PerlActor version 0.01
======================

PerlActor is a simple automated executable acceptance test framework
for Perl.  It can be used by Extreme Programming (XP) teams to rapidly
develop executable acceptance tests for their Perl code.

XP mandates that the Customer writes acceptance tests for the application
under development.  The acceptance tests, also known as customer tests,
demonstrate that application features are complete and that they work as
expected.  Ideally, the tests should be directly executable and
automated so that they can be run continuously, without manual effort.

PerlActor enables an XP Customer to write *executable* acceptance
tests as plain text files, using a very simple syntax. Each test consists
of a number of parameterized commands (one per line), which PerlActor
uses to exercise the application. PerlActor parses the test, invokes the
commands with any parameters, and reports the result. The developers provide
glue code to implement the commands required by the tests.

PerlActor allows tests to be grouped into suites so that related tests can be
run as a group.  The Customer can also just place test scripts in a directory
structure and have PerlActor find and execute them all.

The PerlActor approach to acceptance testing has a number of advantages:

1) As the application grows the team will gradually develop a
   comprehensive set of Commands for testing the application.

2) The Customer, independent of the development team, can write and execute
   new tests for the application at any time, using any of the existing Commands.

3) Existing tests may be changed by the Customer at any time, again
   without developer help.


EXAMPLE
=======

The following sample test script is adapted from one of the example
scripts contained in the 'examples/calculator' directory of this
distribution.  It tests a toy calculator "application":

    # Script to check addition
    # 10 + 32 = 42

    # Create a new calculator application
    NewCalculator

    # Ensure that the display reads '0', initially
    CheckDisplayReads  0

    # Press key '1', then key '0'
    PressKeys          1  0
    CheckDisplayReads  10

    PressKeys          +
    CheckDisplayReads  10

    PressKeys          3  2
    CheckDisplayReads  32

    PressKeys          =
    CheckDisplayReads  42


The following is sample output from the included test runner:

    Running Acceptance Tests at Sun Apr 10 17:59:11 GMT 2005
    ==========================================================
    .....
    0.545077 wallclock secs ( 0.42 usr +  0.11 sys =  0.53 CPU)
    Run: 5, Passed: 5, Failed: 0, Aborted: 0.

and with test failure:

    Running Acceptance Tests at Sun Apr 10 18:04:36 GMT 2005
    ==========================================================
    .F...
    1.24811 wallclock secs ( 0.47 usr +  0.07 sys =  0.54 CPU)
    Run: 5, Passed: 4, Failed: 1, Aborted: 0.

    !!!FAILED!!!

    1) FAILED: 'Display is wrong: expected 41, got 42' in scripts/test_addition.pact
    at 'CheckDisplayReads  41', line 37


CREDITS

PerlActor is inspired by a similar open source framework for Java called 
'exactor' published by eXoftware [see http://exactor.sourceforge.net/].

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

  Test::Unit - needed for running PerlActor's own unit test suite.
  
  (Note: Test::Unit 0.24 does not seem to install from CPAN without doing
  'force install Test::Unit'.)

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2005 by Tony Byrne

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.6 or,
at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.