NAME

WWW::Mechanize::Plugin::Snapshot - Snapshot the Mech object's state

VERSION

This document describes WWW::Mechanize::Plugin::Snapshot version 0.01

SYNOPSIS

    use WWW::Mechanize::Pluggable;
    my $mech->new;
    $mech->snapshots_to("/some/file/path");
    $mech->get("http://problematic.org");
    # Create timestamped snapshot
    $snapshot_file_name = $mech->snapshot("Accessing problematic.org");

    # Create user-named snapshot
    $foo_file = $mech->snapshot("Special file", "foo");

    # Preset the comment:
    $mech->snapshot_comment("Failed during test set 1");

    # Resulting file uses the comment preset before the 
    # snapshot call.
    $standard_name = $mech->snapshot();

    # Use a different filename. keeping the preset comment:
    $foo_file = $mech->snapshot(undef, "foo");
   

DESCRIPTION

WWW::Mechanize::Plugin::Snapshot is a Web debugging plugin. It allows you to selectively dump the results of an HTTP request to files that can be displayed in a browser, showing not only the web page at the time of the request, but also

• Arbitrary comment information from the user (as text).

• The URL of the request.

• A formatted copy of the HTTP request

• A formatted HTTP response (less the actual content and the request)

• The current contents of the cookie jar

• The actual web page content

The output is displayed in a frame, with the debug information on the left and the actual page HTML as fetched at the time of the snapshot on the right.

INTERFACE

init

Standard importation of methods into WWW::Mechanize::Pluggable.

snapshots_to($dir)

Requires a directory to which the snapshots will be taken. To separate different runs, a subdirectory of this directory will be created, using a human-readable form of the current time as part of the name.

If this method is not called prior to the use of snapshot, the system default temporary file directory is used. If no such directory is defined in the TMP or TMPDIR environment variables, snapshots_to dies.

snapshot

Takes a snapshot of the current state of the WWW::Mechanize object contained in the WWW::Mechanize::Pluggable object.

snap_layout

Allows you to choose an alternative layout for the snapshots. Current options are "horizontal" and "vertical" (the default).

DIAGNOSTICS

No TMPDIR/TEMP defined on this system!

You called snapshots_to without a temporary directory, but no system temporary directory name was available to the program. Either call snapshots_to with a writeable directory name, or set the TMP or TMPDIR environment variable to reflect the desired name.

Couldn't create directory %s: %s

The program couldn't create the directory you specified. A diagnostic follows the colon to help you find out why not.

%s is not a directory

The argument you supplied to snapshots_to is not a directory.

No HTML output file name supplied

Internal error: _build_file wasn't given a file into which output is to be saved. Please contact the author.

No customization hash supplied

Internal error: _build_file was not supplied with the information to fill out the template. Please contact the author.

Nonexistent template %s

Internal error: _build_file was supplied with a bad file template. Please contact the author.

Can't write to %s file %s: $!

We attempted to take a snapshot, but we couldn't write the file to the selected temporary directory. The contents of $! are appended to try to diagnose the error further.

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

WWW::Mechanize::Plugin::Snapshot requires no configuration files.

It needs the TMP or TMPDIR environment variable to select the system temporary directory if no argument is supplied to snapshots_to.

DEPENDENCIES

Since this is a WWW::Mechanize::Pluggable plugin, that module is required.

INCOMPATIBILITIES

None reported.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

No bugs have been reported.

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-www-mechanize-plugin-snapshot@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org.

AUTHOR

Joe McMahon <mcmahon@yahoo-inc.com >

LICENCE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2005, Joe McMahon <mcmahon@yahoo-inc.com >. All rights reserved.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See perlartistic.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

BECAUSE THIS SOFTWARE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE SOFTWARE, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE AS PERMITTED BY THE ABOVE LICENCE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

cpanm WWW::Mechanize::Plugin::Snapshot

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install WWW::Mechanize::Plugin::Snapshot