NAME

App::Test::Generator::Model::Method - Evidence-based model of a single method under test

VERSION

Version 0.40

DESCRIPTION

Accumulates weighted evidence about a single method's return behaviour, gathered independently by several analysers (App::Test::Generator::Analyzer::Return and friends), then resolves that evidence into a best-guess return type, test classification, and confidence level. This lets multiple independent heuristics contribute to one final judgement instead of the first heuristic to run winning outright.

new

Construct a new Method model.

my $method = App::Test::Generator::Model::Method->new(
    name   => 'get_name',
    source => 'sub get_name { return $_[0]->{name}; }',
);

Arguments

name

The method's name. Required.
source

The method's raw Perl source text. Required.

Returns

A blessed hashref with evidence initialised to an empty arrayref and return_type, classification, and confidence initialised to undef. Croaks with "name required" or "source required" if either argument is missing.

API specification

input

{
    name   => { type => SCALAR },
    source => { type => SCALAR },
}

output

{ type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' }

name

Return the method's name.

my $name = $method->name;

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

The name string supplied to new. Read-only — there is no setter; name ignores any extra arguments passed to it.

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{ type => SCALAR }

source

Return the method's raw source text.

my $source = $method->source;

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

The source string supplied to new. Read-only — there is no setter; source ignores any extra arguments passed to it.

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{ type => SCALAR }

return_type

Read/write accessor for the resolved return type.

$method->return_type('object');
my $type = $method->return_type;

Arguments

$val

Optional. If supplied (including undef), stores it as the new return type.

Returns

The current return type string, or undef if not yet resolved (or explicitly set back to undef).

Side effects

Overwrites the stored return type when called with an argument.

API specification

input

{
    self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' },
    val  => { type => SCALAR, optional => 1 },
}

output

{ type => SCALAR, optional => 1 }

classification

Read/write accessor for the resolved test classification.

$method->classification('getter');
my $class = $method->classification;

Arguments

$val

Optional. If supplied (including undef), stores it as the new classification.

Returns

The current classification string, or undef if not yet resolved.

Side effects

Overwrites the stored classification when called with an argument.

API specification

input

{
    self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' },
    val  => { type => SCALAR, optional => 1 },
}

output

{ type => SCALAR, optional => 1 }

confidence

Read/write accessor for the resolved confidence hashref.

$method->confidence({ score => 45, level => 'medium' });
my $conf = $method->confidence;

Arguments

$val

Optional. If supplied (including undef), stores it as the new confidence value.

Returns

The current confidence hashref (with score and level keys), or undef if not yet resolved.

Side effects

Overwrites the stored confidence value when called with an argument.

API specification

input

{
    self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' },
    val  => { type => HASHREF, optional => 1 },
}

output

{ type => HASHREF, optional => 1 }

add_evidence

Record one piece of weighted evidence about the method's behaviour.

$method->add_evidence(
    category => 'return',
    signal   => 'returns_property',
    value    => 'name',
    weight   => 20,
);

Arguments

category

One of return, input, or effect. Required. Croaks "Invalid evidence category '...'" for any other value, including a missing category.
signal

A recognised signal name (see "Notes"). Required. Croaks "Invalid evidence signal '...'" for any other value, including a missing signal.
value

Optional. An arbitrary value associated with the signal (e.g. the property name for returns_property).
weight

Optional. A numeric weight. Defaults to 1.

Returns

Nothing (undef).

Side effects

Appends an evidence hashref (with keys category, signal, value, weight) to the object's internal evidence list.

Notes

Recognised signals are returns_property, returns_constant, returns_self, legacy_type, context_aware, error_pattern (intended for category return); input_validated, input_typed, input_optional (category input); and has_side_effect, no_side_effect (category effect). Signal validity is checked against the full set regardless of category — passing a return-only signal with category => 'input' does not croak.

API specification

input

{
    self     => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' },
    category => { type => SCALAR },
    signal   => { type => SCALAR },
    value    => { type => SCALAR, optional => 1 },
    weight   => { type => SCALAR, optional => 1 },
}

output

{ type => UNDEF }

evidence

Return all recorded evidence entries.

my @evidence = $method->evidence;
for my $entry (@evidence) {
    print "$entry->{category}/$entry->{signal}: $entry->{weight}\n";
}

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

A list of evidence hashrefs (each with keys category, signal, value, weight), in the order they were added via add_evidence. Empty list if no evidence has been recorded. Called in scalar context, returns the count of evidence entries.

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{ type => ARRAYREF, items => { type => HASHREF } }

evidence_ref

Return all recorded evidence entries as an arrayref.

my $ref = $method->evidence_ref;
print "count: ", scalar(@$ref), "\n";

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

An arrayref of the same evidence hashrefs returned by evidence. This is the live internal arrayref, not a copy — modifying it modifies the object's evidence list.

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{ type => ARRAYREF, items => { type => HASHREF } }

resolve_return_type

Derive a return type from the accumulated return-category evidence and store it.

$method->add_evidence(category => 'return', signal => 'returns_self', weight => 20);
my $type = $method->resolve_return_type;   # 'object'

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

One of object, property, or constant, chosen by summing the weight of all return-category evidence into three buckets (returns_self -> object; returns_property, context_aware, error_pattern -> property; returns_constant -> constant; legacy_type -> object or property depending on its value) and picking the highest-scoring bucket. Ties are broken alphabetically among the tied bucket names (constant < object < property). With no return-category evidence at all, all three buckets score 0 and constant wins the alphabetical tie-break.

Side effects

Sets return_type to the resolved value.

Notes

Evidence outside the return category is ignored. Evidence with an unrecognised signal name is also ignored (this can only happen if a caller other than add_evidence populated the evidence list directly, since add_evidence itself rejects unrecognised signals).

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{ type => SCALAR }

resolve_confidence

Derive a confidence level from the total weight of all accumulated evidence (every category, not just return) and store it.

$method->add_evidence(category => 'return', signal => 'returns_self', weight => 50);
my $conf = $method->resolve_confidence;   # { score => 50, level => 'high' }

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

A hashref with keys score (the sum of every evidence entry's weight) and level, which is low if score is below $MEDIUM_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD (20), medium if at least 20 but below $HIGH_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD (40), or high if 40 or above. With no evidence at all, score is 0 and level is low.

Side effects

Sets confidence to the resolved hashref.

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{
    type => HASHREF,
    keys => {
        score => { type => SCALAR },
        level => { type => SCALAR },
    },
}

resolve_classification

Derive a test classification from the resolved return type and store it.

$method->add_evidence(category => 'return', signal => 'returns_self', weight => 20);
my $class = $method->resolve_classification;   # 'chainable'

Arguments

None beyond $self.

Returns

chainable if return_type is object, getter if property, constant if constant, or unknown for any other value.

Side effects

Calls resolve_return_type first (and so also sets return_type) if return_type has not already been resolved. Sets classification to the resolved value.

API specification

input

{ self => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' } }

output

{ type => SCALAR }

absorb_legacy_output

Convert a legacy schema output hashref (the pre-evidence-model output descriptor format) into one or more return-category evidence entries.

$method->absorb_legacy_output({
    type          => 'object',
    _returns_self => 1,
});

Arguments

$output

A hashref of legacy output hints, or undef.

Returns

Nothing (undef).

Side effects

For each recognised key present and true in $output, calls add_evidence once:

type -> legacy_type evidence, value set to $output->{type}, weight 20.
_returns_self -> returns_self evidence, weight 25.
_context_aware -> context_aware evidence, weight 15.
_error_return -> error_pattern evidence, value set to $output->{_error_return}, weight 15.

Notes

$output being undef or any non-hashref value is silently ignored — no evidence is added and no exception is raised. A hashref with none of the four recognised keys set to a true value also adds no evidence.

API specification

input

{
    self   => { type => OBJECT, isa => 'App::Test::Generator::Model::Method' },
    output => { type => HASHREF, optional => 1 },
}

output

{ type => UNDEF }

1 POD Error

The following errors were encountered while parsing the POD:

Around line 107:: Non-ASCII character seen before =encoding in '—'. Assuming UTF-8

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

cpanm

cpanm App::Test::Generator

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install App::Test::Generator

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

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