<div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote><pre>The Drupal SimpleTest module has progressed far beyond the original <br>SimpleTest we started with - we now have a more powerful, although <br>Drupal-specific testing framework which still retains the somewhat <br>
misleading name "SimpleTest" (there's an issue somewhere to rename <br>SimpleTest to testing). We currently do have both functional and unit <br>tests working under the current framework - although javascript tests <br>
currently remain impossible, although there are several issues <br>addressing that point (feel free to help!). <br></pre></blockquote>I think what you're saying confirms that while 'far-beyond the original simpletest' - the current testing framework in Drupal still has this in common with the standard version of Simpletest -- it's primarily focused on unit/functional testing - not acceptance testing, which is a whole different focus. ( <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing</a> )<br>
<br>To help make what I'm talking about more understandable, here's a list of what selenium (for instance) offers that simpletest (and the Drupal implementation) does not:<br><div style="margin-left: 40px;">a) a top-rated browser plugin which offers an interface for scripting, exporting, and running tests specifically aimed at the browser-based aspect of a web application (again *not* unit/functional testing) (screenshots and explanation <a href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/980">http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/980</a> )<br>
b) an additional tool, Selenium RC, which includes functionlity to
automatically launch a variety of browsers and step through the tests in each browser - as an end-user would do<br>c) testing of ajax/js ui elements <br></div><div><blockquote><div><pre><br>But basically, our Drupal-specific extension of SimpleTest meets our <br>
needs for functional testing and unit testing so well, I don't think <br>there's really any point to looking into other harder-to-install <br>automated testing tools - they'll never be used by a sizable percentage <br>
of the Drupal community, whereas the SimpleTest module for Drupal <br>requires very little in order to function properly. The current <br>framework covers the vast majority of our testing needs; the tests are <br>lagging far behind the testing framework here. We don't really need to <br>
rethink our framework or consider other frameworks until we've reached <br>the limit of what the current framework can do. JavaScript tests would <br>certainly be nice, but should we really worry ourselves with them when <br>
much important core php code remains entirely untested?<br><br></pre></div></blockquote>Again, acceptance testing/selenium does not just = adding-javascript support to unit tests - it equals a whole other kind of testing - one I believe that a very sizable percentage of the Drupal community is interested in I'm sure - testing from the end-user/client perspective. So this would not be a matter of rethinking the existing framework - it's would be adding on to it and/or getting a way to more easily get selenium working with Drupal so that Drupal developers can include accetance test within their workflow.<br>
<br>For anyone who doesn't have the bandwidth or the interest to work on finding solutions to better acceptance testing within Drupal I can understand - but I just wanted to point out the difference between what is in Drupal now and what I'm talking about. They are different and it's not just about what's in Drupal 'missing javascript support'.<br>
<br>- Caleb<br></div></div>