NAME

Test::LectroTest::Compat - Use LectroTest property checks in a Test::Simple world

SYNOPSIS

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use MyModule;  # contains code we want to test
use Test::More tests => 2;
use Test::LectroTest::Compat;

# property specs can now use Test::Builder-based
# tests such as Test::More's cmp_ok()

my $prop_nonnegative = Property {
    ##[ x <- Int, y <- Int ]##
    cmp_ok(MyModule::my_function( $x, $y ), '>=', 0);
}, name => "my_function output is non-negative" ;

# and we can now check whether properties hold
# as a Test::Builder-style test that integrates
# with other T::B tests

holds( $prop_nonnegative );   # test whether prop holds
cmp_ok( 0, '<', 1, "trivial 0<1 test" );  # a "normal" test

DESCRIPTION

This module lets you use mix LectroTest property checking with other popular Test::* modules. With it, you can use ok()-style checks from Test::* modules within your LectroTest property specifications and you can check LectroTest properties as part of a Test::Simple or Test::More test plan. (You can actually take advantage of any module based on Test::Builder, not just Test::Simple and Test::More.)

The module exports a single function holds which is described below.

holds(property, opts...)

holds( $prop_nonnegative );  # check prop_nonnegative

holds( $prop_nonnegative, trials => 100 );

holds(
    Property {
        ##[ x <- Int ]##
        my_function2($x) < 0;
    }, name => "my_function2 is non-positive"
);

Checks whether the given property holds.

When called, this method creates a new Test::LectroTest::TestRunner, asks the TestRunner to check the property, and then reports the result to Test::Builder, which in turn reports to you as part of a typical Test::Simple- or Test::More-style test plan. Any options you provide to holds after the property will be passed to the TestRunner so you can change the number of trials to run and so on. (See the docs for new in Test::LectroTest::TestRunner for the complete list of options.)

BUGS

In order to integrate with the Test::Builder testing harness (whose underlying testing model is somewhat incompatible with the needs of random trial-based testing) this module redefines two Test::Builder functions (ok() and diag()) for the duration of each property check.

SEE ALSO

For a gentle introduction to LectroTest, see Test::LectroTest::Tutorial. Also, the slides from my LectroTest talk for the Pittsburgh Perl Mongers make for a great introduction. Download a copy from the LectroTest home (see below).

Test::LectroTest::Property explains in detail what you can put inside of your property specifications.

Test::LectroTest::Generator describes the many generators and generator combinators that you can use to define the test or condition space that you want LectroTest to search for bugs.

Test::LectroTest::TestRunner describes the objects that check your properties and tells you how to turn their control knobs. You'll want to look here if you're interested in customizing the testing procedure.

Test::Simple and Test::More explain how to do simple case-based testing in Perl.

Test::Builder is the test harness upon which this module is built.

LECTROTEST HOME

The LectroTest home is http://community.moertel.com/LectroTest. There you will find more documentation, presentations, a wiki, and other helpful LectroTest-related resources. It's also the best place to ask questions.

AUTHOR

Tom Moertel (tom@moertel.com)

INSPIRATION

The LectroTest project was inspired by Haskell's fabulous QuickCheck module by Koen Claessen and John Hughes: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~rjmh/QuickCheck/.

COPYRIGHT and LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2004-05 by Thomas G Moertel. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.