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.

SEE ALSO

       Net::Daemon(3), Test::Harness(3)