


Test::Simple(3p) Perl Programmers Reference GuideTest::Simple(3p)


NAME
       Test::Simple - Basic utilities for writing tests.

SYNOPSIS
         use Test::Simple tests => 1;

         ok( $foo eq $bar, 'foo is bar' );

DESCRIPTION
       ** If you are unfamiliar with testing read Test::Tutorial
       first! **

       This is an extremely simple, extremely basic module for
       writing tests suitable for CPAN modules and other
       pursuits.  If you wish to do more complicated testing, use
       the Test::More module (a drop-in replacement for this
       one).

       The basic unit of Perl testing is the ok.  For each thing
       you want to test your program will print out an "ok" or
       "not ok" to indicate pass or fail.  You do this with the
       ok() function (see below).

       The only other constraint is you must pre-declare how many
       tests you plan to run.  This is in case something goes
       horribly wrong during the test and your test program
       aborts, or skips a test or whatever.  You do this like so:

           use Test::Simple tests => 23;

       You must have a plan.

       ok
             ok( $foo eq $bar, $name );
             ok( $foo eq $bar );

           ok() is given an expression (in this case "$foo eq
           $bar").  If it's true, the test passed.  If it's
           false, it didn't.  That's about it.

           ok() prints out either "ok" or "not ok" along with a
           test number (it keeps track of that for you).

             # This produces "ok 1 - Hell not yet frozen over" (or not ok)
             ok( get_temperature($hell) > 0, 'Hell not yet frozen over' );

           If you provide a $name, that will be printed along
           with the "ok/not ok" to make it easier to find your
           test when if fails (just search for the name).  It
           also makes it easier for the next guy to understand
           what your test is for.  It's highly recommended you
           use test names.

           All tests are run in scalar context.  So this:



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               ok( @stuff, 'I have some stuff' );

           will do what you mean (fail if stuff is empty)

       Test::Simple will start by printing number of tests run in
       the form "1..M" (so "1..5" means you're going to run 5
       tests).  This strange format lets Test::Harness know how
       many tests you plan on running in case something goes
       horribly wrong.

       If all your tests passed, Test::Simple will exit with zero
       (which is normal).  If anything failed it will exit with
       how many failed.  If you run less (or more) tests than you
       planned, the missing (or extras) will be considered
       failures.  If no tests were ever run Test::Simple will
       throw a warning and exit with 255.  If the test died, even
       after having successfully completed all its tests, it will
       still be considered a failure and will exit with 255.

       So the exit codes are...

           0                   all tests successful
           255                 test died or all passed but wrong # of tests run
           any other number    how many failed (including missing or extras)

       If you fail more than 254 tests, it will be reported as
       254.

       This module is by no means trying to be a complete testing
       system.  It's just to get you started.  Once you're off
       the ground its recommended you look at Test::More.

EXAMPLE
       Here's an example of a simple .t file for the fictional
       Film module.

           use Test::Simple tests => 5;

           use Film;  # What you're testing.

           my $btaste = Film->new({ Title    => 'Bad Taste',
                                    Director => 'Peter Jackson',
                                    Rating   => 'R',
                                    NumExplodingSheep => 1
                                  });
           ok( defined($btaste) && ref $btaste eq 'Film,     'new() works' );

           ok( $btaste->Title      eq 'Bad Taste',     'Title() get'    );
           ok( $btaste->Director   eq 'Peter Jackson', 'Director() get' );
           ok( $btaste->Rating     eq 'R',             'Rating() get'   );
           ok( $btaste->NumExplodingSheep == 1,        'NumExplodingSheep() get' );

       It will produce output like this:




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Test::Simple(3p) Perl Programmers Reference GuideTest::Simple(3p)


           1..5
           ok 1 - new() works
           ok 2 - Title() get
           ok 3 - Director() get
           not ok 4 - Rating() get
           #   Failed test 'Rating() get'
           #   in t/film.t at line 14.
           ok 5 - NumExplodingSheep() get
           # Looks like you failed 1 tests of 5

       Indicating the Film::Rating() method is broken.

CAVEATS
       Test::Simple will only report a maximum of 254 failures in
       its exit code.  If this is a problem, you probably have a
       huge test script.  Split it into multiple files.
       (Otherwise blame the Unix folks for using an unsigned
       short integer as the exit status).

       Because VMS's exit codes are much, much different than the
       rest of the universe, and perl does horrible mangling to
       them that gets in my way, it works like this on VMS.

           0     SS$_NORMAL        all tests successful
           4     SS$_ABORT         something went wrong

       Unfortunately, I can't differentiate any further.

NOTES
       Test::Simple is explicitly tested all the way back to perl
       5.004.

       Test::Simple is thread-safe in perl 5.8.0 and up.

HISTORY
       This module was conceived while talking with Tony Bowden
       in his kitchen one night about the problems I was having
       writing some really complicated feature into the new
       Testing module.  He observed that the main problem is not
       dealing with these edge cases but that people hate to
       write tests at all.  What was needed was a dead simple
       module that took all the hard work out of testing and was
       really, really easy to learn.  Paul Johnson simultaneously
       had this idea (unfortunately, he wasn't in Tony's
       kitchen).  This is it.

SEE ALSO
       Test::More
           More testing functions!  Once you outgrow
           Test::Simple, look at Test::More.  Test::Simple is
           100% forward compatible with Test::More (i.e. you can
           just use Test::More instead of Test::Simple in your
           programs and things will still work).




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       Look in Test::More's SEE ALSO for more testing modules.

AUTHORS
       Idea by Tony Bowden and Paul Johnson, code by Michael G
       Schwern <schwern@pobox.com>, wardrobe by Calvin Klein.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2001-2008 by Michael G Schwern
       <schwern@pobox.com>.

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

       See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html











































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