AsciiDoc includes testasciidoc, a Python script runs a set of AsciiDoc conformance tests. testasciidoc runs through a list of AsciiDoc source files, generates backend outputs and then compares them to expected result files. The whole process is driven by a configuration file containing a list of user configurable test specifications.
Rationale
When modifying AsciiDoc configuration files or source code it’s very easy to introduce regression errors. testasciidoc is a tool for writing many and varied test cases that can be run after changes have been made in order to verify that existing behavior has not been broken.
The testasciidoc update command automates the (re)generation of expected test result data. Result data regeneration has to be performed after changes to test case source files or after legitimate changes to the AsciiDoc output formats — doing this manually is prohibitively tedious.
Running testasciidoc
The testasciidoc.py script and the default testasciidoc.conf configuration file are located in the AsciiDoc distribution tests directory.
To view the command usage run:
$ python tests/testasciidoc.py Usage: testasciidoc.py [OPTIONS] COMMAND Run AsciiDoc conformance tests specified in configuration FILE. Commands: list List tests run [NUMBER] [BACKEND] Execute tests update [NUMBER] [BACKEND] Regenerate and update test data Options: -f, --conf-file=CONF_FILE Use configuration file CONF_FILE (default configuration file is testasciidoc.conf in testasciidoc.py directory) --force Update all test data overwriting existing data
To view the list of tests in the default testasciidoc.conf configuration file run the list command:
$ python tests/testasciidoc.py list 1: Test cases 2: Tables 3: Source highlighter 4: Example article 5: Example book 6: Example multi-part book 7: !User Guide
The ! prefix signals that a test is currently disabled.
Before running the tests you will need to regenerate the expected outputs by running the update command:
$ python tests/testasciidoc.py update WRITING: tests/data/testcases-html4.html WRITING: tests/data/testcases-xhtml11.html WRITING: tests/data/testcases-docbook.xml : WRITING: tests/data/book-multi-docbook.xml
Now you can run the tests:
$ python tests/testasciidoc.py run 1: Test cases SOURCE: asciidoc: tests/data/testcases.txt PASSED: html4: tests/data/testcases-html4.html PASSED: xhtml11: tests/data/testcases-xhtml11.html PASSED: docbook: tests/data/testcases-docbook.xml : 6: Example multi-part book SOURCE: asciidoc: doc/book-multi.txt PASSED: html4: tests/data/book-multi-html4.html PASSED: xhtml11: tests/data/book-multi-xhtml11.html PASSED: docbook: tests/data/book-multi-docbook.xml TOTAL PASSED: 18
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testasciidoc commands
- list
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List test numbers and titles. A ! title prefix signals that a test is currently disabled.
- run
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Read and execute tests from the test configuration file. A test specifies AsciiDoc test case source file and command options. The test compares generated outputs to expected outputs and any differences displayed as a diff. You can run selected tests by specifying the test number and/or backend after the run command. Examples:
python tests/testasciidoc.py run python tests/testasciidoc.py run 3 python tests/testasciidoc.py run html4 python tests/testasciidoc.py run 3 html4
- update
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Generates and updates missing and out of date test output data files, this eliminates one of the most time consuming aspect of test management. Use the --force option to force updates. Examples:
python tests/testasciidoc.py update python tests/testasciidoc.py --force update 4
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You can run or update disabled tests by explicitly specifying the test number. |
Test configuration file
The tests configuration file format consists of one or more test specs separated by a line of one or more percent characters. Each test spec consists of an optional test title and description followed by one or more optional directives (a directive starts with a percent character). A directive consists begins with a line containing a % character followed by a directive name followed by zero or more lines of directive data.
Test spec format
Optional test title Optional test description... % name Optional base output file name. Defaults to base source file name. % source AsciiDoc source file name. % backends Optional list of backends to be tested(default is all backends). % options Optional list of command-line option tuples. % attributes Optional dictionary of attribute values.
Example test spec:
Example book % options ['--section-numbers',('--doctype','book')] % attributes # Exclude date from document footer. {'docdate':None} % source ../doc/book.txt
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Take a look at the default tests/testasciidoc.conf configuration file that comes with AsciiDoc. |
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Tests can be disabled by prefixing the test title with an exclamation ! character.
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All relative file names are relative to the configuration file directory.
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Multiple tests must by separated by a % separator line (one or more percent characters).
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Lines starting with a percent character specify a test directive and may be followed by zero or more lines of directive data.
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Directive data lines cannot start with a percent character.
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Lines starting with a # hash character are ignored.
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The source directive data is a single line containing the AsciiDoc source file name.
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The options directive data is a Python list of (name,value) tuples specifying AsciiDoc command-line options. A string item is equivalent to a (name,None) tuple.
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The attributes directive data specifies a Python dictionary containing AsciiDoc attributes to be passed to AsciiDoc.
globals directive
An optional globals directive can precede all test specs, the globals directive data is a Python dictionary containing global values. Currently the only global is datadir, the directory containing expected output files (defaults to configuration file directory). For example:
% globals {'datadir': 'data'}
Expected output test data files are stored in the datadir and are named after the corresponding AsciiDoc input source file. For example if the AsciiDoc file name is article.txt then the corresponding backend output files will be article-html4.html, article-xhtml11.html, article-docbook.xml (stored in the datadir directory).