MYAPP_DSN="dbi:SQLite:myappTEST.db" prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
319 This will modify the DSN only while the test case is running. If you
320 launch your normal application without the C<MYAPP_DSN> environment
321 variable defined, it will default to the same C<dbi:SQLite:myapp.db> as
328 Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com>
330 Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author.
332 Copyright 2006, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
333 (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>).