# AsciiDoc Tests

AsciiDoc includes testasciidoc, a Python script runs a set of AsciiDoc conformance tests. testasciidoc runs through a list of AsciiDoc source files, generates backend outputs and then compares them to expected result files. The whole process is driven by a configuration file containing a list of user configurable test specifications.

## Rationale

When modifying AsciiDoc configuration files or source code it’s very easy to introduce regression errors. testasciidoc is a tool for writing many and varied test cases that can be run after changes have been made in order to verify that existing behavior has not been broken.

The testasciidoc update command automates the (re)generation of expected test result data. Result data regeneration has to be performed after changes to test case source files or after legitimate changes to the AsciiDoc output formats — doing this manually is prohibitively tedious.

## Running testasciidoc

The `testasciidoc.py` script and the default `testasciidoc.conf` configuration file are located in the AsciiDoc distribution `tests` directory.

To view the command usage run:

    $ python tests/testasciidoc.py
    Usage: testasciidoc.py [OPTIONS] COMMAND

    Run AsciiDoc conformance tests specified in configuration FILE.

    Commands:
      list                          List tests
      run [NUMBER] [BACKEND]        Execute tests
      update [NUMBER] [BACKEND]     Regenerate and update test data

    Options:
      -f, --conf-file=CONF_FILE
            Use configuration file CONF_FILE (default configuration file is
            testasciidoc.conf in testasciidoc.py directory)
      --force
            Update all test data overwriting existing data

To view the list of tests in the default `testasciidoc.conf` configuration file run the list command:

    $ python tests/testasciidoc.py list
    1: Test cases
    2: Tables
    3: Source highlighter
    4: Example article
    5: Example book
    6: Example multi-part book
    7: !User Guide

The ! prefix signals that a test is currently disabled.

Before running the tests you will need to regenerate the expected outputs by running the update command:

    $ python tests/testasciidoc.py update
    WRITING: tests/data/testcases-html4.html
    WRITING: tests/data/testcases-xhtml11.html
    WRITING: tests/data/testcases-docbook.xml
     :
    WRITING: tests/data/book-multi-docbook.xml

Now you can run the tests:

    $ python tests/testasciidoc.py run
    1: Test cases
    SOURCE: asciidoc: tests/data/testcases.txt
    PASSED: html4: tests/data/testcases-html4.html
    PASSED: xhtml11: tests/data/testcases-xhtml11.html
    PASSED: docbook: tests/data/testcases-docbook.xml
     :
    6: Example multi-part book
    SOURCE: asciidoc: doc/book-multi.txt
    PASSED: html4: tests/data/book-multi-html4.html
    PASSED: xhtml11: tests/data/book-multi-xhtml11.html
    PASSED: docbook: tests/data/book-multi-docbook.xml

    TOTAL PASSED:  18

Note | testasciidoc requires AsciiDoc is located in your environment search path, if not you’ll need to set the `ASCIIDOC_PY` environment variable to point to `asciidoc.py`. If you don’t have GNU source-highlight installed you should disable the Tables and Source highlighter tests in the `tests/testasciidoc.conf` configuration file.

## testasciidoc commands

list

  List test numbers and titles. A ! title prefix signals that a test is currently disabled.

run

  Read and execute tests from the test configuration file. A test specifies AsciiDoc test case source file and command options. The test compares generated outputs to expected outputs and any differences displayed as a diff. You can run selected tests by specifying the test number and/or backend after the `run` command. Examples:

      python tests/testasciidoc.py run
      python tests/testasciidoc.py run 3
      python tests/testasciidoc.py run html4
      python tests/testasciidoc.py run 3 html4

update

  Generates and updates missing and out of date test output data files, this eliminates one of the most time consuming aspect of test management. Use the `--force` option to force updates. Examples:

      python tests/testasciidoc.py update
      python tests/testasciidoc.py --force update 4

## Test configuration file

The tests configuration file format consists of one or more test specs separated by a line of one or more percent characters. Each test spec consists of an optional test title and description followed by one or more optional directives (a directive starts with a percent character). A directive consists begins with a line containing a % character followed by a directive name followed by zero or more lines of directive data.

### Test spec format

    Optional test title
    Optional test description...

    % options
    Optional list of command-line option tuples.

    % attributes
    Optional dictionary of attribute values.

    % asciidoc
    AsciiDoc source file name.

    % backends
    Optional list of backends (default is all backends).

Example test spec:

    Example book

    % options
    ['--section-numbers',('--doctype','book')]

    % attributes
    # Exclude date from document footer.
    {'docdate':None}

    % asciidoc
    ../doc/book.txt

Tip | Take a look at the default `tests/testasciidoc.conf` configuration file that comes with AsciiDoc.

- Tests can be disabled by prefixing the test title with an exclamation ! character.

- All relative file names are relative to the configuration file directory.

- Multiple tests must by separated by a `%` separator line (one or more percent characters).

- Lines starting with a percent character specify a test directive and may be followed by zero or more lines of directive data.

- Directive data lines cannot start with a percent character.

- Lines starting with a `#` hash character are ignored.

- The asciidoc directive data is a single line containing the AsciiDoc source file name.

- The options directive data is a Python list of `(name,value)` tuples specifying AsciiDoc command-line options. A string item is equivalent to a `(name,None)` tuple.

- The attributes directive data specifies a Python dictionary containing AsciiDoc attributes to be passed to AsciiDoc.

### globals directive

An optional globals directive can precede all test specs, the globals directive data is a Python dictionary containing global values. Currently the only global is datadir, the directory containing expected output files (defaults to configuration file directory). For example:

    % globals
    {'datadir': 'data'}

Expected output test data files are stored in the datadir and are named after the corresponding AsciiDoc input source file. For example if the AsciiDoc file name is `article.txt` then the corresponding backend output files will be `article-html4.html`, `article-xhtml11.html`, `article-docbook.xml` (stored in the datadir directory).