NAME

Test::CompanionClasses::Base - base class for test companion classes

SYNOPSIS

package My::Foo_TEST;

use warnings;
use strict;

use base 'Test::CompanionClasses::Base';

use constant PLAN => 5;

sub run {
    my $self = shift;
    $self->SUPER::run(@_);
    is_deeply($foo, $bar, 'some test');
    # ...
}

DESCRIPTION

Base class for test companion classes. Each test companion class should inherit from this class.

The package() property is automatically set; it holds the package name of the class you are testing. If your test companion class is called My::Foo_TEST, then package() will return My::Foo.

METHODS

new

my $obj = Test::CompanionClasses::Base->new;
my $obj = Test::CompanionClasses::Base->new(%args);

Creates and returns a new object. The constructor will accept as arguments a list of pairs, from component name to initial value. For each pair, the named component is initialized by calling the method of the same name with the given value. If called with a single hash reference, it is dereferenced and its key/value pairs are set as described before.

clear_package

$obj->clear_package;

Clears the value.

package

my $value = $obj->package;
$obj->package($value);

A basic getter/setter method. If called without an argument, it returns the value. If called with a single argument, it sets the value.

package_clear

$obj->package_clear;

Clears the value.

PLAN

A constant that says how many tests this particular class defines. Real test companion classes (i.e., subclasses of this class) will want to redefine it like this:

use constant PLAN => 5;

Note that you should only specify how many tests the current class runs; test counts of superclasses are automatically taken care of.

planned_test_count

Uses PLAN(), calculated over the test companion class' whole class hierarchy, to determine how many tests will be run in total.

make_real_object

Loads the actual class being tested (see package()) and returns an object of this class (constructed by calling new() on it).

In your test companion class you will want to test certain assumptions about your real class, so this method will be useful.

run

Test companion classes should override this method and run their tests. Be sure to call SUPER::run(@_) so that all tests over the class hierarchy are run.

The run() method in this base class just prints a line informing the test user that tests for this particular companion class have begun. If you have several companion classes - and you probably will or you won't have been using Test::CompanionClasses - this serves as a visual distinction of where on companion class' tests end the next ones' begin.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

No bugs have been reported.

Please report any bugs or feature requests through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org.

INSTALLATION

See perlmodinstall for information and options on installing Perl modules.

AVAILABILITY

The latest version of this module is available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Visit <http://www.perl.com/CPAN/> to find a CPAN site near you. Or see http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-CompanionClasses/.

The development version lives at http://github.com/hanekomu/test-companionclasses. Instead of sending patches, please fork this project using the standard git and github infrastructure.

AUTHOR

Marcel Grünauer, <marcel@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2007-2009 by Marcel Grünauer.

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