CODEWITHSUNDEEP
perltestingcgicpan
user181548
user181548

Reputation:

What Perl module can I use to test CGI output for common errors?

Is there a Perl module which can test the CGI output of another program? E.g. I have a program

x.cgi

(this program is not in Perl) and I want to run it from program

test_x_cgi.pl

So, e.g. test_x_cgi.pl is something like

#!perl
use IPC::Run3
run3 (("x.cgi"), ...)

So in test_x_cgi.pl I want to automatically check that the output of x.cgi doesn't do stupid things like, e.g. print messages before the HTTP header is fully outputted. In other words, I want to have a kind of "browser" in Perl which processes the output. Before I try to create such a thing myself, is there any module on CPAN which does this?

Please note that x.cgi here is not a Perl script; I am trying to write a test framework for it in Perl. So, specifically, I want to test a string of output for ill-formedness.

Edit: Thanks

I have already written a module which does what I want, so feel free to answer this question for the benefit of other people, but any further answers are academic as far as I'm concerned.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 353

Answers (5)

cjm
cjm

Reputation: 62109

There's CGI::Test, which looks like what you're looking for. It specifically mentions the ability to test non-Perl CGI programs. It hasn't been updated for a while, but neither has the CGI spec.

Upvotes: 2

knb
knb

Reputation: 9295

Look at the examples from chapter 16 from the perl cookbook

16.9. Controlling the Input, Output, and Error of Another Program

It uses IPC::Open3. Fom perl cookbook, might be modified by me, see below.

Example 16.2

cmd3sel - control all three of kids in, out, and error.

use IPC::Open3;
use IO::Select;


$cmd = "grep vt33 /none/such - /etc/termcap";
 my $pid = open3(*CMD_IN, *CMD_OUT, *CMD_ERR, $cmd);

$SIG{CHLD} = sub {
    print "REAPER: status $? on $pid\n" if waitpid($pid, 0) > 0
};

#print CMD_IN "test test 1 2 3 \n";
close(CMD_IN);

my $selector = IO::Select->new();
$selector->add(*CMD_ERR, *CMD_OUT);

while (my @ready = $selector->can_read) {
    foreach my $fh (@ready) {
        if (fileno($fh) == fileno(CMD_ERR)) {print "STDERR: ", scalar <CMD_ERR>}
        else                                {print "STDOUT: ", scalar <CMD_OUT>}
        $selector->remove($fh) if eof($fh);
    }
}
close(CMD_OUT);
close(CMD_ERR);

Upvotes: 0

Sinan &#220;n&#252;r
Sinan &#220;n&#252;r

Reputation: 118148

There is Test::HTTP. I have not used it, but seems to have an interface that fits your requirements.

$test->header_is($header_name, $value [, $description]);

Compares the response header $header_name with the value $value using Test::Builder-is>.

$test->header_like($header_name, $regex, [, $description]);

Compares the response header $header_name with the regex $regex using Test::Builder-like>.

Upvotes: 1

BadFileMagic
BadFileMagic

Reputation: 701

If you want to write a testing framework, I'd suggest taking a look at Test::More from CPAN as a good starting point. It's powerful but fairly easy to use and is definitely going to be better than cobbling something together as a one-off.

Upvotes: -1

jimtut
jimtut

Reputation: 2393

If you want to check that the output of x.cgi is properly formatted HTML/XHTML/XML/etc, why not run it through the W3 Validator?

You can download the source and find some way to call it from your Perl test script. Or, you might able to leverage this Perl interface to calling the W3 Validator on the web.

Upvotes: -1

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