delete, select & insert upgraded More utility function (node to array, arrayToNode) XMLDB special move command PHP Unit Test
		
			
				
	
	
		
			423 lines
		
	
	
		
			17 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
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			423 lines
		
	
	
		
			17 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
<html>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
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<title>
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        Extending the SimpleTest unit tester with additional expectation classes
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    </title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="docs.css" title="Styles">
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<a href="index.html">SimpleTest</a>
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                <a href="reporter_documentation.html">Reporting</a>
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                <span class="chosen">Expectations</span>
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</div></div>
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<h1>Expectation documentation</h1>
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        This page...
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        <ul>
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<li>
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            Using expectations for
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            <a href="#mock">more precise testing with mock objects</a>
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        </li>
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<li>
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            <a href="#behaviour">Changing mock object behaviour</a> with expectations
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        </li>
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<li>
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            <a href="#extending">Extending the expectations</a>
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        </li>
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<li>
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            Underneath SimpleTest <a href="#unit">uses expectation classes</a>
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        </li>
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</ul>
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<div class="content">
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        <p><a class="target" name="mock"><h2>More control over mock objects</h2></a></p>
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            <p>
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                The default behaviour of the
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                <a href="mock_objects_documentation.html">mock objects</a>
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                in
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                <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletest/">SimpleTest</a>
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                is either an identical match on the argument or to allow any argument at all.
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                For almost all tests this is sufficient.
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                Sometimes, though, you want to weaken a test case.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                One place where a test can be too tightly coupled is with
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                text matching.
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                Suppose we have a component that outputs a helpful error
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                message when something goes wrong.
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                You want to test that the correct error was sent, but the actual
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                text may be rather long.
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                If you test for the text exactly, then every time the exact wording
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                of the message changes, you will have to go back and edit the test suite.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                For example, suppose we have a news service that has failed
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                to connect to its remote source.
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<pre>
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<strong>class NewsService {
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    ...
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    function publish(&$writer) {
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        if (! $this->isConnected()) {
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            $writer->write('Cannot connect to news service "' .
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                    $this->_name . '" at this time. ' .
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                    'Please try again later.');
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        }
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        ...
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    }
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}</strong>
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</pre>
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                Here it is sending its content to a
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                <span class="new_code">Writer</span> class.
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                We could test this behaviour with a
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                <span class="new_code">MockWriter</span> like so...
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<pre>
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class TestOfNewsService extends UnitTestCase {
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    ...
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    function testConnectionFailure() {<strong>
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        $writer = &new MockWriter();
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        $writer->expectOnce('write', array(
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                'Cannot connect to news service ' .
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                '"BBC News" at this time. ' .
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                'Please try again later.'));
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        $service = &new NewsService('BBC News');
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        $service->publish($writer);</strong>
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    }
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}
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</pre>
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                This is a good example of a brittle test.
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                If we decide to add additional instructions, such as
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                suggesting an alternative news source, we will break
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                our tests even though no underlying functionality
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                has been altered.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                To get around this, we would like to do a regular expression
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                test rather than an exact match.
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                We can actually do this with...
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<pre>
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class TestOfNewsService extends UnitTestCase {
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    ...
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    function testConnectionFailure() {
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        $writer = &new MockWriter();<strong>
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        $writer->expectOnce(
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                'write',
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                array(new PatternExpectation('/cannot connect/i')));</strong>
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        $service = &new NewsService('BBC News');
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        $service->publish($writer);
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    }
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}
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</pre>
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                Instead of passing in the expected parameter to the
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                <span class="new_code">MockWriter</span> we pass an
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                expectation class called
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                <span class="new_code">WantedPatternExpectation</span>.
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                The mock object is smart enough to recognise this as special
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                and to treat it differently.
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                Rather than simply comparing the incoming argument to this
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                object, it uses the expectation object itself to
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                perform the test.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                The <span class="new_code">WantedPatternExpectation</span> takes
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                the regular expression to match in its constructor.
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                Whenever a comparison is made by the <span class="new_code">MockWriter</span>
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                against this expectation class, it will do a
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                <span class="new_code">preg_match()</span> with this pattern.
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                With our test case above, as long as "cannot connect"
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                appears in the text of the string, the mock will issue a pass
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                to the unit tester.
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                The rest of the text does not matter.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                The possible expectation classes are...
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                <table><tbody>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">AnythingExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Will always match</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">EqualExpectation</span></td>
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<td>An equality, rather than the stronger identity comparison</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">NotEqualExpectation</span></td>
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<td>An inequality comparison</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">IndenticalExpectation</span></td>
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<td>The default mock object check which must match exactly</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">NotIndenticalExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Inverts the mock object logic</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">WithinMarginExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Compares a value to within a margin</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">OutsideMarginExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Checks that a value is out side the margin</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">PatternExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Uses a Perl Regex to match a string</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">NoPatternExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Passes only if failing a Perl Regex</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">IsAExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Checks the type or class name only</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">NotAExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Opposite of the <span class="new_code">IsAExpectation</span>
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</td>
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</tr>
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                    <tr>
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<td><span class="new_code">MethodExistsExpectation</span></td>
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<td>Checks a method is available on an object</td>
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</tr>
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                </tbody></table>
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                Most take the expected value in the constructor.
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                The exceptions are the pattern matchers, which take a regular expression,
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                and the <span class="new_code">IsAExpectation</span> and <span class="new_code">NotAExpectation</span> which takes a type
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                or class name as a string.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                Some examples...
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            </p>
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            <p>
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<pre>
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$mock->expectOnce('method', array(new IdenticalExpectation(14)));
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</pre>
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                This is the same as <span class="new_code">$mock->expectOnce('method', array(14))</span>.
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<pre>
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$mock->expectOnce('method', array(new EqualExpectation(14)));
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</pre>
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                This is different from the previous version in that the string
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                <span class="new_code">"14"</span> as a parameter will also pass.
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                Sometimes the additional type checks of SimpleTest are too restrictive.
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<pre>
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$mock->expectOnce('method', array(new AnythingExpectation(14)));
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</pre>
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                This is the same as <span class="new_code">$mock->expectOnce('method', array('*'))</span>.
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<pre>
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$mock->expectOnce('method', array(new IdenticalExpectation('*')));
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</pre>
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                This is handy if you want to assert a literal <span class="new_code">"*"</span>.
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<pre>
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new NotIdenticalExpectation(14)
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</pre>
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                This matches on anything other than integer 14.
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                Even the string <span class="new_code">"14"</span> would pass.
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<pre>
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new WithinMarginExpectation(14.0, 0.001)
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</pre>
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                This will accept any value from 13.999 to 14.001 inclusive.
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            </p>
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        <p><a class="target" name="behaviour"><h2>Using expectations to control stubs</h2></a></p>
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            <p>
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                The expectation classes can be used not just for sending assertions
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                from mock objects, but also for selecting behaviour for the
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                <a href="mock_objects_documentation.html">mock objects</a>.
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                Anywhere a list of arguments is given, a list of expectation objects
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                can be inserted instead.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                Suppose we want a mock authorisation server to simulate a successful login,
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                but only if it receives a valid session object.
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                We can do this as follows...
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<pre>
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Mock::generate('Authorisation');
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<strong>
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$authorisation = new MockAuthorisation();
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$authorisation->setReturnValue(
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        'isAllowed',
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        true,
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        array(new IsAExpectation('Session', 'Must be a session')));
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$authorisation->setReturnValue('isAllowed', false);</strong>
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</pre>
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                We have set the default mock behaviour to return false when
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                <span class="new_code">isAllowed</span> is called.
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                When we call the method with a single parameter that
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                is a <span class="new_code">Session</span> object, it will return true.
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                We have also added a second parameter as a message.
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                This will be displayed as part of the mock object
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                failure message if this expectation is the cause of
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                a failure.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                This kind of sophistication is rarely useful, but is included for
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                completeness.
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            </p>
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        <p><a class="target" name="extending"><h2>Creating your own expectations</h2></a></p>
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            <p>
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                The expectation classes have a very simple structure.
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                So simple that it is easy to create your own versions for
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                commonly used test logic.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                As an example here is the creation of a class to test for
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                valid IP addresses.
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                In order to work correctly with the stubs and mocks the new
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                expectation class should extend
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                <span class="new_code">SimpleExpectation</span>...
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<pre>
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<strong>class ValidIp extends SimpleExpectation {
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    function test($ip) {
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        return (ip2long($ip) != -1);
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    }
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    function testMessage($ip) {
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        return "Address [$ip] should be a valid IP address";
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    }
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}</strong>
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</pre>
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                There are only two methods to implement.
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                The <span class="new_code">test()</span> method should
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                evaluate to true if the expectation is to pass, and
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                false otherwise.
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                The <span class="new_code">testMessage()</span> method
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                should simply return some helpful text explaining the test
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                that was carried out.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                This class can now be used in place of the earlier expectation
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                classes.
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            </p>
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        <p><a class="target" name="unit"><h2>Under the bonnet of the unit tester</h2></a></p>
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            <p>
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                The <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletest/">SimpleTest unit testing framework</a>
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                also uses the expectation classes internally for the
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                <a href="unit_test_documentation.html">UnitTestCase class</a>.
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                We can also take advantage of these mechanisms to reuse our
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                homebrew expectation classes within the test suites directly.
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                The most crude way of doing this is to use the
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                <span class="new_code">SimpleTest::assert()</span> method to
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                test against it directly...
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<pre>
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<strong>class TestOfNetworking extends UnitTestCase {
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    ...
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    function testGetValidIp() {
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        $server = &new Server();
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        $this->assert(
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                new ValidIp(),
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                $server->getIp(),
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                'Server IP address->%s');
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    }
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}</strong>
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</pre>
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                This is a little untidy compared with our usual
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                <span class="new_code">assert...()</span> syntax.
 | 
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            </p>
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            <p>
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                For such a simple case we would normally create a
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                separate assertion method on our test case rather
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                than bother using the expectation class.
 | 
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                If we pretend that our expectation is a little more
 | 
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                complicated for a moment, so that we want to reuse it,
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                we get...
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<pre>
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class TestOfNetworking extends UnitTestCase {
 | 
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    ...<strong>
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    function assertValidIp($ip, $message = '%s') {
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        $this->assert(new ValidIp(), $ip, $message);
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    }</strong>
 | 
						|
    
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    function testGetValidIp() {
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        $server = &new Server();<strong>
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        $this->assertValidIp(
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                $server->getIp(),
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                'Server IP address->%s');</strong>
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    }
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}
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</pre>
 | 
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                It is unlikely we would ever need this degree of control
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                over the testing machinery.
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                It is rare to need the expectations for more than pattern
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                matching.
 | 
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                Also, complex expectation classes could make the tests
 | 
						|
                harder to read and debug.
 | 
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                These mechanisms are really of most use to authors of systems
 | 
						|
                that will extend the test framework to create their own tool set.
 | 
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            </p>
 | 
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    </div>
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        References and related information...
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        <ul>
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<li>
 | 
						|
            SimpleTest project page on <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletest/">SourceForge</a>.
 | 
						|
        </li>
 | 
						|
<li>
 | 
						|
            SimpleTest download page on <a href="http://www.lastcraft.com/simple_test.php">LastCraft</a>.
 | 
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        </li>
 | 
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<li>
 | 
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            The expectations mimic the constraints in <a href="http://www.jmock.org/">JMock</a>.
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        </li>
 | 
						|
<li>
 | 
						|
            <a href="http://simpletest.org/api/">Full API for SimpleTest</a>
 | 
						|
            from the PHPDoc.
 | 
						|
        </li>
 | 
						|
</ul>
 | 
						|
<div class="menu_back"><div class="menu">
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<a href="index.html">SimpleTest</a>
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                <a href="web_tester_documentation.html">Web tester</a>
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                <a href="form_testing_documentation.html">Testing forms</a>
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                <a href="authentication_documentation.html">Authentication</a>
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<div class="copyright">
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            Copyright<br>Marcus Baker 2006
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