NAME

Apache::TestRequest - Send requests to your Apache test server

SYNOPSIS

use Apache::Test qw(ok have_lwp);
use Apache::TestRequest qw(GET POST);
use Apache::Constants qw(HTTP_OK);

plan tests => 1, have_lwp;

my $res = GET '/test.html';
ok $res->code == HTTP_OK, "Request is ok";

DESCRIPTION

Apache::TestRequest provides convenience functions to allow you to make requests to your Apache test server in your test scripts. It subclasses LWP::UserAgent, so that you have access to all if its methods, but also exports a number of useful functions likely useful for majority of your test requests. Users of the old Apache::test (or Apache::testold) module, take note! Herein lie most of the functions you'll need to use to replace Apache::test in your test suites.

Each of the functions exported by Apache::TestRequest uses an LWP::UserAgent object to submit the request and retrieve its results. The return value for many of these functions is an HTTP::Response object. See HTTP::Response for documentation of its methods, which you can use in your tests. For example, use the code() and content() methods to test the response code and content of your request. Using GET, you can perform a couple of tests using these methods like this:

use Apache::Test qw(ok have_lwp);
use Apache::TestRequest qw(GET POST);
use Apache::Constants qw(HTTP_OK);

plan tests => 2, have_lwp;

my $uri = "/test.html?foo=1&bar=2";
my $res = GET $uri;
ok $res->code == HTTP_OK, "Check that the request was OK";
ok $res->content eq "foo => 1, bar => 2", "Check its content";

Note that you can also use Apache::TestRequest with Test::Builder and its derivatives, including Test::More:

use Test::More;
# ...
is $res->code, HTTP_OK, "Check that the request was OK";
is $res->content, "foo => 1, bar => 2", "Check its content";

CONFIGURATION FUNCTION

You can tell Apache::TestRequest what kind of LWP::UserAgent object to use for its convenience functions with user_agent(). This function uses its arguments to construct an internal global LWP::UserAgent object that will be used for all subsequent requests made by the convenience functions. The arguments it takes are the same as for the LWP::UserAgent constructor. See the LWP::UserAgent documentation for a complete list.

The user_agent() function only creates the internal LWP::UserAgent object the first time it is called. Since this function is called internally by Apache::TestRequest, you should always use the reset parameter to force it to create a new global LWP::UserAgent Object:

Apache::TestRequest::user_agent(reset => 1, %params);

user_agent() differs from LWP::UserAgent->new in two additional ways. First, it supports an additional parameter, keep_alive, which enables connection persistence, where the same connection is used to process multiple requests (and, according to the LWP::UserAgent documentation, has the effect of loading and enabling the new experimental HTTP/1.1 protocol module).

And finally, the semantics of the requests_redirectable parameter is different than for LWP::UserAgent in that you can pass it a boolean value as well as an array for LWP::UserAgent. To force Apache::TestRequest not to follow redirects in any of its convenience functions, pass a false value to requests_redirectable:

Apache::TestRequest::user_agent(reset => 1,
                                requests_redirectable => 0);

If LWP is not installed, then you can still pass in an array reference as LWP::UserAgent expects. Apache::TestRequest will examine the array and allow redirects if the array contains more than one value or if there is only one value and that value is not "POST":

# Always allow redirection.
my $redir = have_lwp() ? [qw(GET HEAD POST)] : 1;
Apache::TestRequest::user_agent(reset => 1,
                                requests_redirectable => $redir);

But note that redirection will not work with POST unless LWP is installed. It's best, therefore, to check have_lwp before running tests that rely on a redirection from POST.

Sometimes it is desireable to have Apache::TestRequest remember cookies sent by the pages you are testing and send them back to the server on subsequent requests. This is especially necessary when testing pages whose functionality relies on sessions or the presence of preferences stored in cookies.

By default, LWP::UserAgent does not remember cookies between requests. You can tell it to remember cookies between request by adding:

Apache::TestRequest::user_agent(cookie_jar => {});

before issuing the requests.

FUNCTIONS

Apache::TestRequest exports a number of functions that will likely prove convenient for use in the majority of your request tests.

Optional Parameters

Each function also takes a number of optional arguments.

redirect_ok

By default a request will follow redirects retrieved from the server. To prevent this behavior, pass a false value to a redirect_ok parameter:

my $res = GET $uri, redirect_ok => 0;

Alternately, if all of your tests need to disable redirects, tell Apache::TestRequest to use an LWP::UserAgent object that disables redirects:

Apache::TestRequest::user_agent( reset => 1,
                                 requests_redirectable => 0 );

cert

If you need to force an SSL request to use a particular SSL certificate, pass the name of the certificate via the cert parameter:

my $res = GET $uri, cert => 'my_cert';

content

If you need to add content to your request, use the content parameter:

my $res = GET $uri, content => 'hello world!';

filename

The name of a local file on the file system to be sent to the Apache test server via UPLOAD() and its friends.

The Functions

GET

my $res = GET $uri;

Sends a simple GET request to the Apache test server. Returns an HTTP::Response object.

You can also supply additional headers to be sent with the request by adding their name/value pairs after the url parameter, for example:

my $res = GET $url, 'Accept-Language' => 'de,en-us,en;q=0.5';

GET_STR

A shortcut function for GET($uri)->as_string.

GET_BODY

A shortcut function for GET($uri)->content.

GET_BODY_ASSERT

Use this function when your test is outputting content that you need to check, and you want to make sure that the request was successful before comparing the contents of the request. If the request was unsuccessful, GET_BODY_ASSERT will return an error message. Otherwise it will simply return the content of the request just as GET_BODY would.

GET_OK

A shortcut function for GET($uri)->is_success.

GET_RC

A shortcut function for GET($uri)->code.

GET_HEAD

Throws out the content of the request, and returns the string representation of the request. Since the body has been thrown out, the representation will consist solely of the headers. Furthermore, GET_HEAD inserts a "#" at the beginning of each line of the return string, so that the contents are suitable for printing to STDERR during your tests without interfering with the workings of Test::Harness.

HEAD

my $res = HEAD $uri;

Sends a HEAD request to the Apache test server. Returns an HTTP::Response object.

HEAD_STR

A shortcut function for HEAD($uri)->as_string.

HEAD_BODY

A shortcut function for HEAD($uri)->content. Of course, this means that it will likely return nothing.

HEAD_BODY_ASSERT

Use this function when your test is outputting content that you need to check, and you want to make sure that the request was successful before comparing the contents of the request. If the request was unsuccessful, HEAD_BODY_ASSERT will return an error message. Otherwise it will simply return the content of the request just as HEAD_BODY would.

HEAD_OK

A shortcut function for GET($uri)->is_success.

HEAD_RC

A shortcut function for GET($uri)->code.

HEAD_HEAD

PUT

my $res = PUT $uri;

Sends a simple PUT request to the Apache test server. Returns an HTTP::Response object.

PUT_STR

A shortcut function for PUT($uri)->as_string.

PUT_BODY

A shortcut function for PUT($uri)->content.

PUT_BODY_ASSERT

Use this function when your test is outputting content that you need to check, and you want to make sure that the request was successful before comparing the contents of the request. If the request was unsuccessful, PUT_BODY_ASSERT will return an error message. Otherwise it will simply return the content of the request just as PUT_BODY would.

PUT_OK

A shortcut function for PUT($uri)->is_success.

PUT_RC

A shortcut function for PUT($uri)->code.

PUT_HEAD

Throws out the content of the request, and returns the string representation of the request. Since the body has been thrown out, the representation will consist solely of the headers. Furthermore, PUT_HEAD inserts a "#" at the beginning of each line of the return string, so that the contents are suitable for printing to STDERR during your tests without interfering with the workings of Test::Harness.

POST

my $res = POST $uri, [ arg => $val, arg2 => $val ];

Sends a POST request to the Apache test server and returns an HTTP::Response object. An array reference of parameters passed as the second argument will be submitted to the Apache test server as the POST content. Parameters corresponding to those documented in Optional Parameters can follow the optional array reference of parameters, or after $uri.

To upload a chunk of data, simply use:

my $res = POST $uri, content => $data;

POST_STR

A shortcut function for POST($uri, @args)->content.

POST_BODY

A shortcut function for POST($uri, @args)->content.

POST_BODY_ASSERT

Use this function when your test is outputting content that you need to check, and you want to make sure that the request was successful before comparing the contents of the request. If the request was unsuccessful, POST_BODY_ASSERT will return an error message. Otherwise it will simply return the content of the request just as POST_BODY would.

POST_OK

A shortcut function for POST($uri, @args)->is_success.

POST_RC

A shortcut function for POST($uri, @args)->code.

POST_HEAD

Throws out the content of the request, and returns the string representation of the request. Since the body has been thrown out, the representation will consist solely of the headers. Furthermore, POST_HEAD inserts a "#" at the beginning of each line of the return string, so that the contents are suitable for printing to STDERR during your tests without interfering with the workings of Test::Harness.

UPLOAD

my $res = UPLOAD $uri, \@args, filename => $filename;

Sends a request to the Apache test server that includes an uploaded file. Other POST parameters can be passed as a second argument as an array reference.

Apache::TestRequest will read in the contents of the file named via the filename parameter for submission to the server. If you'd rather, you can submit use the content parameter instead of filename, and its value will be submitted to the Apache server as file contents:

my $res = UPLOAD $uri, undef, content => "This is file content";

The name of the file sent to the server will simply be "b". Note that in this case, you cannot pass other POST arguments to UPLOAD() -- they would be ignored.

UPLOAD_BODY

A shortcut function for UPLOAD($uri, @params)->content.

UPLOAD_BODY_ASSERT

Use this function when your test is outputting content that you need to check, and you want to make sure that the request was successful before comparing the contents of the request. If the request was unsuccessful, UPLOAD_BODY_ASSERT will return an error message. Otherwise it will simply return the content of the request just as UPLOAD_BODY would.

OPTIONS

my $res = OPTIONS $uri;

Sends an OPTIONS request to the Apache test server. Returns an HTTP::Response object with the Allow header, indicating which methods the server supports. Possible methods include OPTIONS, GET, HEAD and POST. This function thus can be useful for testing what options the Apache server supports. Consult the HTTPD 1.1 specification, section 9.2, at http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2616.html for more information.

URL Manipulation Functions

Apache::TestRequest also includes a few helper functions to aid in the creation of urls used in the functions above.

`module2path`

$path = Apache::TestRequest::module2path($module_name);

Convert a module name to a path, safe for use in the various request methods above. e.g. :: can't be used in URLs on win32. For example:

$path = Apache::TestRequest::module2path('Foo::Bar');

returns:

/Foo__Bar

`module2url`

$url = Apache::TestRequest::module2url($module);
$url = Apache::TestRequest::module2url($module, \%options);

Convert a module name to a full URL including the current configurations hostname:port and sets module accordingly.

$url = Apache::TestRequest::module2url('Foo::Bar');

returns:

http://$hostname:$port/Foo__Bar

The default scheme used is http. You can override this by passing your preferred scheme into an optional second param. For example:

$module = 'MyTestModule::TestHandler';
$url = Apache::TestRequest::module2uri($module, {scheme => 'https'});

returns:

https://$hostname:$port/MyTestModule__TestHandler

You may also override the default path with a path of your own:

$module = 'MyTestModule::TestHandler';
$url = Apache::TestRequest::module2uri($module, {path => '/foo'});

returns:

http://$hostname:$port/foo

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables can affect the behavior of Apache::TestRequest:

APACHE_TEST_PRETEND_NO_LWP: If the environment variable APACHE_TEST_PRETEND_NO_LWP is set to a true value, Apache::TestRequest will pretend that LWP is not available so one can test whether the test suite will survive on a system which doesn't have libwww-perl installed.
APACHE_TEST_HTTP_09_OK: If the environment variable APACHE_TEST_HTTP_09_OK is set to a true value, Apache::TestRequest will allow HTTP/0.9 responses from the server to proceed. The default behavior is to die if the response protocol is not either HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1.

AUTHOR

Doug MacEachern with contributions from Geoffrey Young, Philippe M. Chiasson, Stas Bekman and others. Documentation by David Wheeler.

Questions can be asked at the test-dev <at> httpd.apache.org list. For more information see: http://httpd.apache.org/test/ and http://perl.apache.org/docs/general/testing/testing.html.

To install Apache::Test, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Apache::Test

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Apache::Test

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

CONFIGURATION FUNCTION

FUNCTIONS

Optional Parameters

The Functions

GET

GET_STR

GET_BODY

GET_BODY_ASSERT

GET_OK

GET_RC

GET_HEAD

HEAD

HEAD_STR

HEAD_BODY

HEAD_BODY_ASSERT

HEAD_OK

HEAD_RC

HEAD_HEAD

PUT

PUT_STR

PUT_BODY

PUT_BODY_ASSERT

PUT_OK

PUT_RC

PUT_HEAD

POST

POST_STR

POST_BODY

POST_BODY_ASSERT

POST_OK

POST_RC

POST_HEAD

UPLOAD

UPLOAD_BODY

UPLOAD_BODY_ASSERT

OPTIONS

URL Manipulation Functions

module2path

module2url

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

Module Install Instructions

`module2path`

`module2url`