NAME

       Test::CGI::Multipart - Test posting of multi-part form data

VERSION

       This document describes Test::CGI::Multipart version 0.0.3

SYNOPSIS

           use Test::CGI::Multipart;

           my $tcm = Test::CGI::Multipart;

           # specify the form parameters
           $tcm->set_param(name='email',value=>'jim@hacker.com');
           $tcm->set_param(name=>'pets',value=> ['Rex', 'Oscar', 'Bidgie', 'Fish']);
           $tcm->set_param(name=>'first_name',value=>'Jim');
           $tcm->set_param(name=>'last_name',value=>'Hacker');
           $tcm->upload_file(
               name=>'file1',
               file=>'made_up_filename.txt',
               value=>$content
           );
           $tcm->upload_file(
               name=>'file1',
               file=>'made_up_filename.blah',
               value=>$content_blah,
               type=>'application/blah'
           );

           # Behind the scenes this will fake the browser and web server behaviour
           # with regard to environment variables, MIME format and standard input.
           my $cgi = $tcm->create_cgi;

           # Okay now we have a CGI object which we can pass into the code
           # that needs testing and run the form handling various tests.

DESCRIPTION

       It is quite difficult to write test code to capture the behaviour of CGI or similar
       objects handling forms that include a file upload.  Such code needs to harvest the
       parameters, build file content in MIME format, set the environment variables accordingly
       and pump it into the the standard input of the required CGI object. This module provides
       simple methods so that having prepared suitable content, the test script can simulate the
       submission of web forms including file uploads.

       However we also recognise that a test script is not always the best place to prepare
       content. Rather a test script would rather specify requirements for a file a upload: type,
       size, mismatches between the file name and its contents and so on. This module cannot hope
       to provide such open ended functionality but it can provide extension mechanisms.

       This module works with CGI (the default), CGI::Minimal and CGI::Simple. In principle it
       ought to work with all equivalent modules however each module has a slightly different
       interface when it comes to file uploads and so requires slightly different test code.

INTERFACE

       Several of the methods below take named parameters. For convenience we define those
       parameters here:

       "cgi"
           This option defines the CGI module. It should be a scalar consisting only of
           alphanumeric characters and "::". It defaults to 'CGI'.

       "name"
           This is the name of form parameter. It must be a scalar.

       "value"
           This is the value of the form parameter. It should either be a scalar or an array
           reference of scalars.

       "file"
           Where a form parameter represents a file, this is the name of that file.

       "type"
           The MIME type of the content. This defaults to 'text/plain'.

       "ua"
           The HTTP_USER_AGENT environment variable. This defaults to 'Test::CGI::Multipart'.

   new
       An instance of this class might best be thought of as a "CGI object factory".  The
       constructor takes no parameters.

   create_cgi
       This returns a CGI object created according to the specification encapsulated in the
       object. The exact mechanics are as follows:

       The parameters are packaged up in MIME format.
       The environment variables are set.
       A pipe is created. The far end of the pipe is attached to our standard input and the MIME
       content is pushed through the pipe.
       The appropriate CGI class is required.
       Uploads are enabled if the CGI class is CGI::Simple.
       Global variables are reset for CGI and CGI::Minimal.
       The CGI object is created and returned.

       As far as I can see this simulates what happens when a CGI script processes a multi-part
       POST form. One can specify a different CGI class using the "cgi" named parameter. One can
       set the HTTP_USER_AGENT environment variable with the "ua" parameter.

   set_param
       This can be used to set a single form parameter. It takes two named arguments "name" and
       "value". Note that this method overrides any previous settings including file uploads.

   get_param
       This retrieves a single form parameter. It takes a single named parameter: "name". The
       data returned will be a list either of scalar values or (in the case of a file upload) of
       HASHREFs. The HASHREFs would have the following fields: "file", "value" and "type"
       representing the parameter name, the file name, the content and the MIME type
       respectively.

   get_names
       This returns a list of stashed parameter names.

   upload_file
       In the absence of any defined callbacks, this method takes three mandatory named
       parameters: "name", "file" and "value" and one optional parameter "type". If there are any
       callbacks then the parameters are passed through each of the callbacks and must meet the
       standard parameter requirements by the time all the callbacks have been called.

       Unlike the "set_param" method this will not override previous settings for this parameter
       but will add. However setting a normal parameter and then an upload on the same name will
       throw an error.

   register_callback
       Callbacks are used by the "upload_file" method, to allow a file to be specified by
       properties rather than strict content. This method takes a single named parameter called
       "callback", which adds that callback to an internal array of callbacks. The idea being
       that the "upload_file" method can take any arguments you like so long as after all the
       callbacks have been applied, the parameters consist of "name", "file", "value" and
       possibly "type".  A callback should take and return a single hash reference.

DIAGNOSTICS

       "unexpected data structure"
           During the construction of the MIME data, the internal data structure turned out to
           have unexpected features.  Since we control that data structure that should not
           happen.

       "mismatch: is %s a file upload or not"
           The parameter was being used for both for file upload and normal parameters.

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

       Test::CGI::Multipart requires no configuration files or environment variables.

       However it should be noted that the module will overwrite the following environment
       variables:

       REQUEST_METHOD
       CONTENT_LENGTH
       CONTENT_TYPE
       HTTP_USER_AGENT

INCOMPATIBILITIES

       I would like to get this working with CGI::Lite::Request and Apache::Request if that makes
       sense. So far I have not managed that.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

       No bugs have been reported.

       Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-test-cgi-multipart@rt.cpan.org", or
       through the web interface at <http://rt.cpan.org>.

       This module depends upon MIME::Tools. Unfortunately that module does not handle newlines
       quite correctly. That seems to work fine for email but does not work with CGI. I  have
       looked at  MIME::Fast and MIME::Lite but MIME::Tools combined with a hack seems the best
       that can be done at the moment. Sooner or later someone is going to hit the limitations of
       that hack.

AUTHOR

       Nicholas Bamber  "<nicholas@periapt.co.uk>"

LICENCE AND COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2010, Nicholas Bamber "<nicholas@periapt.co.uk>". All rights reserved.

       This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
       terms as Perl itself. See perlartistic.

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