summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/tests/test_tools/simpletest/docs/en/overview.html
blob: 5d4e80e2514a81109cf50aa116bbf747333381e8 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
<html>
<head>
<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>
        Overview and feature list for the SimpleTest PHP unit tester and web tester
    </title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="docs.css" title="Styles">
</head>
<body>
<div class="menu_back">
<div class="menu">
<h2>
<a href="index.html">SimpleTest</a>
</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<span class="chosen">Overview</span>
</li>
<li>
<a href="unit_test_documentation.html">Unit tester</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="group_test_documentation.html">Group tests</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="mock_objects_documentation.html">Mock objects</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="partial_mocks_documentation.html">Partial mocks</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="reporter_documentation.html">Reporting</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="expectation_documentation.html">Expectations</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="web_tester_documentation.html">Web tester</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="form_testing_documentation.html">Testing forms</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="authentication_documentation.html">Authentication</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="browser_documentation.html">Scriptable browser</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<h1>Overview of SimpleTest</h1>
<div class="content">
        <p>
<a class="target" name="summary">
<h2>What is SimpleTest?</h2>
</a>
</p>
            <p>
                The heart of SimpleTest is a testing framework built around
                test case classes.
                These are written as extensions of base test case classes,
                each extended with methods that actually contain test code.
                Top level test scripts then invoke the <span class="new_code">run()</span>
                methods on every one of these test cases in order.
                Each test method is written to invoke various assertions that
                the developer expects to be true such as
                <span class="new_code">assertEqual()</span>.
                If the expectation is correct, then a successful result is dispatched to the
                observing test reporter, but any failure triggers an alert
                and a description of the mismatch.
            </p>
            <p>
                A <a href="unit_test_documentation.html">test case</a> looks like this...
<pre>
&lt;?php
class <strong>MyTestCase</strong> extends UnitTestCase {
    <strong>
    function testLog() {
        $log = &amp;new Log('my.log');
        $log-&gt;message('Hello');
        $this-&gt;assertTrue(file_exists('my.log'));
    }</strong>
}
?&gt;
</pre>
            </p>
            <p>
                These tools are designed for the developer.
                Tests are written in the PHP language itself more or less
                as the application itself is built.
                The advantage of using PHP itself as the testing language is that
                there are no new languages to learn, testing can start straight away,
                and the developer can test any part of the code.
                Basically, all parts that can be accessed by the application code can also be
                accessed by the test code if they are in the same language.
            </p>
            <p>
                The simplest type of test case is the
                <a href="unit_tester_documentation.html">UnitTestCase</a>.
                This class of test case includes standard tests for equality,
                references and pattern matching.
                All these test the typical expectations of what you would
                expect the result of a function or method to be.
                This is by far the most common type of test in the daily
                routine of development, making up about 95% of test cases.
            </p>
            <p>
                The top level task of a web application though is not to
                produce correct output from its methods and objects, but
                to generate web pages.
                The <a href="web_tester_documentation.html">WebTestCase</a> class tests web
                pages.
                It simulates a web browser requesting a page, complete with
                cookies, proxies, secure connections, authentication, forms, frames and most
                navigation elements.
                With this type of test case, the developer can assert that
                information is present in the page and that forms and
                sessions are handled correctly.
            </p>
            <p>
                A <a href="web_tester_documentation.html">WebTestCase</a> looks like this...
<pre>
&lt;?php
class <strong>MySiteTest</strong> extends WebTestCase {
    <strong>
    function testHomePage() {
        $this-&gt;get('http://www.my-site.com/index.php');
        $this-&gt;assertTitle('My Home Page');
        $this-&gt;clickLink('Contact');
        $this-&gt;assertTitle('Contact me');
        $this-&gt;assertWantedPattern('/Email me at/');
    }</strong>
}
?&gt;
</pre>
            </p>
        
        <p>
<a class="target" name="features">
<h2>Feature list</h2>
</a>
</p>
            <p>
                The following is a very rough outline of past and future features
                and their expected point of release.
                I am afraid it is liable to change without warning as meeting the
                milestones rather depends on time available.
                Green stuff has been coded, but not necessarily released yet.
                If you have a pressing need for a green but unreleased feature
                then you should check-out the code from Sourceforge CVS directly.
                <table>
<thead>
                    <tr>
<th>Feature</th><th>Description</th><th>Release</th>
</tr>
                    </thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
                        <td>Unit test case</td>
                        <td>Core test case class and assertions</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Html display</td>
                        <td>Simplest possible display</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Autoloading of test cases</td>
                        <td>
                            Reading a file with test cases and loading them into a
                            group test automatically
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Mock objects</td>
                        <td>
                            Objects capable of simulating other objects removing
                            test dependencies
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Web test case</td>
                        <td>Allows link following and title tag matching</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Partial mocks</td>
                        <td>
                            Mocking parts of a class for testing less than a class
                            or for complex simulations
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Web cookie handling</td>
                        <td>Correct handling of cookies when fetching pages</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Following redirects</td>
                        <td>Page fetching automatically follows 300 redirects</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Form parsing</td>
                        <td>Ability to submit simple forms and read default form values</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Command line interface</td>
                        <td>Test display without the need of a web browser</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Exposure of expectation classes</td>
                        <td>Can create precise tests with mocks as well as test cases</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>XML output and parsing</td>
                        <td>
                            Allows multi host testing and the integration of acceptance
                            testing extensions
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Browser component</td>
                        <td>
                            Exposure of lower level web browser interface for more
                            detailed test cases
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>HTTP authentication</td>
                        <td>
                            Fetching protected web pages with basic authentication
                            only
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>SSL support</td>
                        <td>Can connect to https: pages</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Proxy support</td>
                        <td>Can connect via. common proxies</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Frames support</td>
                        <td>Handling of frames in web test cases</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>File upload testing</td>
                        <td>Can simulate the input type file tag</td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0.1</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Mocking interfaces</td>
                        <td>
                            Can generate mock objects to interfaces as well as classes
                            and class interfaces are carried for type hints
                        </td>
                        <td style="color: green;">1.0.1</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Reporting machinery enhancements</td>
                        <td>Improved message passing for better cooperation with IDEs</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">1.1</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Localisation</td>
                        <td>Messages abstracted and code generated from XML</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">1.1</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Testing exceptions</td>
                        <td>Similar to testing PHP errors</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">1.1</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>IFrame support</td>
                        <td>Reads IFrame content that can be refreshed</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">1.1</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Improved mock interface</td>
                        <td>More compact way of expressing mocks</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">2.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>HTML table assertions</td>
                        <td>Can match table elements to numerical assertions</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">2.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>XPath searching of HTML elements</td>
                        <td>More flexible content matching</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">2.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Alternate HTML parsers</td>
                        <td>Can detect compiled parsers for performance improvements</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">2.0</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td>Javascript suport</td>
                        <td>Use of PECL module to add Javascript</td>
                        <td style="color: red;">3.0</td>
                    </tr>
                </tbody>
</table>
                PHP5 migraton will start straight after the version 1.0.1 series,
                whereupon PHP4 will no longer be supported.
                SimpleTest is currently compatible with PHP5, but will not
                make use of all of the new features until version 2.
            </p>
        
        <p>
<a class="target" name="resources">
<h2>Web resources for testing</h2>
</a>
</p>
            <p>
                Process is at least as important as tools.
                The type of process that makes the heaviest use of a developer's
                testing tool is of course
                <a href="http://www.extremeprogramming.org/">Extreme Programming</a>.
                This is one of the
                <a href="http://www.agilealliance.com/articles/index">Agile Methodologies</a>
                which combine various practices to "flatten the cost curve" of software development.
                More extreme still is <a href="http://www.testdriven.com/modules/news/">Test Driven Development</a>,
                where you very strictly adhere to the rule of no coding until you have a test.
                If you're more of a planner or believe that experience trumps evolution,
                you may prefer the
                <a href="http://www.therationaledge.com/content/dec_01/f_spiritOfTheRUP_pk.html">RUP</a> approach.
                I haven't tried it, but even I can see that you will need test tools (see figure 9).
            </p>
            <p>
                Most unit testers clone <a href="http://www.junit.org/">JUnit</a> to some degree,
                as far as the interface at least. There is a wealth of information on the
                JUnit site including the
                <a href="http://junit.sourceforge.net/doc/faq/faq.htm">FAQ</a>
                which contains plenty of general advice on testing.
                Once you get bitten by the bug you will certainly appreciate the phrase
                <a href="http://junit.sourceforge.net/doc/testinfected/testing.htm">test infected</a>
                coined by Eric Gamma.
                If you are still reviewing which unit tester to use the main choices
                are <a href="http://phpunit.sourceforge.net/">PHPUnit</a>
                and <a href="http://pear.php.net/manual/en/package.php.phpunit.php">Pear PHP::PHPUnit</a>.
                They currently lack a lot of features found in
                <a href="http://www.lastcraft.com/simple_test.php">SimpleTest</a>, but the PEAR
                version at least has been upgraded for PHP5 and is recommended if you are porting
                existing <a href="http://www.junit.org/">JUnit</a> test cases.
            </p>
            <p>
                There is currently a sad lack of material on mock objects, which is a shame
                as unit testing without them is a lot more work.
                The <a href="http://www.sidewize.com/company/mockobjects.pdf">original mock objects paper</a>
                is very Java focused, but still worth a read.
                As a new technology there are plenty of discussions and debate on how to use mocks,
                often on Wikis such as
                <a href="http://xpdeveloper.com/cgi-bin/oldwiki.cgi?MockObjects">Extreme Tuesday</a>
                or <a href="http://www.mockobjects.com/MocksObjectsPaper.html">www.mockobjects.com</a>
                or <a href="http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?MockObject">the original C2 Wiki</a>.
                Injecting mocks into a class is the main area of debate for which this
                <a href="http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-mocktest.html">paper on IBM</a>
                makes a good starting point.
            </p>
            <p>
                There are plenty of web testing tools, but the scriptable ones
                are mostly are written in Java and
                tutorials and advice are rather thin on the ground.
                The only hope is to look at the documentation for
                <a href="http://httpunit.sourceforge.net/">HTTPUnit</a>,
                <a href="http://htmlunit.sourceforge.net/">HTMLUnit</a>
                or <a href="http://jwebunit.sourceforge.net/">JWebUnit</a> and hope for clues.
                There are some XML driven test frameworks, but again most
                require Java to run.
            </p>
            <p>
                A new generation of tools that run directly in the web browser
                are now available.
                These include
                <a href="http://www.openqa.org/selenium/">Selenium</a> and
                <a href="http://wtr.rubyforge.org/">Watir</a>.
                As SimpleTest does not support JavaScript you would probably
                have to look at these tools anyway if you have highly dynamic
                pages.
            </p>
        
    </div>
<div class="copyright">
            Copyright<br>Marcus Baker, Jason Sweat, Perrick Penet 2004
        </div>
</body>
</html>