[uf-discuss] FW: New microformats test-suite idea

[Adam Craven - Four Shapes]

Hi Glenn,

It doesn't seem to work (Firefox 2/mac),

Adam

On 7 May 2008, at 11:39, Glenn Jones wrote:

> As the dev list does not seem to be working at the moment, reposted
> here.
>
> Just added Operator to testrunner, but you have to use Firefox.
>> If you go to http://ufxtract.com/testsuite/hcard/1.0/hcard1.htm and
> press Alt X you can see a working demonstration of the testrunner.
>
> Glenn
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Glenn Jones
> Sent: 03 May 2008 12:11
> To: 'microformats-dev at microformats.org'
> Subject: New microformats test-suite idea
>
> Hi all
>
> I have been working on a concept for a new microformats test-suite. I
> need a comprehensive test-suite before I can move the development of
> UfXtract forward. Rather than just build something in isolation I
> thought it would be nice to find a way to share this work with the
> community.
>
> I have written two POSH patterns "testsuite" and  "testfixture".  They
> follow the principles of microformats design:
> *	They are self-describing and created with HTML ,with no hidden
> metadata
> *	Building a test should be easy even for those who are HTML
> authors
> *	They are not linked to any one programming language and should
> be easy to share
> *	They allow for the creation of an in-browser Testrunner
>
> For example go to http://ufxtract.com/testsuite/hcard/1.0/
>
> The earliest tests for hcard used vcards to describe the expected
> output. As the community has moved forward it has designed  
> microformats
> which are independent of external specification. So this test-suite is
> designed around the concept of a standardised data structure.  In this
> case, expressed in JSON, but they could be converted into XPaths to  
> test
> XML or other languages.
>
> I have started to build a small console app, which will spider the  
> HTML
> and create NUnit/C# class files for my build tests. Although this is
> specific to my own parsers development, it should be easy to do the  
> same
> for other programming languages and projects.
>
> Parsing "testsuite" and  "testfixture".
> I have already setup UfXtract to parse these patterns into JSON/XML.  
> It
> would not take much for other microformats parser developers to
> construct profiles for these POSH patterns.
> Here is an example of the output.
> http://lab.backnetwork.com/ufXtract/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fufxtract.com%2Ftes
> tsuite%2Fhcard%2F1.0%2Fhcard1.htm&format=test-fixture&output=json
>
>
> The Testrunner
>
> If you go to http://ufxtract.com/testsuite/hcard/1.0/hcard1.htm and
> press Alt X you can see a working demonstration of the testrunner.
>
> I have observed that most parser developers are using comparative
> testing as their main tool to quickly understand how the complex rules
> and optimizations are applied. So I have built a JavaScript Testrunner
> which allows for simple comparative testing between parsers.
>
> It uses a number of techniques to standardise both access to the  
> parsers
> API's and the JSON output. ***Please note that at this stage the JSON
> standardisation process can cause a test to be marked as failed when  
> it
> could be judged to have passed***. Most of the current differences in
> parser output are down to whether a value is stored as single property
> or an array of properties.
>
> At the moment the Testrunner is only working with the testfixure , it
> would not take much to extend the Testrunner to run a whole test- 
> suite.
>
> I would love to add Operator and other parsers to the Testrunner.
>
> Proof of concept
> This is very early proof of concept stuff. What I would like to ask  
> is a
> number of questions before moving it forward.
>
> *	Are people interested in the idea of shared test-suites?
> *	What do you think to the approach?
> *	Can you see any big issues with the concepts?
> *	If you already have tests/test-suites, would you be willing to
> add them to the project?
> *	Would you be interested in contributing to a project like this?
>
> Hope you like the idea.
>
> PS: the JavaScript needs serious re-factoring; I will simplify it  
> soon.
>
>
> Glenn Jones
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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