NAME

Net::Daemon::Test - support functions for testing Net::Daemon servers

SYNOPSIS

    # This is the server, stored in the file "servertask".
    #
    # Create a subclass of Net::Daemon::Test, which in turn is
    # a subclass of Net::Daemon
    use Net::Daemon::Test ();
    package MyDaemon;
    @MyDaemon::ISA = qw(Net::Daemon::Test);

    sub Run {
        # Overwrite this and other methods, as you like.
    }

    my $self = Net::Daemon->new(\%attr, \@options);
    eval { $self->Bind() };
    if ($@) {
        die "Server cannot bind: $!";
    }
    eval { $self->Run() };
    if ($@) {
        die "Unexpected server termination: $@";
    }

    # This is the client, the real test script, note we call the
    # "servertask" file below:
    #
    # Call the Child method to spawn a child. Don't forget to use
    # the timeout option.
    use Net::Daemon::Test ();

    my($handle, $port) = eval {
        Net::Daemon::Test->Child(5, # Number of subtests
                                 'servertask', '--timeout', '20')
    };
    if ($@) {
        print "not ok 1 $@\n";
        exit 0;
    }
    print "ok 1\n";

    # Real tests following here
    ...

    # Terminate the server
    $handle->Terminate();

DESCRIPTION

This module is a frame for creating test scripts of Net::Daemon based server packages, preferrably using Test::Harness, but that's your choice.

A test consists of two parts: The client part and the server part. The test is executed by the child part which invokes the server part, by spawning a child process and invoking an external Perl script. (Of course we woultn't need this external file with fork(), but that's the best possibility to make the test scripts portable to Windows without requiring threads in the test script.)

The server part is a usual Net::Daemon application, for example a script like dbiproxy. The only difference is that it derives from Net::Daemon::Test and not from Net::Daemon, the main difference is that the Bind method attempts to allocate a port automatically. Once a port is allocated, the number is stored in the file ``ndtest.prt''.

After spawning the server process, the child will wait ten seconds (hopefully sufficient) for the creation of ndtest.prt.

AVAILABLE METHODS

Server part

Options: Adds an option --timeout to Net::Daemon: The server's Run method will die after at most 20 seconds.
Bind: (Instance method) This is mainly the default Bind method, but it attempts to find and allocate a free port in two ways: First of all, it tries to call Bind with port 0, most systems will automatically choose a port in that case. If that seems to fail, ports 30000-30049 are tried. We hope, one of these will succeed. :-)
Run: (Instance method) Overwrites the Net::Daemon's method by adding a timeout.

sub Run ($) { my $self = shift; $self->Run(); }

Client part

Child: (Class method) Attempts to spawn a server process. The server process is expected to create the file 'ndtest.prt' with the port number.; The method returns a process handle and a port number. The process handle offers a method Terminate that may later be used to stop the server process.

AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT

  Net::Daemon is Copyright (C) 1998, Jochen Wiedmann
                                     Am Eisteich 9
                                     72555 Metzingen
                                     Germany

                                     Phone: +49 7123 14887
                                     Email: joe@ispsoft.de

  All rights reserved.

You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.