HTTP::WebTest - Test remote URLs or local web files
This module can accept input parameters from a parameter file or subroutine arguments. TO RUN WEB TESTS DEFINED BY SUBROUTINE ARGUMENTS: use HTTP::WebTest; run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed, \%test_options) or use HTTP::WebTest; run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed) TO RUN WEB TESTS DEFINED BY A PARAMETER FILE: use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals); # Recommended, not necessary use HTTP::WebTest; $webtest = HTTP::WebTest->new(); $webtest->web_test('my_web_tests.wt', \$num_fail, \$num_succeed); The web_test() method has an option to test a local file by starting Apache on a private port, copying the file to a temporary htdocs directory and fetching the page from Apache. If you are testing with multiple parameter files, you can avoid restarting Apache each time by calling new() only once and recycling the object: use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals); # Recommended, not necessary use HTTP::WebTest; $webtest = HTTP::WebTest->new(); foreach $file (@ARGV) { $webtest->web_test($file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed); } TO ENABLE DEBUGGING MESSAGES (OUTPUT TO STDOUT): If you are calling the web_test method, use the debug parameter. If you are calling the run_web_test method, do this: use HTTP::WebTest; $HTTP::WebTest::Debug = 1; # Diagnostic messages $HTTP::WebTest::Debug = 2; # Messages and preserve temp Apache dir run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed)
This module runs tests on remote URLs or local web files containing Perl/HTML/JavaScript/etc. and generates a detailed test report. This module is designed to test the source code, not the webserver or Internet connectivity. (There are a variety of better solutions for testing server reponse times or Internet connectivity.)
The test specifications can be read from a parameter file or input as method arguments. If you are testing a local file, Apache is started on a private/dynamic port with a configuration file in a temporary directory. The module displays the test results on the terminal by default or directs them to a file. The module optionally e-mails the test results. When the calling program exits, the module stops the local instance of Apache and deletes the temporary directory.
Each test consists of literal strings or regular expressions that are either required to exist or forbidden to exist in the fetched page. You can also specify tests for the minimum and maximum number of bytes in the returned page. If you are testing a local file, the module checks the error log in the temporary directory before and after the file is fetched from Apache. If messages are written to the error log during the fetch, the module flags this as an error and writes the messages to the output test report.
The wt script is provided for running HTTP::WebTest from the command line.
Data flow for WebTest using a remote URL:
-------------- ------------- | | | | | Input |------------->| WebTest | | parameters | | | | | ------------- -------------- | ^ | | V | ------------- ------------ | | request | | | Remote |<--------------| HTTP | | webserver |-------------->| user | | | response | agent | ------------- | | ------------
Data flow diagram for WebTest using a local web file:
-------------- --------------------- | | | | | Input | | Web page code | | parameters | | (HTML/perl/etc.) | | | | | -------------- --------------------- | | | --------------------------- | | V V ------------------------ ------------- | | | |---------->| Temporary Apache | | WebTest | | directories (htdocs, | | |<----------| conf, logs) | ------------- | | | ^ ------------------------ | | | ^ V | V | ------------ ---------------------- | | request | | | HTTP |------------>| Temporary local | | user | | instance of Apache | | agent |<------------| | | | response ---------------------- ------------
new($proto) new() Create new HTTP::WebTest object. $proto (optional) is either a reference or a class (package) name. Returns a new HTTP::WebTest object.
web_test($param_file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed) web_test($param_file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed, $save_output) Reads and validates input parameters, fetches one or more web pages, runs tests, writes results to standard output or a file. Optionally e-mails test results if error found. If the parameters specify a test of a local web source file, starts Apache on a private/dynamic port and copies the file to a temporary htdocs directory. Input arguments: $param_file - A relative or absolute pathname to a parameter file. See the FILES section for a description of the file. $save_output (optional) - Option to save program output to a file. The routine constructs the file name by taking the value of $param_file, removing the file extension if it exists and appending ".out". Error messages are always sent to standard error. = no -> Send output to standard output = yes -> Save output to file, overwrite existing file = preserve -> Save output to file unless file exists Output arguments: \$num_fail - The number of tests that failed. \$num_succeed - The number of tests that succeeded. Return values: 1 -> All tests ran successfully with no failures. 0 -> Syntax error in input parameter file, system runtime error or one or more of the tests failed.
run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed, \%test_options) run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed) Validates input parameters, fetches one or more urls, runs tests, writes results to standard output or a file. Optionally e-mails test results. Input/output arguments: \@web_tests - An arrayref of hashrefs. Each hashref defines tests for one URL. Some of the hash keys can override the value of the corresponding $test_options keys. For example, if the max_bytes hash key is defined in $test_options and you want to disable the max_bytes test a particular URL, set the web_tests max_bytes hash key to a value of undef or ''. If one of the keys below does not exist in one of the web_test hashes on input, the module checks the value for the corresponding key in the $test_options hash. If that value is defined, then the value from $test_options is used during the tests for that web_test hash. All input values and keys are preserved on output, except the num_fail and num_succeed keys. web_tests keys: accept_cookies - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. auth - Overrides the value of the corresponding test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. cookies - Arrayref of arrayrefs containing cookies to pass with the HTTP request. See RFC 2965 for details (ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2965.txt). Each array must have an even number of elements and must contain at least 10 elements. Each array has the form ( version name value path domain port path_spec secure maxage discard name1 value1 name2 value2 ... ), with the following definitions. (Required elements are marked with an asterisk; elements that are not required can be specified using the undef value or ''.) *version: Version number of cookie spec to use, usually 0. *name: Name of cookie. Cannot begin with a $ character. *value: Value of cookie. *path: URL path name for which this cookie applies. Must begin with a / character. See also path_spec. *domain: Domain for which cookie is valid. Should begin with a period. Must either contain two periods or be equal to '.local'. port: List of allowed port numbers that the cookie may be returned to. If not specified, cookie can be returned to any port. Must be specified using the format N or N,N ..., where N is one or more digits. path_spec: Ignored if version is less than 1. Option to ignore the value of path. Default value is 0. = 1 -> Use the value of path. = 0 -> Ignore the specified value of path. secure: Option to require secure protocols for cookie transmission. Default value is 0. = 1 -> Use only secure protocols to transmit cookie. = 0 -> Secure protocols not required for transmission. maxage: Number of seconds until cookie expires. discard: Option to discard cookie when program exits. Default 0. (The cookie will be discarded regardless of the value of this element.) = 1 -> Discard cookie. = 0 -> Don't discard cookie. name/value: Zero, one or several name/value pairs may be specified. The name parameters are words such as Comment or CommentURL and the value parameters are strings that may contain embedded blanks. ignore_case - Option to do case-insensitive string matching for text_forbid and text_require arguments. = 'yes' -> Ignore case while matching strings. Otherwise -> Do case-sensitive string matching. ignore_error_log - Option to ignore messages in Apache error log. (See the error_log key in test_options argument.) = 'yes' -> Do not check for messages in the error log FOR THIS URL ONLY. Otherwise, check messages if error_log key in test_options argument is defined. max_bytes - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. min_bytes - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. method - The type of the HTTP request, either 'get' or 'post'. If undefined or key does not exist, 'get' is used. num_fail (Output) - The number of tests that failed. If the fetch of the URL fails, one error is counted and the tests for that URL are skipped. num_succeed (Output) - The number of tests that succeeded. The successful fetch of the URL is not counted, only successful tests. If the error_log argument is specified, the absence of errors in the logs is counted as a successful test. params - A hashref or arrayref containing name/value pairs to be passed as parameters to the URL. (This element is used to test pages that process input from forms.) Unless the method key is set to post, these pairs are URI-escaped and appended to the requested URL. (See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt for URI escapes.) proxies - A hashref or arrayref containing service name / proxy URL pairs that specify proxy servers to use for requests. For example: proxies = ( http => http://http_proxy.mycompany.com ftp => http://ftp_proxy.mycompany.com ) regex_forbid - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. regex_require - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. send_cookies - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. show_html - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. test_name - Name associated with this url in the test report and error messages. text_forbid - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. text_require - Overrides the value of the corresponding $test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY. url - The URL to fetch and test. This key is REQUIRED. If it begins with 'www.', 'http://' is prefixed. Output arguments: \$num_fail - Total number of tests that failed. \$num_succeed - Total number of tests that succeeded. Input arguments: \%test_options - (Optional) A hashref defining testing options. All, some or none of the keys may be defined. Some of these options can also be specified in the web_tests argument. The allowed hash keys are: accept_cookies - Option to accept cookies from the web server. = 'no' -> Do not accept cookies. Otherwise -> Accept cookies. auth - Arrayref containing a userid and password to be used for web page access authorization. error_log - The pathname of a local web server error log. The module counts the number of lines in the error log before and after each request. If the number of lines increases, an error is counted and the additional lines are listed in the report. (This argument should be used only when the local web server is running in single-process mode. Otherwise, requests generated by other processes/users may add lines to the error log that are not related to the requests generated by this module.) fh_out - A filehandle for a file that the test report will be written to instead of the terminal. mail_addresses - Arrayref containing one or more e-mail addresses. mail - Option to e-mail output to one or more addresses. = 'all' -> Send e-mail containing test results. = 'errors' -> Send e-mail only if one or more tests fails. Otherwise -> Do not send e-mail. mail_server - Fully-qualified name of of the mail server (e.g., mailhost.mycompany.com). max_bytes - Maximum number of bytes expected in returned pages. If this value is exceeded, an error message is displayed. min_bytes - Minimum number of bytes expected in returned pages. If the number of returned bytes is less than this value, an error message is displayed. (The regex_forbid and regex_require parameters contain one or more Perl regular expressions. These are compared to the fetched page contents as the right hand side of a "=~" operator. If you want to search for a literal string, use the text_forbid and text_require arguments. For more information, type "man perlre" or see Programming Perl, 3rd edition, Chapter 5.) regex_forbid - Arrayref of regular expressions that are forbidden to exist in the returned page. regex_require - Arrayref of regular expressions that are required to exist in the returned page. send_cookies - Option to send cookies to web server. This applies to cookies received from the web server or cookies specified using the cookies key of the web_test argument. = 'no' -> Do not send cookies to the web server. Otherwise -> Send cookies to the web server. show_cookies - Option to display any cookies sent or received. = 'yes' -> Display cookies in report. Otherwise -> Do not display. show_html - Option to include the returned web page in the test report. = 'yes' -> Display the web page in the test report. Otherwise -> Do not display the web page. terse - Option to display shorter test report. = 'summary' -> Only a one-line summary for each URL. = 'failed_only' -> Only tests that failed and the summary. Otherwise -> Show all tests and the summary. text_forbid - Arrayref of text strings that are forbidden to exist in the returned page. text_require - Arrayref of text strings that are required to exist in the returned page. Return values: 1 -> All tests succeeded. 0 -> Error in input parameters, system runtime error, or one or more of the tests failed.
DESTROY() Kills Apache (if started), deletes temporary directories (if created). Returns 1 if clean up tasks were successful, 0 otherwise.
None.
The web_test() method requires (1) one or more input parameter files, and (2) if the file_path parameter is specified, a directory tree that contains the subdirectories and files described in the APACHE DIRECTORY AND FILES section below. PARAMETER FILE The input parameters are specified in a text file. You must pass the name of the file as an argument to the web_test() method. If you are running dozens of tests, you may want to divide them into several parameter files. This will organize the tests and reduce the size of the output and e-mail messages. However, cookies passed to or received from the web server(s) are not shared between tests in different parameter files. Parameters - Overview ===================== There are over 30 parameters, but the only required parameters are test_name, end_test, and either url or file_path. Also, if you specify the file_path parameter, you will have to specify the apache_exec parameter. Each parameter is either a test block parameter, a global parameter, or both. TEST BLOCK PARAMETERS are parameters specified between a test_name parameter and an end_test directive. Test block parameters apply only to the tests for the file_path or url specified in that test block. You can specify one or many test blocks in a parameter file. GLOBAL PARAMETERS are parameters specified outside of a test block. Global parameters apply to every test block in the parameter file. You can specify certain parameters as BOTH GLOBAL PARAMETERS AND TEST BLOCK PARAMETERS. These include the parameters accept_cookies, auth, ignore_case, ignore_error_log, regex_forbid, regex_require, send_cookies, text_forbid and text_require. If you specify one of these within a test block, that value is used instead of the value of the corresponding global parameter for that test block only. If you specify some, but not all, of these parameters in a test block, the global parameter values are used for the unspecified test block parameters. Parameters - Short descriptions =============================== Parameters that are always required are marked with an asterisk. Parameters that are usually required are marked with a plus sign. accept_cookies: Option to accept cookies sent by web server. apache_dir: Name of directory containing Apache files. +apache_exec: Path name of Apache executable. apache_loglevel: Apache logging level. apache_max_wait: Maximum seconds to wait for Apache to start. apache_options: Additional Apache command line options. auth: Two-element list containing userid and password to be passed to web server for page access authorization. cookie: List specifying a cookie to send to the web server. debug: Option to output verbose diagnostic messages. *end_test: Signifies the end of a test block. +file_path: Two-element list containing name of web file to test and subdirectory path relative to the htdocs directory to copy it to. ignore_case: Option to do case-insensitive matching with text_forbid and text_require parameters. ignore_error_log: Option to ignore errors found in Apache error log. include_file_path: List containing files to copy and subdirectory path relative to the Apache ServerRoot directory to copy them to. mail: Option to send e-mail containing results of tests. mail_addresses: List of e-mail addresses to send reports to. mail_server: Name of mail server. method: HTTP request method; either get or post. max_bytes: Maximum number of bytes expected in returned page. min_bytes: Minimum number of bytes expected in returned page. params: List of parameter name/value pairs to be passed to server. proxies: List of service name / proxy URL pairs to use for requests. regex_forbid: List of strings/regexs that must NOT occur in page. regex_require: List of strings/regexs that MUST occur in page. save_output: Option to redirect the program output to a file. send_cookies: Option to send cookies to the web server. show_cookies: Option to list cookies sent or received. show_html: Option to display the HTML source with the output. *test_name: Name of test. text_forbid: List of strings that must NOT occur in page. text_require: List of strings that MUST occur in page. +url: URL to test. terse: Option to display shorter test report. Parameter file format ===================== The program ignores: * lines consisting of nothing but white space (blanks or tabs) * lines beginning with a number sign ("#") * lines beginning with white space (blanks or tabs) followed by a number sign The order of the parameters in the parameter file is arbitrary, with the following exceptions: * Test block parameters MUST occur between a test_name parameter and an end_test directive. * Global parameters must NOT occur between a test_name parameter and an end_test directive. (This requirement does not apply to parameters that are both global and test block parameters.) * The parameter save_output, if specified, should be the first parameter in the file. (This is not required.) Parameters are either scalar (single-valued) or lists (single or multi-valued). You can specify scalar parameters using forms such as: name = value name = value name = 'value' You can specify list parameters using forms such as: name = ( first value second value ) name = ( first value => second value third value => fourth value ) name = ( first value => second value ) name = ( 'first value' 'second value' ) name = ( first value second value third value => 'fourth value' ) name = ( first value 'second value' ) name = ( 'first value' 'second value' ) (The equals sign must be followed by a space, tab or newline; all other spaces are optional.) PARAMETER VALUES BEGINNING AND ENDING WITH A SINGLE QUOTE WILL HAVE THE SINGLE QUOTES REMOVED. For example, 'foobar' is parsed as a value of foobar and ''foobar'' is parsed as a value of 'foobar'. To specify a null (placeholder) value, use ''. You MUST enclose the parameter value in single quotes if you want to specify: * A value beginning with a left parenthesis * A value ending with a right parenthesis * A value beginning with leading white space (blanks or tabs) * A value ending with trailing white space (blanks or tabs) * A value beginning and ending with single quotes Examples of parameter files =========================== The parameters below specify tests of a local file and a remote URL. The tests specified by the text_forbid parameter apply to both the "RayCosoft home page" and the "Yahoo home page" tests. Hence, if either returned page contains one of the case- insensitive strings in text_forbid, the test fails. If any test fails, an e-mail will be sent to tester@unixscripts.com. apache_exec = /usr/sbin/apache ignore_case = yes mail = errors mail_addresses = ( tester@unixscripts.com ) mail_server = mailhost.unixscripts.com text_forbid = ( Premature end of script headers an error occurred while processing this directive ) test_name = 'RayCosoft home page (static)' file_path = ( raycosoft_home.html => . ) text_require = ( <a href="/dept/peopledev/new_employee/"><font color="#0033cc"> <a href="https://www.raycosoft.com/"><font color= ) end_test test_name = Yahoo home page url = www.yahoo.com text_require = ( <a href=r/qt>Quotations</a>...<br> ) min_bytes = 13000 max_bytes = 19000 end_test The parameters below specify a test of a local file containing Perl code using the Apache::ASP module. The includes.htm file requires five include files and two Perl modules, which are copied using the include_file_path parameter. apache_exec = /usr/sbin/apache ignore_case = yes include_file_path = ( footer.inc => htdocs/apps/myapp/inc header.inc => htdocs/apps/myapp/inc head.inc => htdocs/apps/myapp/inc go.script => htdocs/shared/includes go.include => htdocs/shared/includes ../utils/DBconn.pm => lib/perl/utils ../utils/Window.pm => lib/perl/utils ) test_name = includes.htm file_path = ( includes.htm => apps/myapp ) min_bytes = 33000 max_bytes = 35000 text_require = ( input type=hidden name=control value= ) text_forbid = ( Premature end of script headers an error occurred while processing this directive ) end_test Parameters - Detailed descriptions ================================== PARAMETER: accept_cookies TYPE: global and/or test block parameter DEFAULT: yes ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to accept and save cookies sent by the web server. These cookies exist only while the program is executing and do not affect subsequent runs. These cookies do not affect your browser or any software other than the test program. These cookies are only accessible to other tests in the same parameter file. You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block. If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter, the value in the test block applies only to that test block. See also the send_cookies parameter. PARAMETER: apache_dir TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: /usr/local/etc/http-webtest DESCRIPTION: Absolute or relative path name of directory containing Apache files. See the APACHE DIRECTORY AND FILES section below. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified. PARAMETER: apache_exec TYPE: global parameter NO DEFAULT. REQUIRED if the file_path parameter is specified. DESCRIPTION: Path name of Apache executable. This command must be in your $PATH or the path name must start with '/'. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified. PARAMETER: apache_loglevel TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: warn OPTIONAL PARAMETER. ALLOWED VALUES: debug info notice warn error crit alert emerg DESCRIPTION: Apache logging level. If you use a level less than warn (i.e., debug, info, or notice), the program may generate irrelevant errors. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified. See also the ignore_error_log parameter. PARAMETER: apache_max_wait TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: 64 ALLOWED VALUES: Any integer > 9 and < 601 OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Maximum number of seconds to wait for Apache to start. The program starts Apache, waits 4 seconds and fetches a test page. If this fails, it doubles the wait interval, restarts Apache, waits and fetches a test page. This process repeats until the test page is fetched successfully or the wait interval becomes greater than apache_max_wait. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified. PARAMETER: apache_options TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: -X ALLOWED VALUES: See Apache man page. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Additional Apache command line options. Many of the options cause Apache to exit immediately after starting, so the web page tests will not run. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified. PARAMETER: auth TYPE: global and/or test block parameter No default. ALLOWED VALUES: A one or two element list. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Userid and password, in that order, to be passed to the web server if needed for authorization. If you specify only one element, it is used as the userid and the program will prompt you interactively for the password. If you specify values of 'prompt' and 'userid_password' in that order, the program will prompt you for both the userid and password. If you specify values of 'prompt' and 'password' in that order, the program will prompt you for the password and use the userid of the user running the program. (This last option is probably not what you want, unless your Unix userid and web page userid are the same.) You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block. If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter, the value in the test block applies only to that test block. PARAMETER: cookie TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: A list with an even number of elements and at least 10 elements. The cookie parameter is ignored if the send_cookies parameter is set to no. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. Multiple cookie parameters may be specified. DESCRIPTION: List that specifies a cookie to send to the web server. See RFC 2965 for details (ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2965.txt). You may specify multiple cookies within each test block by specifying multiple instances of the cookie parameter. The cookie parameter has the form: ( version name value path domain port path_spec secure maxage discard name1 value1 name2 value2 ... ) Any element not marked below as REQUIRED may be defaulted by specifying a null value of '' version: Version number of cookie spec to use, usually 0. (REQUIRED) name: Name of cookie. (REQUIRED) Cannot begin with a $ character. value: Value of cookie. (REQUIRED) path: URL path name for which this cookie applies. (REQUIRED) Must begin with a / character. See also path_spec. domain: Domain for which cookie is valid. (REQUIRED) Should begin with a period. Must either contain two periods or be equal to .local port: List of allowed port numbers that the cookie may be returned to. If not specified, cookie can be returned to any port. Must be specified using the format N or N,N ..., where N is one or more digits. path_spec: Ignored if version is less than 1. Option to ignore the value of path. Default value is 0. = 1 -> Use the value of path. = 0 -> Ignore the specified value of path. secure: Option to require secure protocols for cookie transmission. Default value is 0. = 1 -> Use only secure protocols to transmit this cookie. = 0 -> Secure protocols are not required for transmission. maxage: Number of seconds until cookie expires. discard: Option to discard cookie when the program finishes. Default 0. (The cookie will be discarded regardless of the value of this element.) = 1 -> Discard cookie when the program finishes. = 0 -> Don't discard cookie. name/value: Zero, one or several name/value pairs may be specified. The name parameters are words such as Comment or CommentURL and the value parameters are strings that may contain embedded blanks. See RFC 2965 for details (ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2965.txt). An example cookie would look like: ( 0 WebTest cookie #1 expires&2592000&type&consumer / .unixscripts.com '' 0 0 200 1 ) PARAMETER: debug TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes preserve OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: This parameter is primarily for use by programmers modifying and testing the program code. The "yes" value makes the program display verbose diagnostic messages. (If you want diagnostics on the parameter processing, this parameter should preceed all other parameters.) The "preserve" value makes the program display verbose diagnostic messages and prevents the program from deleting the temporary Apache directory, which is named "/tmp/webtest_x_y", where x and y are arbitrary positive integers. DIRECTIVE: end_test TYPE: test block directive NO VALUE (i.e. specify end_test with no equals sign or value). There MUST be one end_test directive for each test_name parameter. Directive is REQUIRED. DESCRIPTION: Signifies the end of a test block. PARAMETER: file_path TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: Second list element cannot begin with '../' or contain '/../'. You MUST specify file_path or url, but not both, in each test block. DESCRIPTION: Two-element list. First element is the file to test, either an absolute or a relative pathname. Second element is the subdirectory pathname, relative to the Apache htdocs directory, to copy the file to. The copied file will have the same basename as the first element and the relative pathname of the second element. To copy the file directly to the htdocs directory, use a pathname of . or './.'. For example: file_path = ( /home/tester/testfile.html => mydepartment/myproject ) will copy the file to ./htdocs/mydepartment/myproject/testfile.html. PARAMETER: ignore_case TYPE: global and/or test block parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to do case-insensitive matching for text_forbid and text_require parameters. This does not affect the regex_forbid or regex_require parameters. PARAMETER: ignore_error_log TYPE: global and/or test block parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to ignore any errors found in the Apache error log. The default behavior is to flag an error if the fetch causes any errors to be added to the error log and echo the errors to the program output. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified. See also the apache_loglevel parameter. See also the Restrictions / Bugs section. PARAMETER: include_file_path TYPE: global parameter NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: Even-numbered list elements cannot begin with '../' or contain '/../'. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. You can specify more than one instance of this paramter. DESCRIPTION: List with an even number of elements. Odd-numbered elements are files to copy to the the temporary Apache directory before running the tests. These files can be specified using either an absolute or a relative pathname. Even-numbered elements are the subdirectory pathname, relative to the Apache ServerRoot directory, to copy the corresponding file to. The copied file will have the same basename as the odd-numbered element and the relative pathname of the corresponding even-numbered element. To copy the file directly to the ServerRoot directory, use a pathname of . or './.'. For example: include_file_path = (/home/tester/inc/header.inc => htdocs/includes) will copy the file to htdocs/includes/header.inc. This parameter is also useful for adding Perl modules that are needed by the web page specified by the file_path parameter. For example: include_file_path = ( ../apps/myapp/DBconn.pm => lib/perl/apps ) will copy the Perl module DBconn.pm to a directory that is in the Perl @INC array. An alternative to using the include_file_path parameter is to manually copy the files into the desired subdirectory in the directory specified by the apache_dir parameter. PARAMETER: mail TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no errors all OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to e-mail reports to the addresses in the mail_addresses parameter using the server specified by the mail_server parameter. If set to no, no e-mail is sent. If set to errors and one or more of the tests in the parameter file fails, an e-mail is sent that contains the results of all tests in the parameter file. If set to all, an e-mail is sent containing the results of all tests in the parameter file, regardless of success or failure. PARAMETER: mail_addresses TYPE: global parameter NO DEFAULT. REQUIRED unless mail = no. DESCRIPTION: List of e-mail addresses to send mail to. This parameter has two uses. If the mail parameter is set to "errors" or "all", the program sends mail containing the program output to these addresses. If the Apache executable specified by the apache_exec parameter has the Apache::ASP Perl module configured, server errors generated while compiling or running Apache::ASP scripts will be e-mailed to the first address in the mail_addresses list. PARAMETER: mail_server TYPE: global parameter NO DEFAULT. REQUIRED unless mail = no. DESCRIPTION: Name of mail server. PARAMETER: method TYPE: test block parameter DEFAULT: get ALLOWED VALUES: get post OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: HTTP method for the request(s). See RFC 2616 (HTTP/1.1 protocol). PARAMETER: max_bytes TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT ALLOWED VALUES: Any integer greater that zero and greater than min_bytes (if min_bytes is specified). OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Maximum number of bytes expected in returned page. If this value is exceeded, an error message is displayed. PARAMETER: min_bytes TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT ALLOWED VALUES: Any integer less than max_bytes (if max_bytes is specified). OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Minimum number of bytes expected in returned page. If the number of returned bytes is less than this value, an error message is displayed. PARAMETER: params TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: A list with an even number of elements. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: A set of parameter name/value pairs to be passed with the request. (This parameter is used to test pages that process forms.) Unless the method parameter is set to 'post', these pairs are URI-escaped and appended to the requested URL. For example, url = http://www.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmhome params = ( curmbox F001 A005 from HotMail ) generates the request: http://www.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmhome?curmbox=F001%20A005&from=HotMail The names and values will be URI-escaped as defined by RFC 2396. (See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt.) PARAMETER: proxies TYPE: global parameter NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: A list with an even number of elements. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: A set of service name / proxy URL pairs that specify proxy servers to use for requests. For example: proxies = ( http => http://http_proxy.mycompany.com ftp => http://ftp_proxy.mycompany.com ) ------------------------------------------------------------------- The regex_forbid and regex_require parameters contain one or more Perl regular expressions. The regex_forbid and regex_require parameter values are compared to the fetched page contents as the right hand side of a "=~" operator. If you want to search for a literal string, use the text_forbid and text_require parameters. For more information, type "man perlre" or see Programming Perl, 3rd edition, Chapter 5. You can specify these parameters globally or within a test block. If you specify one as both a global and a test block parameter, the value in the test block applies only to that test block. PARAMETER: regex_forbid TYPE: global and/or test block parameter NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: List of one or more regular expressions that must NOT exist on the web page. See also the text_forbid parameter. PARAMETER: regex_require TYPE: global and/or test block parameter NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: List of one or more regular expressions that MUST exist on the web page. See also the text_require parameter. ------------------------------------------------------------------- PARAMETER: save_output TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes preserve OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to redirect the program output to a file. (Error messages still go to the terminal.) The program constructs the file name by taking the name of this parameter file, removing the file extension if it exists and appending ".out". If there is an existing file with that name, the program overwrites the file if save_output is set to 'yes'. If save_output is set to 'preserve' and the file already exists, output is sent to the terminal. This parameter should precede all other parameters in the parameter file. (This order is not required.) PARAMETER: send_cookies TYPE: global and/or test block parameter DEFAULT: yes ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to send cookies to the web server. This applies to cookies passed by the web server(s) during the test session and to cookies created using the cookies parameter. This does NOT give the web server(s) access to cookies created with a browser or any user agent software other than this program. The cookies created while this program is running are only accessible to other tests in the same parameter file. You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block. If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter, the value in the test block applies only to that test block. See also the accept_cookies parameter. PARAMETER: show_cookies TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to list cookies sent to or received from the web server. Each cookie will be preceded with the string "Set-Cookie3:" and the cookie elements will be separated by semicolons. PARAMETER: show_html TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to display the HTML source with the output. You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block. If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter, the value in the test block applies only to that test block. If, and only if, you specify the file_path parameter, the program starts a local instance of Apache, copies the file to its htdocs directory, fetches the file from Apache and runs the specified tests. PARAMETER: terse TYPE: global parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no failed_only summary OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: Option to display short test report. If you set it to 'summary', the program displays only a one-line summary of the tests for each URL/file. If you set terse to 'failed_only', the program only displays the results of tests that failed and the summary. If you set terse to 'no', the program displays all the test results and the summary. PARAMETER: test_name TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT. Parameter is REQUIRED. DESCRIPTION: Name of this test. This MUST be the first parameter in the block for each test. You may specify multiple test blocks within a parameter file. There MUST be one end_test directive for each test_name parameter. PARAMETER: text_forbid TYPE: global and/or test block parameter NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: List of one or more text strings that must NOT exist on the web page. See also the ignore_case and regex_forbid parameters. PARAMETER: text_require TYPE: global and/or test block parameter NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. DESCRIPTION: List of one or more text strings that MUST exist on the web page. See also the ignore_case and regex_require parameters. PARAMETER: url TYPE: test block parameter NO DEFAULT. You MUST specify file_path or url, but not both, in each test block. DESCRIPTION: URL to test, if value starts with "www.", "http://" will be prefixed. A parameter file can contain some test blocks that specify file_path and some that specify url. APACHE DIRECTORY AND FILES The apache_dir parameter must be set to the name of a directory that contains the subdirectories "conf", "logs" and "htdocs". The conf subdirectory must contain a file named "httpd.conf-dist". The htdocs subdirectory must contain a subdirectory named webtest that contains a file named "is_apache_responding.html". If your installation of Apache has the Perl module Apache::ASP configured, the apache_dir directory must also contain a subdirectory named "asp_tmp". The file httpd.conf-dist must contain all the usual Apache configuration parameters. Also, the httpd.conf-dist file must contain the following lines INSTEAD OF the lines containing the corresponding parameters (i.e., Port, Listen, ServerRoot, etc.): Port Please_do_not_modify_PORT Listen Please_do_not_modify_PORT ServerRoot Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT ErrorLog Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/logs/error.log LogLevel Please_do_not_modify_LOG_LEVEL CustomLog Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/logs/access.log common PidFile Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/apache.pid LockFile Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/apache.lock ServerName Please_do_not_modify_HOST_NAME SSLMutex file:Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/ssl_mutex SSLLog Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/logs/ssl_engine_log DocumentRoot Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/htdocs At runtime these tags are replaced with the values needed by the Apache server that the program starts. See the Apache documentation for details (http://www.apache.org/docs/mod/directives.html). Also, if your installation of Apache has the Perl module Apache::ASP configured, you must use the following lines instead of the lines containing the corresponding parameters (i.e., PERLSETVAR_GLOBAL, PERLSETVAR_MAILHOST, PERLSETVAR_MAILERRORSTO): Please_do_not_modify_PERLSETVAR_GLOBAL Please_do_not_modify_PERLSETVAR_MAILHOST Please_do_not_modify_PERLSETVAR_MAILERRORSTO These lines are usually placed in the FileMatch block of the VirtualHost block for the PerlHandler Apache::ASP. At runtime these tags are replaced with the the directive PerlSetVar followed by the name of the parameter (Global, MailHost, MailErrorsTo) and a parameter value derived from other input parameters. See the Apache::ASP documentation for details (http://www.apache-asp.org/config.html). The subdirectory htdocs must contain a subdirectory named webtest that contains a file named "is_apache_responding.html". This file must contain valid HTML and must contain the string Please_do_not_modify_TEST_TAG somewhere in the file. (This file is used to verify that Apache has started successfully.)
Perl version 5.000 or higher is required. The following Perl modules are also required. (These are all part of the base distribution of version 5.005_03 and higher.) Cwd File::Basename File::Copy File::Find File::Path HTTP::Cookies HTTP::Request::Common HTTP::Response LWP::UserAgent Net::Domain Net::SMTP Sys::Hostname Term::ReadKey URI::URL
This module only works on Unix (e.g., Solaris, Linux, AIX, etc.). The module's HTTP requests time out after 3 minutes (the default value for LWP::UserAgent). If the file_path parameter is specified, Apache must be installed. If the file_path parameter is specified, the directory /tmp cannot be NFS-mounted, since Apache's lockfile and the SSL mutex file must be stored on a local disk.
This document describes version 0.31, release date 04 June 2001
Add option to validate HTML syntax using HTML::Validator. Add option to check links (see http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/perl/pm/lc/linkcheck.html).
Richard Anderson <Richard.Anderson@unixscripts.com>
Copyright (c) 2000 Richard Anderson. All rights reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the Perl Artistic License.
wt(1), perl(1), perlre(1), perldoc Apache::ASP.
To install HTTP::WebTest, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm HTTP::WebTest
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install HTTP::WebTest
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.