| Test::ClassAPI - Provides basic first-pass API testing for large class trees |
Test::ClassAPI - Provides basic first-pass API testing for large class trees
For many APIs with large numbers of classes, it can be very useful to be able to do a quick once-over to make sure that classes, methods, and inheritance is correct, before doing more comprehensive testing. This module aims to provide such a capability.
Test::ClassAPI is used with a fairly standard looking test script, with the API description contained in a __DATA__ section at the end of the script.
#!/usr/bin/perl # Test the API for Foo::Bar use strict; use Test::More 'tests' => 123; # Optional use Test::ClassAPI; # Load the API to test use Foo::Bar; # Execute the tests Test::ClassAPI->execute; __DATA__ Foo::Bar::Thing=interface Foo::Bar::Object=abstract Foo::Bar::Planet=class [Foo::Bar::Thing] foo=method [Foo::Bar::Object] bar=method whatsit=method [Foo::Bar::Planet] Foo::Bar::Object=isa Foo::Bar::Thing=isa blow_up=method freeze=method thaw=method
Looking at the test script, the code itself is fairly simple. We first load Test::More and Test::ClassAPI. The loading and specification of a test plan is optional, Test::ClassAPI will provide a plan automatically if needed.
This is followed by a compulsory __DATA__ section, containing the API description. This description is in provided in the general form of a Windows style .ini file and is structured as follows.
At the beginning of the file, in the root section of the config file, is a list of entries where the key represents a class name, and the value is one of either 'class', 'abstract', or 'interface'.
The 'class' entry indicates a fully fledged class. That is, the class is tested to ensure it has been loaded, and the existance of every method listed in the section ( and its superclasses ) is tested for.
The 'abstract' entry indicates an abstract class, one which is part of our class tree, and needs to exist, but is never instantiated directly, and thus does not have to itself implement all of the methods listed for it. Generally, many individual 'class' entries will inherit from an 'abstract', and thus a method listed in the abstract's section will be tested for in all the subclasses of it.
The 'interface' entry indicates an external interface that is not part of
our class tree, but is inherited from by one or more of our classes, and thus
the methods listed in the interface's section are tested for in all the
classes that inherit from it. For example, if a class inherits from, and
implements, the File::Handle interface, a File::Handle=interface entry
could be added, with the [File::Handle] section listing all the methods
in File::Handle that our class tree actually cares about. No tests, for class
or method existance, are done on the interface itself.
Every class listed in the class manifest MUST have an individual section,
indicated by [Class::Name] and containing a set of entries where the key
is the name of something to test, and the value is the type of test for it.
The 'isa' test checks inheritance, to make sure that the class the section is for is (by some path) a sub-class of something else. This does not have to be an immediate sub-class. Any class refered to (recursively) in a 'isa' test will have its 'method' test entries applied to the class as well.
The 'method' test is a simple method existance test, using UNIVERSAL::can
to make sure that the method exists in the class.
The Test::ClassAPI has a single method, execute which is used to start
the testing process. It accepts a single option argument, 'complete', which
indicates to the testing process that the API listed should be considered a
complete list of the entire API. This enables an additional test for each
class to ensure that every public method in the class is detailed in the
API description, and that nothing has been ``missed''.
Bugs should be submitted via the CPAN bug tracker, located at
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html
For other issues, or commercial enhancement or support, contact the author.
Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
Copyright 2002 - 2007 Adam Kennedy.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.
| Test::ClassAPI - Provides basic first-pass API testing for large class trees |