Alright - I already have written some gitzy little tests for the tiny, first module I wrote 3 months ago. And it felt great, too! But now the feeling is a little hollow. All I've done is one test per sub, testing the numbers I give it yield the answer I expect. I mean, for me the only way a test should fail is if the module isn't there. (or perhaps, if I go and change the checksum algorithm in a drunken stupor, the tests would bail me out) I somehow feel there should be more to it.

So my question is - and it's quite newbie - How do I write a test? Forgive me for being pedantic, but there's not a lot out there. Test::Harness is briefly described in the Camel book (Amelia, to some ;) and there's the nodes Writing tests and perlman:Test::Harness. Does make test run all of the tests that it finds in the t directory automatically?

Another question - How would you write tests for a program? The same as you would for a module? (but those are run with make test)

For added entertainment, I'll throw in my "test suite". (Comments very welcome - snigger if you like ;)

# Before `make install' is performed this script should 
# be runnable with `make test'. After `make install' it 
# should work as `perl test.pl'

####### We start with some black magic to print on failure.

# Change 1..1 below to 1..last_test_to_print .
# (It may become useful if the test is moved to ./t 
# subdirectory.)

BEGIN { $| = 1; print "1..7\n"; }
END {print "not ok 1\n" unless $loaded;}
use Local::Barcode::Protocol;
$loaded = 1;
print "ok 1\n";

######################### End of black magic.

# Should tighten test code, should use Test::Harness
# do some sanity checking on values
# 

$testcode = '123456789/12345/1';
@decoded = decode_string($testcode);
if (scalar @decoded == 3) {
        print "ok 2\n";
} else {
        print "not ok 2\n    
        $decoded[0],$decoded[1],$decoded[2]\n";
}

$one = '123456789';
$two = '12345';
$three = '1';
$result = encode_string($one, $two, $three);
if ($testcode eq $result) {
        print "ok 3\n";
} else {
        print "not ok 3 ... encode_string
    Wanted $testcode  Got $result\n";
}

$result = generate_checksum($one, $two);
if ($three eq $result) {
        print "ok 4\n";
} else {
        print "not ok 4\n    $result\n";
}

$result = is_valid_student($one);
if (defined $result) {
        print "ok 5\n";
} else {
        print "not ok 5\n    $result\n";
}

$result = is_valid_assignment($two);
if (defined $result) {
        print "ok 6\n";
} else {
        print "not ok 6\n    $result\n";
}

$result = assign_belongto_student($one, $two);
if (defined $result) {
        print "ok 7\n";
} else {
        print "not ok 7\n    $result\n";
}
[download]

Good topic!

Ea :wq

Edit Masem 2001-10-11 - Code Tags

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