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

[Glenn Jones]

Adam

I am sorry on a Mac its "ctrl alt x".
http://ufxtract.com/testsuite/hcard/1.0/hcard1.htm

Glenn

On 07/05/2008 14:13, "Adam Craven - Four Shapes"
<adam.craven at fourshapes.com> wrote:

> 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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>> microformats-discuss at microformats.org
>> http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss
> 
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