The Perl Toolchain Summit needs more sponsors. If your company depends on Perl, please support this very important event.

NAME

HTTP::WebTest::Cookbook - Recipes for typical web tests

SYNOPSIS

Not Applicable

DESCRIPTION

This document contains some examples of HTTP::WebTest usage.

Unless otherwise is stated all examples are either runnable programs (see HTTP::WebTest::API) or runnable wtscript files (see perldoc wt).

BASICS

Test Static Web Pages

This wtscript file tests static pages on the author's website:

    test_name = First page
        url = http://martynov.org/
        text_require = ( Ilya Martynov's Web Site )
    end_test

    test_name = Mail-CheckUser page
        url = http://martynov.org/checkuser
        text_require = ( Mail-CheckUser
                         Download )
        regex_require = ( Mail-CheckUser-[\d\.]+\.tar\.gz )
    end_test

The same tests in the form of a Perl script:

    use HTTP::WebTest;

    my $webtest = new HTTP::WebTest;

    $webtest->run_tests(
        [ {
            test_name     => 'First page',
            url           => 'http://martynov.org/',
            text_require  => [ "Ilya Martynov's Web Site" ]
          },
          {
            test_name     => 'Mail-CheckUser page',
            url           => 'http://martynov.org/checkuser',
            text_require  => [ 'Mail-CheckUser',
                               'Download' ],
            regex_require =>
                             [ 'Mail-CheckUser-[\d\.]+\.tar\.gz' ]
          }
        ]);

Test a Login Form

This wtscript file tests the login form at http://fsck.com/rt2/:

    test_name = Login page
        url = http://fsck.com/rt2/
        text_require = ( Login
                         Username:
                         Password:)
    end_test

    test_name = Submit wrong username & password
        url = http://fsck.com/rt2/
        params = ( user => unknownUser
                   pass => somePassword )
        text_require = ( Error
                         Your username or password is incorrect )
    end_test

    test_name = Submit correct username & password
        url = http://fsck.com/rt2/
        params = ( user => guest
                   pass => guest )
        regex_require = ( Signed in as.*?guest.*?\. )
    end_test

This wtscript file tests static pages on the author's website. It is similar to the example in section "Check Static Website" but it uses the test parameter click_link to specify the link to be followed on the next test request instead of a hardcoded URL:

    # load HTTP::WebTest::Plugin::Click module which provides test
    # parameter 'click_link'
    plugins = ( ::Click )

    test_name = First page
        url = http://martynov.org/
        text_require = ( Ilya Martynov's Web Site )
    end_test

    test_name = Mail-CheckUser page
        click_link = Mail-CheckUser
        text_require = ( Mail-CheckUser
                         Download )
        regex_require = ( Mail-CheckUser-[\d\.]+\.tar\.gz )
    end_test

This wtscript file tests the login form at http://fsck.com/rt2/. It is similar to the example in section "Check Login Form" but avoids using a hardcoded URL for the page the form should be submitted to by using the test parameter click_button:

    # load HTTP::WebTest::Plugin::Click module which provides test
    # parameter 'click_button'
    plugins = ( ::Click )

    test_name = Login page
        url = http://fsck.com/rt2/
        text_require = ( Login
                         Username:
                         Password:)
    end_test

    test_name = Submit correct username & password
        click_button = Login
        params = ( user => guest
                   pass => guest )
        regex_require = ( Signed in as.*?guest.*?\. )
    end_test

ADVANCED

Test::Harness Compatible Output

This Perl script reads a test specification from file test.wt and generates Test::Harness compatible output:

    use Test::More qw(no_plan);
    use HTTP::WebTest;

    my $webtest = new HTTP::WebTest;
    $webtest->run_wtscript('test.wt',
                           {
                             default_report => 'no',
                             plugins        => [ '::HarnessReport' ]
                           });

This script uses reporting plugin HTTP::WebTest::Plugin::HarnessReport which internally uses Test::Builder module to generate Test::Harness compatible output. It should be compatible with other testing libraries built using Test::Builder (like Test::More or Test::Differences) so you can freely intermix them in one test script.

User-Defined Tests

It is possible to define new tests without writing new plugin module. This is a fragment of a wtscript file that checks if a new record has been inserted into a database as a result of the Add Record test.

    # load HTTP::WebTest::Plugin::Hooks module which provides test
    # parameters 'on_start', 'on_finish' and 'on_response'
    plugins = ( ::Hooks )

    on_start = {
        # initialize a database handle used later in the tests
        require DBI;
        $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:mysql:test', 'login', 'password');
    }

    on_finish = {
        # disconnect from the database
        $dbh->disconnect;
    }

    ....

    test_name = Add Record
        # request to this URL with parameter 'name' adds new record
        url = http://some.server/add-record
        params = ( name => 'John' )

        # define check
        on_response = {
            my $has_record = $dbh->selectrow_array(
                                 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM USERS ' .
                                 'WHERE NAME = ?',
                                 undef, 'John'
                             );

            # return result of check with a comment
            [ $has_record > 0 ? 'yes' : 'no', 'Have got John' ];
        }
    end_test

Dynamic Tests

Sometimes you want to feed the results of a previous test into the next test. In this example, Add Record creates a database record, emits HTML containing the new record ID, and Delete Record deletes the database record using the record ID from Add Record.

    # load HTTP::WebTest::Plugin::Hooks module which provides test
    # parameter on_response
    plugins = ( ::Hooks )

    ....

    test_name = Add Record
        # request to this URL with parameter 'name' adds new record
        url = http://some.server/add-record
        params = ( name => 'John' )

        # get ID from a page
        on_response = {
            # get webtest object
            my $webtest = shift;

            # find ID in the returned page
            ($ID) = $webtest->current_response->content =~ /ID=(\d+)/;

            # because no checks are defined a reference on empty array
            # must be returned
            [];
        }
    end_test

    ....

    test_name = Delete Record
        # request to this URL with parameter 'id' deletes record
        url = http://some.server/delete-record
        params = ( id => "$ID" )
    end_test

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2001-2003 Ilya Martynov. All rights reserved.

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

SEE ALSO

HTTP::WebTest

HTTP::WebTest::API

wt