NAME

TestGen4Web::Runner - A PERL module to replay files recorded with TestGen4Web

SYNOPSIS

  require TestGen4Web::Runner;
  my $runner = new TestGen4Web::Runner;
  $runner->load('actions.xml');
  if (!$runner->run())
  {
    print $runner->error() . "\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION

TestGen4Web::Runner is a PERL module to replay files recorded with SpikeSource's TestGen4Web Recorder.

From http://developer.spikesource.com/projects/testgen4web :

"TestGen4Web is written to ease the pain of writing tests for web applications. This is a 2 part tool. Firefox extension, which records user input to a xml file. Translator script: to generate automated test scripts."

This module fits in neither the 'recorder' or 'translator' category, instead directly replaying the XML files as generated by the TestGen4Web recorder. This leaves the implementation of the tests to the PERL developer utilizing this module.

This release of the module implements a subset of TestGen4Web's features. The entire feature set will be implemented in a future release.

Another use for this module is to interact and automate with web services only available via HTTP and HTML (commonly called 'screen scraping'). The desired action is recorded in the browser with the TestGen4Web recorder and the resulting XML can be replayed by this module in order to duplicate that action and, for example, retrieve some text.

A working example of this module can be found in the WWW::SMS::IE::iesms module.

The following methods are available:

$runner = new TestGen4Web::Runner

This is the object constructor. It takes no arguments.

$runner->load($filename)

Load an action XML file.

Returns true on success, false on failure; errors are in error().

$carrier->run($start_step, $end_step)

Replays the action file that was loaded with load().

The optional $start_step and $end_step arguments determine what action steps the Runner will start and end with respectively.

Returns true on success, false on failure; errors are in error(), matches are in matches().

$runner->result()

Set/retrieve the result of the previous run() operation. True on success, false on failure.

$runner->matches()

Retrieves the array of matches from the last assertion action during a run().

The value part of a "assert-text-exists" action may be a regular expression. Matches in parentheses are returned by this method.

$runner->error()

Retrieve the error message of a failed run().

$runner->set_replacement($key, $val)

Replace all instances of "{$key}" with $val when filling forms or (or waiting) in the action file.

$runner->clear_replacements()

Clear all replacements.

$runner->verify_titles()

Set/retrieve the "verify_titles" setting. If true (the default), then all "verify-title" assertions will be checked, otherwise, these assertions will be ignored.

$runner->start_step()

Set/retrieve the first action step that will be executed by the run() method.

$runner->end_step()

Set/retrieve the final action step that will be executed by the run() method.

$runner->user_agent()

Retrieve the "LWP::UserAgent" object used internally by the Runner.

$runner->cookie_jar_file()

Set/retrieve the full filename of the cookie jar as used internally by the "LWP::UserAgent" performing the actions.

$runner->cookie_jar()

Set/retrieve the "HTTP::Cookies" cookie jar object used by the module.

$runner->action_state()

Retrieve the state of the Runner between run() requests. The returned object is of the type "HTTP::Response".

$runner->quiet()

Set/retrieve the quiet() setting. If this is disabled (the default), normal output will be printed. If set to true, normal output will be suppressed.

$runner->debug()

Set/retrieve the "debug mode" setting. If this is set to a value greater than 0, debug output will be printed during load() and run() operations. Greater values mean more debug output. The default is 0.

$runner->version()

Retrieve the version of this module.

DISCLAIMER

The author accepts no responsibility nor liability for your use of this software.

AUTHOR

David McNamara (me.at.mackers.dot.com)

COPYRIGHT