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 You can checkout the source code for this example from the catalyst
61 subversion repository as per the instructions in
62 L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>
64 =head1 RUNNING THE "CANNED" CATALYST TESTS
66 There are a variety of ways to run Catalyst and Perl tests (for example,
67 C<perl Makefile.PL> and C<make test>), but one of the easiest is with the
68 C<prove> command. For example, to run all of the tests in the C<t>
73 The redirection used by the Authentication plugins will cause the
74 default C<t/01app.t> to fail. You can fix this by changing the line in
75 C<t/01app.t> that read:
77 ok( request('/')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
81 ok( request('/login')->is_success, 'Request should succeed' );
83 So that a redirect is not necessary. Also, the C<t/controller_Books.t>
84 and C<t/controller_Logout.t> default test cases will fail because of the
85 authorization. You can delete these two files to prevent false error
88 $ rm t/controller_Books.t
89 $ rm t/controller_Logout.t
91 As you can see in the C<prove> command line above, the C<--lib> option
92 is used to set the location of the Catalyst C<lib> directory. With this
93 command, you will get all of the usual development server debug output,
94 something most people prefer to disable while running tests cases.
95 Although you can edit the C<lib/MyApp.pm> to comment out the C<-Debug>
96 plugin, it's generally easier to simply set the C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0>
97 environment variable. For example:
99 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t
101 During the C<t/02pod> and C<t/03podcoverage> tests, you might notice the
102 C<all skipped: set TEST_POD to enable this test> warning message. To
103 execute the Pod-related tests, add C<TEST_POD=1> to the C<prove>
106 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib t
108 If you omitted the Pod comments from any of the methods that were
109 inserted, you might have to go back and fix them to get these tests to
112 Another useful option is the C<verbose> (C<-v>) option to C<prove>. It
113 prints the name of each test case as it is being run:
115 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib -v t
117 =head1 RUNNING A SINGLE TEST
119 You can also run a single script by appending its name to the C<prove>
120 command. For example:
122 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t/01app.t
124 Note that you can also run tests directly from Perl without C<prove>.
127 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -Ilib t/01app.t
129 =head1 ADDING YOUR OWN TEST SCRIPT
131 Although the Catalyst helper scripts provide a basic level of checks
132 "for free," testing can become significantly more helpful when you write
133 your own script to exercise the various parts of your application. The
134 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> module
135 is very popular for writing these sorts of test cases. This module
136 extends L<Test::WWW::Mechanize|Test::WWW::Mechanize> (and therefore
137 L<WWW::Mechanize|WWW::Mechanize>) to allow you to automate the action of
138 a user "clicking around" inside your application. It gives you all the
139 benefits of testing on a live system without the messiness of having to
140 use an actual web server, and a real person to do the clicking.
142 To create a sample test case, open the C<t/live_app01.t> file in your
143 editor and enter the following:
150 # Load testing framework and use 'no_plan' to dynamically pick up
151 # all tests. Better to replace "'no_plan'" with "tests => 30" so it
152 # knows exactly how many tests need to be run (and will tell you if
153 # not), but 'no_plan' is nice for quick & dirty tests
155 use Test::More 'no_plan';
157 # Need to specify the name of your app as arg on next line
159 # use Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst "MyApp";
161 use ok "Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst" => "MyApp";
163 # Create two 'user agents' to simulate two different users ('test01' & 'test02')
164 my $ua1 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
165 my $ua2 = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
167 # Use a simplified for loop to do tests that are common to both users
168 # Use get_ok() to make sure we can hit the base URL
169 # Second arg = optional description of test (will be displayed for failed tests)
170 # Note that in test scripts you send everything to 'http://localhost'
171 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/", "Check redirect of base URL") for $ua1, $ua2;
172 # Use title_is() to check the contents of the <title>...</title> tags
173 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
174 # Use content_contains() to match on text in the html body
175 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
176 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
178 # Log in as each user
179 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
180 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
182 # Go back to the login page and it should show that we are already logged in
183 $_->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Return to '/login'") for $ua1, $ua2;
184 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login page") for $ua1, $ua2;
185 $_->content_contains("Please Note: You are already logged in as ",
186 "Check we ARE logged in" ) for $ua1, $ua2;
188 # 'Click' the 'Logout' link
189 $_->follow_link_ok({n => 1}, "Logout via first link on page") for $ua1, $ua2;
190 $_->title_is("Login", "Check for login title") for $ua1, $ua2;
191 $_->content_contains("You need to log in to use this application",
192 "Check we are NOT logged in") for $ua1, $ua2;
195 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test01&password=mypass", "Login 'test01'");
196 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/login?username=test02&password=mypass", "Login 'test02'");
197 # Should be at the Book List page... do some checks to confirm
198 $_->title_is("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
200 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
201 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/login", "Login Page");
202 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
204 $_->content_contains("Book List", "Check for book list title") for $ua1, $ua2;
205 # Make sure the appropriate logout buttons are displayed
206 $_->content_contains("/logout\">Logout</a>",
207 "Both users should have a 'User Logout'") for $ua1, $ua2;
208 $ua1->content_contains("/books/form_create\">Create</a>",
209 "Only 'test01' should have a create link");
211 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "View book list as 'test01'");
213 # User 'test01' should be able to create a book with the "formless create" URL
214 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle/2/4",
215 "'test01' formless create");
216 $ua1->title_is("Book Created", "Book created title");
217 $ua1->content_contains("Added book 'TestTitle'", "Check title added OK");
218 $ua1->content_contains("by 'Stevens'", "Check author added OK");
219 $ua1->content_contains("with a rating of 2.", "Check rating added");
220 # Try a regular expression to combine the previous 3 checks & account for whitespace
221 $ua1->content_like(qr/Added book 'TestTitle'\s+by 'Stevens'\s+with a rating of 2./, "Regex check");
223 # Make sure the new book shows in the list
224 $ua1->get_ok("http://localhost/books/list", "'test01' book list");
225 $ua1->title_is("Book List", "Check logged in and at book list");
226 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
227 $ua1->content_contains("TestTitle", "Look for 'TestTitle'");
229 # Make sure the new book can be deleted
230 # Get all the Delete links on the list page
231 my @delLinks = $ua1->find_all_links(text => 'Delete');
232 # Use the final link to delete the last book
233 $ua1->get_ok($delLinks[$#delLinks]->url, 'Delete last book');
234 # Check that delete worked
235 $ua1->content_contains("Book List", "Book List page test");
236 $ua1->content_contains("Book deleted.", "Book was deleted");
238 # User 'test02' should not be able to add a book
239 $ua2->get_ok("http://localhost/books/url_create/TestTitle2/2/5", "'test02' add");
240 $ua2->content_contains("Unauthorized!", "Check 'test02' cannot add");
242 The C<live_app.t> test cases uses copious comments to explain each step
243 of the process. In addition to the techniques shown here, there are a
244 variety of other methods available in
245 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> (for
246 example, regex-based matching). Consult the documentation for more
249 B<TIP>: For I<unit tests> vs. the "full application tests" approach used
250 by L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst|Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>, see
251 L<Catalyst::Test|Catalyst::Test>.
253 B<Note:> The test script does not test the C<form_create> and
254 C<form_create_do> actions. That is left as an exercise for the reader
255 (you should be able to complete that logic using the existing code as a
258 To run the new test script, use a command such as:
260 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
264 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
266 Experiment with the C<DBIC_TRACE>, C<CATALYST_DEBUG>
267 and C<-v> settings. If you find that there are errors, use the
268 techniques discussed in the "Catalyst Debugging" section (Part 6) to
269 isolate and fix any problems.
271 If you want to run the test case under the Perl interactive debugger,
272 try a command such as:
274 $ DBIC_TRACE=0 CATALYST_DEBUG=0 perl -d -Ilib t/live_app01.t
276 Note that although this tutorial uses a single custom test case for
277 simplicity, you may wish to break your tests into different files for
280 =head1 SUPPORTING BOTH PRODUCTION AND TEST DATABASES
282 You may wish to leverage the techniques discussed in this tutorial to
283 maintain both a "production database" for your live application and a
284 "testing database" for your test cases. One advantage to
285 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> is that
286 it runs your full application; however, this can complicate things when
287 you want to support multiple databases. One solution is to allow the
288 database specification to be overridden with an environment variable.
289 For example, open C<lib/MyApp/Model/MyAppDB.pm> in your editor and
290 change the C<__PACKAGE__-E<gt>config(...> declaration to resemble:
292 my $dsn = $ENV{MYAPP_DSN} ||= 'dbi:SQLite:myapp.db';
294 schema_class => 'MyAppDB',
304 Then, when you run your test case, you can use commands such as:
306 $ cp myapp.db myappTEST.db
307 $ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 MYAPP_DSN="dbi:SQLite:myappTEST.db" prove --lib lib -v t/live_app01.t
309 This will modify the DSN only while the test case is running. If you
310 launch your normal application without the C<MYAPP_DSN> environment
311 variable defined, it will default to the same C<dbi:SQLite:myapp.db> as
317 Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com>
319 Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The
320 most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at
321 L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/Catalyst-Runtime/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>.
323 Copyright 2006, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
324 (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>).