Table of Contents:

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
METHODS
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
FILES
PREREQUISITES
RESTRICTIONS / BUGS
VERSION
CHANGES
TODO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

NAME
HTTP::WebTest - Test remote URLs or local web files

SYNOPSIS
This module can accept input parameters from a parameter file
or subroutine arguments.

TO RUN WEB TESTS DEFINED BY SUBROUTINE ARGUMENTS:

use HTTP::WebTest qw(run_web_test);
run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed, \%test_options)

or

use HTTP::WebTest qw(run_web_test);
run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed)

TO RUN WEB TESTS DEFINED BY A PARAMETER FILE:

use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals); # Recommended, not necessary
use HTTP::WebTest;
$webtest = HTTP::WebTest->new();
$webtest->web_test('my_web_tests.wt', \$num_fail, \$num_succeed);

The web_test() method has an option to test a local file by
starting Apache on a private port, copying the file to a temporary
htdocs directory and fetching the page from Apache. If you are
testing with multiple parameter files, you can avoid restarting
Apache each time by calling new() only once and recycling the object:

use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals); # Recommended, not necessary
use HTTP::WebTest;
$webtest = HTTP::WebTest->new();
foreach $file (@ARGV) {
$webtest->web_test($file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed);
}

TO ENABLE DEBUGGING MESSAGES (OUTPUT TO STDOUT):

If you are calling the web_test method, use the debug parameter.
If you are calling the run_web_test method, do this:

use HTTP::WebTest qw(run_web_test);
$HTTP::WebTest::Debug = 1; # Diagnostic messages
$HTTP::WebTest::Debug = 2; # Messages and preserve temp Apache dir
run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed)

DESCRIPTION
This module runs tests on remote URLs or local web files containing
Perl/JSP/HTML/JavaScript/etc. and generates a detailed test report.

The test specifications can be read from a parameter file or input as
method arguments. If you are testing a local file, Apache is started on
a private/dynamic port with a configuration file in a temporary
directory. The module displays the test results on the terminal by
default or directs them to a file. The module optionally e-mails the
test results.

Each URL/web file is tested by fetching it from the web server using a
local instance of an HTTP user agent. The basic test is simply whether
or not the fetch was successful. You may also test using literal
strings or regular expressions that are either required to exist or
forbidden to exist in the fetched page. You may also specify tests for
the minimum and maximum number of bytes in the returned page. You may
also specify tests for the minimum and maximum web server response
time.

If you are testing a local file, the module checks the error log in the
temporary directory before and after the file is fetched from Apache.
If messages are written to the error log during the fetch, the module
flags this as an error and writes the messages to the output test
report.

The wt script is provided for running HTTP::WebTest from the command
line.

Data flow for HTTP::WebTest using a remote URL:

-------------- -------------
| | | |
| Input |------------->| WebTest |
| parameters | | |
| | -------------
-------------- | ^
| |
V |
------------- ------------
| | request | |
| Remote |<--------------| HTTP |
| webserver |-------------->| user |
| | response | agent |
------------- | |
------------

Data flow diagram for HTTP::WebTest using a local web file:

-------------- ---------------------
| | | |
| Input | | Web page code |
| parameters | | (Perl/HTML/etc.) |
| | | |
-------------- ---------------------
| |
| ---------------------------
| |
V V ------------------------
------------- | |
| |---------->| Temporary Apache |
| WebTest | | directories (htdocs, |
| |<----------| conf, logs) |
------------- | |
| ^ ------------------------
| | | ^
V | V |
------------ ----------------------
| | request | |
| HTTP |------------>| Temporary local |
| user | | instance of Apache |
| agent |<------------| |
| | response ----------------------
------------

METHODS
new($proto)
new()
Create new HTTP::WebTest object. $proto (optional) is
either a reference or a class (package) name. Returns a new
HTTP::WebTest object.

web_test($param_file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed)
web_test($param_file, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed, $save_output)
Reads and validates input parameters, fetches one or more
web pages, runs tests, writes results to standard output
or a file. Optionally e-mails test results if error found.
If the parameters specify a test of a local web source file,
starts Apache on a private/dynamic port and copies the file to
a temporary htdocs directory.

Input arguments:
$param_file - A relative or absolute pathname to a parameter
file. See the FILES section for a description of the file.
$save_output (optional) - Option to save program output to a file.
The routine constructs the file name by taking the value of
$param_file, removing the file extension if it exists and
appending ".out". Error messages are always sent to standard
error.
= no -> Send output to standard output
= yes -> Save output to file, overwrite existing file
= preserve -> Save output to file unless file exists

Output arguments:
\$num_fail - The number of tests that failed.
\$num_succeed - The number of tests that succeeded.

Return values:
1 -> All tests ran successfully with no failures.
0 -> Syntax error in input parameter file, system runtime error or
one or more of the tests failed.

run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed, \%test_options)
run_web_test(\@web_tests, \$num_fail, \$num_succeed)
Validates input parameters, fetches one or more urls, runs
tests, writes results to standard output or a file. Optionally
e-mails test results.

Input/output arguments:
\@web_tests - An arrayref of hashrefs. Each hashref defines
tests for one URL.

Some of the hash keys can override the value of the
corresponding $test_options keys. For example, if the
max_bytes hash key is defined in $test_options and you want
to disable the max_bytes test a particular URL, set the
web_tests max_bytes hash key to a value of undef or ''.

If one of the keys below does not exist in one of the
web_test hashes on input, the module checks the value for
the corresponding key in the $test_options hash. If that
value is defined, then the value from $test_options is used
during the tests for that web_test hash.

All input values and keys are preserved on output, except
the num_fail and num_succeed keys.

web_tests keys:
accept_cookies - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
auth - Overrides the value of the corresponding test_options
key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
cookies - Arrayref of arrayrefs containing cookies to pass
with the HTTP request. See RFC 2965 for details
(ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2965.txt). Each array must have
at least 5 elements; if the number of elements is over 10
it must have an even number of elements. Each array has
the form ( version name value path domain port path_spec
secure maxage discard name1 value1 name2 value2 ... ),
with the following definitions. (REQUIRED elements are
marked with an ASTERISK; elements that are not required
can be specified using the undef value or ''.)

*version: Version number of cookie spec to use, usually 0.
*name: Name of cookie. Cannot begin with a $ character.
*value: Value of cookie.
*path: URL path name for which this cookie applies. Must
begin with a / character. See also path_spec.
*domain: Domain for which cookie is valid. Should begin
with a period. Must either contain two periods or be
equal to '.local'.
port: List of allowed port numbers that the cookie may be
returned to. If not specified, cookie can be returned
to any port. Must be specified using the format N or
N,N ..., where N is one or more digits.
path_spec: Ignored if version is less than 1. Option to
ignore the value of path. Default value is 0.
= 1 -> Use the value of path.
= 0 -> Ignore the specified value of path.
secure: Option to require secure protocols for cookie
transmission. Default value is 0.
= 1 -> Use only secure protocols to transmit cookie.
= 0 -> Secure protocols not required for transmission.
maxage: Number of seconds until cookie expires.
discard: Option to discard cookie when program exits.
Default 0. (The cookie will be discarded regardless
of the value of this element.)
= 1 -> Discard cookie.
= 0 -> Don't discard cookie.
name/value: Zero, one or several name/value pairs may be
specified. The name parameters are words such as
Comment or CommentURL and the value parameters are
strings that may contain embedded blanks.

ignore_case - Option to do case-insensitive string matching
for text_forbid and text_require arguments.
= 'yes' -> Ignore case while matching strings.
Otherwise -> Do case-sensitive string matching.
ignore_error_log - Option to ignore messages in Apache error
log. (See the error_log key in test_options argument.)
= 'yes' -> Do not check for messages in the error log
FOR THIS URL ONLY.
Otherwise, check messages if error_log key in test_options
argument is defined.
max_bytes - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
min_bytes - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
max_rtime - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
min_rtime - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
method - The type of the HTTP request, either 'get' or 'post'.
If undefined or key does not exist, 'get' is used.
num_fail (Output) - The number of tests that failed. If the
fetch of the URL fails, one error is counted and the tests
for that URL are skipped.
num_succeed (Output) - The number of tests that succeeded. The
successful fetch of the URL is not counted, only successful
tests. If the error_log argument is specified, the absence
of errors in the logs is counted as a successful test.
params - A hashref or arrayref containing name/value pairs to
be passed as parameters to the URL. (This element is
used to test pages that process input from forms.) Unless
the method key is set to post, these pairs are URI-escaped
and appended to the requested URL. (See
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt for URI escapes.)
pauth - Overrides the value of the corresponding test_options
key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
proxies - A hashref or arrayref containing service name
/ proxy URL pairs that specify proxy servers to use for
requests. For example:
proxies = ( http => http://http_proxy.mycompany.com
ftp => http://ftp_proxy.mycompany.com )
regex_forbid - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
regex_require - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
send_cookies - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
show_html - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
test_name - Name associated with this url in the test report
and error messages.
text_forbid - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
text_require - Overrides the value of the corresponding
$test_options key FOR THIS URL ONLY.
url - The URL to fetch and test. This key is REQUIRED. If
it begins with 'www.', 'http://' is prefixed.

Output arguments:
\$num_fail - Total number of tests that failed.
\$num_succeed - Total number of tests that succeeded.

Input arguments:
\%test_options - (Optional) A hashref defining testing options.
All, some or none of the keys may be defined. Some of these
options can also be specified in the web_tests argument. The
allowed hash keys are:

accept_cookies - Option to accept cookies from the web server.
= 'no' -> Do not accept cookies.
Otherwise -> Accept cookies.
auth - Arrayref containing a userid and password to be used
for web page access authorization.
error_log - The pathname of a local web server error log.
The module counts the number of lines in the error
log before and after each request. If the number of
lines increases, an error is counted and the additional
lines are listed in the report. (This argument should
be used only when the local web server is running in
single-process mode. Otherwise, requests generated by
other processes/users may add lines to the error log that
are not related to the requests generated by this module.)
fh_out - A filehandle for a file that the test report will be
written to instead of the terminal.
mail_addresses - Arrayref containing one or more e-mail
addresses.
mail - Option to e-mail output to one or more addresses.
= 'all' -> Send e-mail containing test results.
= 'errors' -> Send e-mail only if one or more tests fails.
Otherwise -> Do not send e-mail.
mail_server - Fully-qualified name of of the mail server
(e.g., mailhost.mycompany.com).
max_bytes - Maximum number of bytes expected in returned
pages. If this value is exceeded, an error message is
displayed.
min_bytes - Minimum number of bytes expected in returned
pages. If the number of returned bytes is less than this
value, an error message is displayed.
max_rtime - Maximum web server response time (seconds) expected.
If this value is exceeded, an error message is displayed.
min_rtime - Minimum web server response time (seconds) expected.
If this value is exceeded, an error message is displayed.
pauth - Arrayref containing a userid and password to be used
for proxy access authorization.

(The regex_forbid and regex_require parameters contain
one or more Perl regular expressions. These are compared
to the fetched page contents as the right hand side of a
"=~" operator. If you want to search for a literal string,
use the text_forbid and text_require arguments. For more
information, type "man perlre" or see Programming Perl,
3rd edition, Chapter 5.)

regex_forbid - Arrayref of regular expressions that are
forbidden to exist in the returned page.
regex_require - Arrayref of regular expressions that are
required to exist in the returned page.
send_cookies - Option to send cookies to web server. This
applies to cookies received from the web server or cookies
specified using the cookies key of the web_test argument.
= 'no' -> Do not send cookies to the web server.
Otherwise -> Send cookies to the web server.
show_cookies - Option to display any cookies sent or received.
= 'yes' -> Display cookies in report.
Otherwise -> Do not display.
show_html - Option to include the returned web page in the
test report.
= 'yes' -> Display the web page in the test report.
Otherwise -> Do not display the web page.
terse - Option to display shorter test report.
= 'summary' -> Only a one-line summary for each URL.
= 'failed_only' -> Only tests that failed and the summary.
Otherwise -> Show all tests and the summary.
text_forbid - Arrayref of text strings that are forbidden to
exist in the returned page.
text_require - Arrayref of text strings that are required to
exist in the returned page.

Return values:
1 -> All tests succeeded.
0 -> Error in input parameters, system runtime error, or one
or more of the tests failed.

DESTROY()
Kills Apache (if started), deletes temporary directories (if
created). Returns 1 if clean up tasks were successful, 0
otherwise.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
None.

FILES
The web_test() method requires (1) one or more input parameter
files, and (2) if the file_path parameter is specified, a directory
tree that contains the subdirectories and files described in the
APACHE DIRECTORY AND FILES section below.

The run_web_test method does not require a parameter file.

PARAMETER FILE

If the input parameters are specified in a text file, you must pass
the name of the file as an argument to the web_test() method.
If you are running dozens of tests, you may want to divide them
into several parameter files. This will organize the tests
and reduce the size of the output and e-mail messages. However,
cookies passed to or received from the web server(s) are not shared
between tests in different parameter files.

Parameters - Overview
=====================
There are over 30 parameters, but the only required parameters
are test_name, end_test, and either url or file_path. Also, if
you specify the file_path parameter, you will have to specify the
apache_exec parameter.

Each parameter is either a test block parameter, a global parameter,
or both. TEST BLOCK PARAMETERS are parameters specified between
a test_name parameter and an end_test directive. Test block
parameters apply only to the tests for the file_path or url
specified in that test block. You can specify one or many test
blocks in a parameter file. GLOBAL PARAMETERS are parameters
specified outside of a test block. Global parameters apply to
every test block in the parameter file.

You can specify certain parameters as BOTH GLOBAL PARAMETERS AND TEST
BLOCK PARAMETERS. These include the parameters accept_cookies, auth,
ignore_case, ignore_error_log, max_bytes, min_bytes, max_rtime,
min_rtime, pauth, regex_forbid, regex_require, send_cookies,
text_forbid and text_require. If you specify one of these within
a test block, that value is used instead of the value of the
corresponding global parameter for that test block only. If you
specify some, but not all, of these parameters in a test block,
the global parameter values are used for the unspecified test block
parameters.

Parameters - Short descriptions
===============================
Parameters that are always required are marked with an asterisk.
Parameters that are usually required are marked with a plus sign.

accept_cookies: Option to accept cookies sent by web server.
apache_dir: Name of directory containing Apache files.
+apache_exec: Path name of Apache executable.
apache_loglevel: Apache logging level.
apache_max_wait: Maximum seconds to wait for Apache to start.
apache_options: Additional Apache command line options.
auth: Two-element list containing userid and password to be passed
to web server for page access authorization.
cookie: List specifying a cookie to send to the web server.
debug: Option to output verbose diagnostic messages.
*end_test: Signifies the end of a test block.
+file_path: Two-element list containing name of web file to test and
subdirectory path relative to the htdocs directory to copy it to.
ignore_case: Option to do case-insensitive matching with text_forbid
and text_require parameters.
ignore_error_log: Option to ignore errors found in Apache error log.
include_file_path: List containing files to copy and subdirectory
path relative to the Apache ServerRoot directory to copy them to.
mail: Option to send e-mail containing results of tests.
mail_addresses: List of e-mail addresses to send reports to.
mail_server: Name of mail server.
method: HTTP request method; either get or post.
max_bytes: Maximum number of bytes expected in returned page.
min_bytes: Minimum number of bytes expected in returned page.
max_rtime: Maximum web server response time (seconds) expected.
min_rtime: Minimum web server response time (seconds) expected.
pauth: Two-element list containing userid and password to be passed
to web server for proxy authorization.
params: List of parameter name/value pairs to be passed to server.
proxies: List of service name / proxy URL pairs to use for requests.
regex_forbid: List of strings/regexs that must NOT occur in page.
regex_require: List of strings/regexs that MUST occur in page.
save_output: Option to redirect the program output to a file.
send_cookies: Option to send cookies to the web server.
show_cookies: Option to list cookies sent or received.
show_html: Option to display the HTML source with the output.
*test_name: Test name, usually just the URL. Truncated at 56 chars.
text_forbid: List of strings that must NOT occur in page.
text_require: List of strings that MUST occur in page.
+url: URL to test.
terse: Option to display shorter test report.

Parameter file format
=====================
The program ignores:
* lines consisting of nothing but white space (blanks or tabs)
* lines beginning with a number sign ("#")
* lines beginning with white space (blanks or tabs) followed by
a number sign

The order of the parameters in the parameter file is arbitrary,
with the following exceptions:
* Test block parameters MUST occur between a test_name parameter
and an end_test directive.
* Global parameters must NOT occur between a test_name parameter
and an end_test directive. (This requirement does not apply to
parameters that are both global and test block parameters.)
* The parameter save_output, if specified, should be the first
parameter in the file. (This is not required.)

Parameters are either scalar (single-valued) or lists (single or
multi-valued).

You can specify scalar parameters using forms such as:
name = value
name =
value
name = 'value'

You can specify list parameters using forms such as:
name = ( first value
second value )
name = ( first value => second value
third value => fourth value
)
name = ( first value => second value )
name = (
'first value'
'second value' )
name = (
first value
second value
third value => 'fourth value'
)
name =
( first value
'second value' )
name = (
'first value'
'second value'
)
(The equals sign must be followed by a space, tab or newline; all
other spaces are optional.)

PARAMETER VALUES BEGINNING AND ENDING WITH A SINGLE QUOTE WILL HAVE
THE SINGLE QUOTES REMOVED. For example, 'foobar' is parsed as a
value of foobar and ''foobar'' is parsed as a value of 'foobar'.
To specify a null (placeholder) value, use ''.

You MUST enclose the parameter value in single quotes if you want
to specify:
* A value beginning with a left parenthesis
* A value ending with a right parenthesis
* A value beginning with leading white space (blanks or tabs)
* A value ending with trailing white space (blanks or tabs)
* A value beginning and ending with single quotes

Examples of parameter files
===========================
The parameters below specify tests of a local file and a remote
URL. The tests specified by the text_forbid parameter apply to
both the "RayCosoft home page" and the "Yahoo home page" tests.
Hence, if either returned page contains one of the case-
insensitive strings in text_forbid, the test fails. If any test
fails or the fetch of the URL fails,, an e-mail will be sent to
[email protected].

apache_exec = /usr/sbin/apache
ignore_case = yes
mail = errors
mail_addresses = ( [email protected] )
mail_server = mailhost.unixscripts.com
text_forbid = ( Premature end of script headers
an error occurred while processing this directive
)

test_name = 'RayCosoft home page (static)'
file_path = ( raycosoft_home.html => . )
text_require = (
<a href="/dept/peopledev/new_employee/"><font color="#0033cc">
<a href="https://www.raycosoft.com/"><font color=
)
end_test

test_name = Yahoo home page
url = www.yahoo.com
text_require = ( <a href=r/qt>Quotations</a>...<br> )
min_bytes = 13000
max_bytes = 99000
min_rtime = 0.010
max_rtime = 30.0
end_test

The parameters below specify a test of a local file containing Perl
code using the Apache::ASP module. The includes.htm file requires
five include files and two Perl modules, which are copied using
the include_file_path parameter.

apache_exec = /usr/sbin/apache
ignore_case = yes
include_file_path = ( footer.inc => htdocs/apps/myapp/inc
header.inc => htdocs/apps/myapp/inc
head.inc => htdocs/apps/myapp/inc
go.script => htdocs/shared/includes
go.include => htdocs/shared/includes
../utils/DBconn.pm => lib/perl/utils
../utils/Window.pm => lib/perl/utils
)

test_name = includes.htm
file_path = ( includes.htm => apps/myapp )
min_bytes = 33000
max_bytes = 35000
text_require = ( input type=hidden name=control value= )
text_forbid = ( Premature end of script headers
an error occurred while processing this directive
)
end_test

Parameters - Detailed descriptions
==================================
PARAMETER: accept_cookies TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
DEFAULT: yes ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to accept and save cookies sent by the web
server. These cookies exist only while the program is executing
and do not affect subsequent runs. These cookies do not affect your
browser or any software other than the test program. These cookies
are only accessible to other tests in the same parameter file.

You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block.
If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter, the
value in the test block applies only to that test block. See also
the send_cookies parameter.

PARAMETER: apache_dir TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: /usr/local/etc/http-webtest
DESCRIPTION: Absolute or relative path name of directory containing
Apache files. See the APACHE DIRECTORY AND FILES section below.
This parameter is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified.

PARAMETER: apache_exec TYPE: global parameter
NO DEFAULT. REQUIRED if the file_path parameter is specified.
DESCRIPTION: Path name of Apache executable. This command must be
in your $PATH or the path name must start with '/'. This parameter
is ignored unless the file_path parameter is specified.

PARAMETER: apache_loglevel TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: warn OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
ALLOWED VALUES: debug info notice warn error crit alert emerg
DESCRIPTION: Apache logging level. If you use a level less than
warn (i.e., debug, info, or notice), the program may generate
irrelevant errors. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path
parameter is specified. See also the ignore_error_log parameter.

PARAMETER: apache_max_wait TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: 64 ALLOWED VALUES: Any integer > 9 and < 601 OPTIONAL
PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Maximum number of seconds to wait for Apache to start.
The program starts Apache, waits 4 seconds and fetches a test page.
If this fails, it doubles the wait interval, restarts Apache,
waits and fetches a test page. This process repeats until the
test page is fetched successfully or the wait interval becomes
greater than apache_max_wait. This parameter is ignored unless
the file_path parameter is specified.

PARAMETER: apache_options TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: -X ALLOWED VALUES: See Apache man page. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Additional Apache command line options. Many of the
options cause Apache to exit immediately after starting, so the
web page tests will not run. This parameter is ignored unless
the file_path parameter is specified.

PARAMETER: auth TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
No default. ALLOWED VALUES: A one or two element list. OPTIONAL
PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Userid and password, in that order, to be passed to the
web server if needed for authorization. If you specify only one
element, it is used as the userid and the program will prompt you
interactively for the password. If you specify values of 'prompt'
and 'userid_password' in that order, the program will prompt you for
both the userid and password. If you specify values of 'prompt'
and 'password' in that order, the program will prompt you for
the password and use the userid of the user running the program.
(This last option is probably not what you want, unless your Unix
userid and web page userid are the same.)

You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block.
If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter,
the value in the test block applies only to that test block.

PARAMETER: cookie TYPE: test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: A list with at least 5 elements. If
there are more than 10 elements, there must be an even number of
elements. The cookie parameter is ignored if the send_cookies
parameter is set to no. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. Multiple cookie
parameters may be specified.
DESCRIPTION: List that specifies a cookie to send to the web server.
See RFC 2965 for details (ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2965.txt).
You may specify multiple cookies within each test block by
specifying multiple instances of the cookie parameter. The cookie
parameter has the form:

( version
name
value
path
domain
port
path_spec
secure
maxage
discard
name1
value1
name2
value2
...
)

Any element not marked below as REQUIRED may be defaulted by
specifying a null value of ''

version: Version number of cookie spec to use, usually 0. (REQUIRED)
name: Name of cookie. (REQUIRED) Cannot begin with a $ character.
value: Value of cookie. (REQUIRED)
path: URL path name for which this cookie applies. (REQUIRED) Must
begin with a / character. See also path_spec.
domain: Domain for which cookie is valid. (REQUIRED) Should begin
with a period. Must either contain two periods or be equal
to .local
port: List of allowed port numbers that the cookie may be returned
to. If not specified, cookie can be returned to any port.
Must be specified using the format N or N,N ..., where N is one
or more digits.
path_spec: Ignored if version is less than 1. Option to ignore the
value of path. Default value is 0.
= 1 -> Use the value of path.
= 0 -> Ignore the specified value of path.
secure: Option to require secure protocols for cookie transmission.
Default value is 0.
= 1 -> Use only secure protocols to transmit this cookie.
= 0 -> Secure protocols are not required for transmission.
maxage: Number of seconds until cookie expires.
discard: Option to discard cookie when the program finishes.
Default 0. (The cookie will be discarded regardless of the value
of this element.)
= 1 -> Discard cookie when the program finishes.
= 0 -> Don't discard cookie.
name/value: Zero, one or several name/value pairs may be specified.
The name parameters are words such as Comment or
CommentURL and the value parameters are strings that
may contain embedded blanks.

See RFC 2965 for details (ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2965.txt).

An example cookie would look like:
( 0
WebTest cookie #1
expires&2592000&type&consumer
/
.unixscripts.com
''
0
0
200
1
)

PARAMETER: debug TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes preserve OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: This parameter is primarily for use by programmers
modifying and testing the program code. The "yes" value makes
the program display verbose diagnostic messages. (If you want
diagnostics on the parameter processing, this parameter should
preceed all other parameters.) The "preserve" value makes the
program display verbose diagnostic messages and prevents the
program from deleting the temporary Apache directory, which is
named "/tmp/webtest_x_y", where x and y are arbitrary positive
integers.

DIRECTIVE: end_test TYPE: test block directive
NO VALUE (i.e. specify end_test with no equals sign or value).
There MUST be one end_test directive for each test_name parameter.
Directive is REQUIRED.
DESCRIPTION: Signifies the end of a test block.

PARAMETER: file_path TYPE: test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: Second list element cannot begin with
'../' or contain '/../'. You MUST specify file_path or url, but
not both, in each test block.
DESCRIPTION: Two-element list. First element is the file to test,
either an absolute or a relative pathname. Second element is the
subdirectory pathname, relative to the Apache htdocs directory, to
copy the file to. The copied file will have the same basename as
the first element and the relative pathname of the second element.
To copy the file directly to the htdocs directory, use a pathname of
. or './.'.

For example:
file_path = ( /home/tester/testfile.html => mydepartment/myproject )
will copy the file to ./htdocs/mydepartment/myproject/testfile.html.

PARAMETER: ignore_case TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to do case-insensitive matching for text_forbid
and text_require parameters. This does not affect the regex_forbid
or regex_require parameters.

PARAMETER: ignore_error_log TYPE: global and/or test block
parameter DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to ignore any errors found in the Apache error
log. The default behavior is to flag an error if the fetch causes
any errors to be added to the error log and echo the errors to
the program output. This parameter is ignored unless the file_path
parameter is specified. See also the apache_loglevel parameter.
See also the Restrictions / Bugs section.

PARAMETER: include_file_path TYPE: global parameter
NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: Even-numbered list elements cannot
begin with '../' or contain '/../'. OPTIONAL PARAMETER. You can
specify more than one instance of this paramter.
DESCRIPTION: List with an even number of elements. Odd-numbered
elements are files to copy to the the temporary Apache directory
before running the tests. These files can be specified using
either an absolute or a relative pathname. Even-numbered elements
are the subdirectory pathname, relative to the Apache ServerRoot
directory, to copy the corresponding file to. The copied file
will have the same basename as the odd-numbered element and the
relative pathname of the corresponding even-numbered element.
To copy the file directly to the ServerRoot directory, use a
pathname of . or './.'.

For example:
include_file_path = (/home/tester/inc/header.inc => htdocs/includes)
will copy the file to htdocs/includes/header.inc.

This parameter is also useful for adding Perl modules that are
needed by the web page specified by the file_path parameter. For
example:
include_file_path = ( ../apps/myapp/DBconn.pm => lib/perl/apps )
will copy the Perl module DBconn.pm to a directory that is in the
Perl @INC array.

An alternative to using the include_file_path parameter is to
manually copy the files into the desired subdirectory in the
directory specified by the apache_dir parameter.

PARAMETER: mail TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no errors all OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to e-mail reports to the addresses in
the mail_addresses parameter using the server specified by the
mail_server parameter. If set to no, no e-mail is sent. If set to
errors and one or more of the tests in the parameter file fails,
an e-mail is sent that contains the results of all tests in the
parameter file. If set to all, an e-mail is sent containing the
results of all tests in the parameter file, regardless of success
or failure.

PARAMETER: mail_addresses TYPE: global parameter
NO DEFAULT. REQUIRED unless mail = no.
DESCRIPTION: List of e-mail addresses to send mail to. This
parameter has two uses. If the mail parameter is set to "errors"
or "all", the program sends mail containing the program output
to these addresses. If the Apache executable specified by the
apache_exec parameter has the Apache::ASP Perl module configured,
server errors generated while compiling or running Apache::ASP
scripts will be e-mailed to the first address in the mail_addresses
list.

PARAMETER: mail_server TYPE: global parameter
NO DEFAULT. REQUIRED unless mail = no.
DESCRIPTION: Name of mail server.

PARAMETER: method TYPE: test block parameter
DEFAULT: get ALLOWED VALUES: get post OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: HTTP method for the request(s). See RFC 2616
(HTTP/1.1 protocol).

PARAMETER: max_bytes TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT ALLOWED VALUES: Any integer greater that zero and
greater than min_bytes (if min_bytes is specified). OPTIONAL
PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Maximum number of bytes expected in returned page.
If this value is exceeded, an error message is displayed.

PARAMETER: min_bytes TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT ALLOWED VALUES: Any integer less than max_bytes (if
max_bytes is specified). OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Minimum number of bytes expected in returned page.
If the number of returned bytes is less than this value, an error
message is displayed.

PARAMETER: max_rtime TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT ALLOWED VALUES: Any number greater that zero and
greater than min_rtime (if min_rtime is specified). OPTIONAL
PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Maximum web server response time expected. If this
value is exceeded, an error message is displayed.

PARAMETER: min_rtime TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT ALLOWED VALUES: Any number less than max_rtime (if
max_rtime is specified). OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Minimum web server response time expected. If this
value is exceeded, an error message is displayed.

PARAMETER: params TYPE: test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: A list with an even number of
elements. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: A set of parameter name/value pairs to be passed
with the request. (This parameter is used to test pages that
process forms.) Unless the method parameter is set to 'post',
these pairs are URI-escaped and appended to the requested URL.
For example,
url = http://www.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmhome
params = ( curmbox
F001 A005
from
HotMail )
generates the request:
http://www.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmhome?curmbox=F001%20A005&from=HotMail
The names and values will be URI-escaped as defined by RFC 2396.
(See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt.)

PARAMETER: pauth TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
No default. ALLOWED VALUES: A one or two element list. OPTIONAL
PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Userid and password, in that order, to be passed to
the proxy if needed for authorization. If you specify only one
element, it is used as the userid and the program will prompt you
interactively for the password. If you specify values of 'prompt'
and 'userid_password' in that order, the program will prompt you for
both the userid and password. If you specify values of 'prompt'
and 'password' in that order, the program will prompt you for
the password and use the userid of the user running the program.
(This last option is probably not what you want, unless your Unix
userid and web page userid are the same.)

PARAMETER: proxies TYPE: global parameter
NO DEFAULT. ALLOWED VALUES: A list with an even number of
elements. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: A set of service name / proxy URL pairs that specify
proxy servers to use for requests. For example:
proxies = ( http => http://http_proxy.mycompany.com
ftp => http://ftp_proxy.mycompany.com )

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The regex_forbid and regex_require parameters contain one or more
Perl regular expressions. The regex_forbid and regex_require
parameter values are compared to the fetched page contents as the
right hand side of a "=~" operator. If you want to search for a
literal string, use the text_forbid and text_require parameters.
For more information, type "man perlre" or see Programming Perl,
3rd edition, Chapter 5.

You can specify these parameters globally or within a test block.
If you specify one as both a global and a test block parameter, the
value in the test block applies only to that test block.

PARAMETER: regex_forbid TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: List of one or more regular expressions that must
NOT exist on the web page. See also the text_forbid parameter.

PARAMETER: regex_require TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: List of one or more regular expressions that MUST
exist on the web page. See also the text_require parameter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

PARAMETER: save_output TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes preserve OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to redirect the program output to a file.
(Error messages still go to the terminal.) The program constructs
the file name by taking the name of this parameter file, removing
the file extension if it exists and appending ".out". If there is
an existing file with that name, the program overwrites the file if
save_output is set to 'yes'. If save_output is set to 'preserve'
and the file already exists, output is sent to the terminal.
This parameter should precede all other parameters in the parameter
file. (This order is not required.)

PARAMETER: send_cookies TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
DEFAULT: yes ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to send cookies to the web server. This applies
to cookies passed by the web server(s) during the test session and
to cookies created using the cookies parameter. This does NOT
give the web server(s) access to cookies created with a browser
or any user agent software other than this program. The cookies
created while this program is running are only accessible to other
tests in the same parameter file.

You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block.
If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter, the
value in the test block applies only to that test block. See also
the accept_cookies parameter.

PARAMETER: show_cookies TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to list cookies sent to or received from the web
server. Each cookie will be preceded with the string "Set-Cookie3:"
and the cookie elements will be separated by semicolons.

PARAMETER: show_html TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no yes OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to display the HTML source with the output.
You can specify this parameter globally or within a test block.
If you specify it as both a global and a test block parameter,
the value in the test block applies only to that test block.

If, and only if, you specify the file_path parameter, the program
starts a local instance of Apache, copies the file to its htdocs
directory, fetches the file from Apache and runs the specified
tests.

PARAMETER: terse TYPE: global parameter
DEFAULT: no ALLOWED VALUES: no failed_only summary OPTIONAL
PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: Option to display short test report. If you set
it to 'summary', the program displays only a one-line summary of
the tests for each URL/file. If you set terse to 'failed_only',
the program only displays the results of tests that failed and
the summary. If you set terse to 'no', the program displays all
the test results and the summary.

PARAMETER: test_name TYPE: test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. Parameter is REQUIRED.
DESCRIPTION: Name of this test, usually just the URL. Only the
first 56 characters are used. This MUST be the first parameter
in the block for each test. You may specify multiple test blocks
within a parameter file. There MUST be one end_test directive
for each test_name parameter.

PARAMETER: text_forbid TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: List of one or more text strings that must NOT exist
on the web page. See also the ignore_case and regex_forbid
parameters.

PARAMETER: text_require TYPE: global and/or test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. OPTIONAL PARAMETER.
DESCRIPTION: List of one or more text strings that MUST exist on
the web page. See also the ignore_case and regex_require
parameters.

PARAMETER: url TYPE: test block parameter
NO DEFAULT. You MUST specify file_path or url, but not both, in
each test block.
DESCRIPTION: URL to test, if value starts with "www.", "http://"
will be prefixed. A parameter file can contain some test blocks
that specify file_path and some that specify url.

APACHE DIRECTORY AND FILES

The apache_dir parameter must be set to the name of a directory
that contains the subdirectories "conf", "logs" and "htdocs".
The conf subdirectory must contain a file named "httpd.conf-dist".
The htdocs subdirectory must contain a subdirectory named webtest
that contains a file named "is_apache_responding.html". If your
installation of Apache has the Perl module Apache::ASP configured,
the apache_dir directory must also contain a subdirectory named
"asp_tmp".

The file httpd.conf-dist must contain all the usual Apache
configuration parameters. Also, the httpd.conf-dist file must
contain the following lines INSTEAD OF the lines containing the
corresponding parameters (i.e., Port, Listen, ServerRoot, etc.):

Port Please_do_not_modify_PORT
Listen Please_do_not_modify_PORT
ServerRoot Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT
ErrorLog Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/logs/error.log
LogLevel Please_do_not_modify_LOG_LEVEL
CustomLog Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/logs/access.log common
PidFile Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/apache.pid
LockFile Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/apache.lock
ServerName Please_do_not_modify_HOST_NAME
SSLMutex file:Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/ssl_mutex
SSLLog Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/logs/ssl_engine_log
DocumentRoot Please_do_not_modify_SERVER_ROOT/htdocs

At runtime these tags are replaced with the values needed by the
Apache server that the program starts. See the Apache documentation
for details (http://www.apache.org/docs/mod/directives.html).

Also, if your installation of Apache has the Perl module
Apache::ASP configured, you must use the following lines instead
of the lines containing the corresponding parameters (i.e.,
PERLSETVAR_GLOBAL, PERLSETVAR_MAILHOST, PERLSETVAR_MAILERRORSTO):

Please_do_not_modify_PERLSETVAR_GLOBAL
Please_do_not_modify_PERLSETVAR_MAILHOST
Please_do_not_modify_PERLSETVAR_MAILERRORSTO

These lines are usually placed in the FileMatch block of the
VirtualHost block for the PerlHandler Apache::ASP. At runtime
these tags are replaced with the the directive PerlSetVar followed
by the name of the parameter (Global, MailHost, MailErrorsTo)
and a parameter value derived from other input parameters. See
the Apache::ASP documentation for details
(http://www.apache-asp.org/config.html).

The subdirectory htdocs must contain a subdirectory named webtest
that contains a file named "is_apache_responding.html". This file
must contain valid HTML and must contain the string
Please_do_not_modify_TEST_TAG somewhere in the file. (This file is
used to verify that Apache has started successfully.)

PREREQUISITES
Perl version 5.000 or higher is required. The following Perl modules
are also required. (These are all part of the base distribution of
version 5.005_03 and higher.)

Cwd
File::Basename
File::Copy
File::Find
File::Path
HTTP::Cookies
HTTP::Request::Common
HTTP::Response
LWP::UserAgent
Net::Domain
Net::SMTP
Sys::Hostname
Term::ReadKey
Time::HiRes
URI::URL

RESTRICTIONS / BUGS
This module only works on Unix (e.g., Solaris, Linux, AIX, etc.). The
module's HTTP requests time out after 3 minutes (the default value for
LWP::UserAgent). If the file_path parameter is specified, Apache must
be installed. If the file_path parameter is specified, the directory
/tmp cannot be NFS-mounted, since Apache's lockfile and the SSL mutex
file must be stored on a local disk.

VERSION
This document describes version 1.02, release date 14 June 2001

CHANGES
1.02 Tue Jun 26 2001

* OWNERSHIP OF HTTP:WebTest HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM Richard
Anderson <[email protected]> TO Ilya Martynov
<[email protected]>. PLEASE DIRECT ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
TO Ilya Martynov. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

* Change succeed/fail count so that a successful fetch of a
page counts as a successful test. (An unsuccessful fetch
still counts as a failed test.)

* Removed extraneous call to extract_cookies from get_response.

1.01 Wed Jun 14 2001

* Modified cookies parameter to allow less than 10 elements.
(Thanks to Thomas Ayles <[email protected]> for suggesting
this.)

* Fixed bug that caused get_response() to fail to capture all
cookies returned by the webserver during redirects. Added
subclass HTTP::WebTest::Cookies (a modified HTTP::Cookies
class). (Thanks to Ilya Martynov <[email protected]> for
this fix.)

* Modified web server response time measurement to be more
accurate.

* Exported run_web_test method so it can be called directly.

1.00 Wed Jun 06 2001

* Added max_rtime and min_rtime parameters to test web server
response time. The perl module Time::HiRes is now a
prerequisite to install HTTP::WebTest. (This code was
a collaborative effort by the author and Michael Blakeley
<[email protected]>.)

* Added pauth parameter for proxy authorization. (This code
was a collaborative effort by the author and Darren Fulton
<[email protected]>.)

* Changed max_bytes and min_bytes paramters from test block
parameters to global and/or test block parameters.

* Made format of output report more robust for max_bytes and
min_bytes parameters.

0.30 Mon Mar 05 2001

* Fixed ./t/*.t files so that "make test" runs correctly on
Solaris. (Replaced export WEBTEST_LIB= with WEBTEST_LIB= ;
export WEBTEST_LIB.) (Thanks to M. Simon Cavalletto
<[email protected]> for reporting this bug.)

* Improved clarity of documentation and program output.

0.20 Mon Feb 26 2001

* Fixed bug that caused module to abort when a HTTP-Redirect
(302) is sent back with a relative URL. Thanks to Andre
Machowiak <[email protected]> for this fix.

* Set Content-type to 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
for POST. Thanks to Andre Machowiak <[email protected]> for
this fix.

* Modified Makefile.PL to get path of perl using the which
command and create the wt script with this path in the
she-bang line (#!). (Thanks to Britton <[email protected]>
for reporting this bug.)

* Modified "make test" tests to write output to files in the
t subdirectory.

0.01 Sat Dec 9 10:14:53 2000
- original version; created by h2xs 1.19
First release to CPAN by Richard Anderson
<[email protected]>.

TODO
Add option to validate HTML syntax using HTML::Validator. Add option to
check links using HTML::LinkExtor. Add single-URL timeout block
parameter to pass to LWP::UserAgent. Move test_regexes into a plugin.

AUTHOR
Richard Anderson <[email protected]>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Richard Anderson. All rights reserved. This
module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified
under the terms of the Perl Artistic License.

SEE ALSO
wt(1), perl(1), perlre(1), perldoc Apache::ASP.