NAME

       Test::ClassAPI - Provides basic first-pass API testing for large class trees

DESCRIPTION

       For many APIs with large numbers of classes, it can be very useful to be able to do a
       quick once-over to make sure that classes, methods, and inheritance is correct, before
       doing more comprehensive testing. This module aims to provide such a capability.

   Using Test::ClassAPI
       Test::ClassAPI is used with a fairly standard looking test script, with the API
       description contained in a __DATA__ section at the end of the script.

         #!/usr/bin/perl

         # Test the API for Foo::Bar
         use strict;
         use Test::More 'tests' => 123; # Optional
         use Test::ClassAPI;

         # Load the API to test
         use Foo::Bar;

         # Execute the tests
         Test::ClassAPI->execute;

         __DATA__

         Foo::Bar::Thing=interface
         Foo::Bar::Object=abstract
         Foo::Bar::Planet=class

         [Foo::Bar::Thing]
         foo=method

         [Foo::Bar::Object]
         bar=method
         whatsit=method

         [Foo::Bar::Planet]
         Foo::Bar::Object=isa
         Foo::Bar::Thing=isa
         blow_up=method
         freeze=method
         thaw=method

       Looking at the test script, the code itself is fairly simple. We first load Test::More and
       Test::ClassAPI. The loading and specification of a test plan is optional, Test::ClassAPI
       will provide a plan automatically if needed.

       This is followed by a compulsory __DATA__ section, containing the API description. This
       description is in provided in the general form of a Windows style .ini file and is
       structured as follows.

   Class Manifest
       At the beginning of the file, in the root section of the config file, is a list of entries
       where the key represents a class name, and the value is one of either 'class', 'abstract',
       or 'interface'.

       The 'class' entry indicates a fully fledged class. That is, the class is tested to ensure
       it has been loaded, and the existance of every method listed in the section ( and its
       superclasses ) is tested for.

       The 'abstract' entry indicates an abstract class, one which is part of our class tree, and
       needs to exist, but is never instantiated directly, and thus does not have to itself
       implement all of the methods listed for it. Generally, many individual 'class' entries
       will inherit from an 'abstract', and thus a method listed in the abstract's section will
       be tested for in all the subclasses of it.

       The 'interface' entry indicates an external interface that is not part of our class tree,
       but is inherited from by one or more of our classes, and thus the methods listed in the
       interface's section are tested for in all the classes that inherit from it. For example,
       if a class inherits from, and implements, the File::Handle interface, a
       "File::Handle=interface" entry could be added, with the "[File::Handle]" section listing
       all the methods in File::Handle that our class tree actually cares about. No tests, for
       class or method existance, are done on the interface itself.

   Class Sections
       Every class listed in the class manifest MUST have an individual section, indicated by
       "[Class::Name]" and containing a set of entries where the key is the name of something to
       test, and the value is the type of test for it.

       The 'isa' test checks inheritance, to make sure that the class the section is for is (by
       some path) a sub-class of something else. This does not have to be an immediate sub-class.
       Any class refered to (recursively) in a 'isa' test will have its 'method' test entries
       applied to the class as well.

       The 'method' test is a simple method existance test, using "UNIVERSAL::can" to make sure
       that the method exists in the class.

METHODS

   execute
       The "Test::ClassAPI" has a single method, "execute" which is used to start the testing
       process. It accepts a single option argument, 'complete', which indicates to the testing
       process that the API listed should be considered a complete list of the entire API. This
       enables an additional test for each class to ensure that every public method in the class
       is detailed in the API description, and that nothing has been "missed".

SUPPORT

       Bugs should be submitted via the CPAN bug tracker, located at

       http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Test-ClassAPI
       <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Test-ClassAPI>

       For other issues, or commercial enhancement or support, contact the author.

AUTHOR

       Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2002 - 2009 Adam Kennedy.

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

       The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.