Name

Outthentic - Multipurpose scenarios framework.

Synopsis

Multipurpose scenarios framework.

Build statuses

Install

$ cpanm Outthentic

Introduction

This is an outthentic tutorial.

Scenarios

Scenario is just a script that you run and that yields something into stdout.

Perl scenario example:

$ nano story.pl

  print "I am OK\n";
  print "I am outthentic\n";

Bash scenario example:

$ nano story.bash

  echo I am OK
  echo I am outthentic

Python scenario example:

$ nano story.py

  print "I am OK"
  print "I am outthentic"

Ruby scenario example:

$ nano story.rb

  puts "I am OK"
  puts "I am outthentic"

Powershell scenario example:

$ nano story.ps1

  Write-Host "I am OK"
  Write-Host "I am outthentic"

Outthentic scenarios could be written in one of the five languages:

• Perl
• Bash
• Python
• Ruby
• Powershell

Choose you favorite language ;) !

Outthentic relies on file names convention to determine scenario language.

This table describes file name -> language mapping for scenarios:

+------------+--------------+
| Language   | File         |
+------------+--------------+
| Perl       | story.pl     |
| Bash       | story.bash   |
| Python     | story.py     |
| Ruby       | story.rb     |
| Powershell | story.ps1    |
+------------+--------------+

Check files

Check files contain rules to verify stdout produced by scenarios.

Here we require that scenario should produce I am OK and I am outthentic lines in stdout:

$ nano story.check

  I am OK
  I am outthentic

NOTE: Check files are optional, if one doesn't need any checks, then don't create check files.

In this case it's only ensured that a scenario succeeds ( exit code 0 ).

Stories

Outthentic story is an abstraction for scenario and check file.

When outthentic story gets run:

• scenario is executed and the output is saved into a file.
• the output is verified against check file

See also story runner.

Suites and projects

Outthentic suites are a bunch of related stories. You may also call suites (outthentic) projects.

Obviously project may contain more than one story.

Stories are mapped into directories inside the project root directory.

Here are examples:

Perl:

$ mkdir perl-story

$ nano  perl-story/story.pl

  print "hello from perl"

$ nano perl-story/story.check

  hello from perl

Bash:

$ mkdir bash-story

$ nano bash-story/story.bash

  echo hello from bash 

$ nano bash-story/story.check

  hello from bash 

Python:

$ mkdir python-story

$ nano python-story/story.py

  print "hello from python" 

$ nano python-story/story.check

  hello from python 

Ruby:

$ mkdir ruby-story

$ nano ruby-story/story.rb

  puts "hello from ruby"

$ nano ruby-story/story.check

  hello from ruby 

Powershell:

$ mkdir powershell-story

$ nano ruby-story/story.ps

  Write-Host "hello from powershell"

$ nano ruby-story/story.check

  hello from powershell

To execute different stories launch story runner command called strun:

$ strun --story perl-story
$ strun --story bash-story 

# so on ...

The project root directory resolution and story paths

If --root parameter is not set the project root directory is the current working directory.

By default, if --story parameter is not given, strun looks for the file named story.(pl|rb|bash) at the project root directory and run it.

Here is an example:

$ nano story.bash

  echo 'hello world'

$ strun # will run story.bash 

It's always possible to pass the project root directory explicitly:

$ strun --root /path/to/project/root/

To run the certain story use --story parameter:

$ strun --story story1

--story parameter should point a directory relative to the project root directory.

Summary:

• Stories are just a directories with scenarios and check files inside.

• Strun - a [S]tory [R]unner - a console tool to execute stories.

• Outthentic suites or projects are bunches of related stories.

Check files

Checks files contain rules to test scenario's output.

Every scenario might be accompanied by its check file.

Check file should be placed at the same directory as scenario and be named as story.check.

Here is an example:

$ nano story.bash

  sudo service nginx status

$ nano story.check

  running

Story runner

Story runner is a console tool to run stories. It is called strun.

When executing stories strun consequentially goes through several phases:

Compilation phase

Stories are compiled into Perl files and saved into cache directory.

Execution phase

Compiled Perl files are executed and results are dumped out to console.

Hooks

Story hooks are story runner's extension points.

Hook features:

• Hooks like scenarios are scripts written on different languages (Perl,Bash,Ruby,Python)

• Hooks always binds to some story, to create a hook you should place hook's script into story directory.

• Hooks are are executed before scenarios

Here is an example of hook:

$ nano perl/hook.pl

  print "this is a story hook!";

This table describes file name -> language mapping for scenarios:

+------------+--------------+
| Language   | File         |
+------------+--------------+
| Perl       | hook.pl      |
| Bash       | hook.bash    |
| Python     | hook.py      |
| Ruby       | hook.rb      |
| Powershell | hook.ps1     |
+------------+--------------+

Reasons why you might need hooks:

• Execute some initialization code before running a scenario
• Simulate scenario's output
• Call another stories

Simulate scenario output

Sometimes you want to override story output at hook level.

This is for example might be useful if you want to test the rules in check files without running real script.

In QA methodology it's called Mock objects:

$ nano hook.bash

  set_stdout 'running'

$ nano story.check

  running

It's important to say that if overriding happens story executor never try to run scenario even if it presents:

$ nano hook.bash

  set_stdout 'running'

$ nano story.bash

  sudo service nginx status # this command won't be executed

You may call set_stdout function more then once:

$ nano hook.pl

  set_stdout("HELLO WORLD");
  set_stdout("HELLO WORLD2");

It will "produce" two line of a story output:

HELLO WORLD
HELLO WORLD2

This table describes how set_stdout() function is called in various languages:

+-------------+-----------------------+
| Language    | signature             |
+-------------+-----------------------+
| Perl        | set_stdout(SCALAR)    |
| Bash        | set_stdout(STRING)    |
| Python(*)   | set_stdout(STRING)    |
| Ruby        | set_stdout(STRING)    |
| Powershell  | set_stdout(STRING)    |
+-------------+-----------------------+

(*) You need to from outthentic import * in Python to import set_stdout function.

Run stories from other stories

Hooks allow you to call one story from other one.

Here are examples:

$ nano modules/knock-the-door/story.rb

  # this is a downstream story
  # to make story downstream
  # simply create story files 
  # in modules/ directory

  puts 'knock-knock!'" 

$ nano modules/knock-the-door/story.check

  knock-knock!

$ nano open-the-door/hook.rb

  # this is a upstream story
  # to run downstream story
  # call run_story function
  # inside hook

  # run_story accepts parameter - story path,
  # notice that you have to omit 'modules/' part

  run_story( 'knock-the-door' );

$ nano open-the-door/story.rb

  puts 'opening ...' 

$ nano open-the-door/story.check

  opening

$ strun --story open-the-door/

  /modules/knock-the-door/ started

  knock-knock!
  OK  scenario succeeded
  OK  output match 'knock-knock!'

  /open-the-door/ started

  opening ...
  OK  scenario succeeded
  OK  output match 'opening'
  ---
  STATUS  SUCCEED

Stories that run other stories are called upstream stories.

Stories being called from other ones are downstream story.

Summary:

• To create downstream story place a story data in modules/ directory inside the project root directory.

• To run downstream story call run_story(story_path) function inside the upstream story's hook.

• Downstream story is always gets executed before upstream story.

• You can call as many downstream stories as you wish.

• Downstream stories may call other downstream stories.

Here is more sophisticated examples of downstream stories:

$ nano modules/up/story.pl 

  print "UP!"

$ nano modules/down/story.pl 

  print "DOWN!"

$ nano two-jumps/hook.pl

  run_story( 'up' );
  run_story( 'down' );
  run_story( 'up' );
  run_story( 'down' );

Story variables

Variables might be passed to downstream story by the second argument of run_story() function.

For example, in Perl:

$ nano hook.pl

  run_story( 
    'greeting', {  name => 'Alexey' , message => 'hello' }  
  );

Or in Ruby:

$ nano hook.rb

  run_story  'greeting', {  'name' => 'Alexey' , 'message' => 'hello' }

Or in Python:

$ nano hook.rb

  from outthentic import *

  run_story('greeting', {  'name' : 'Alexey' , 'message' : 'hello' })

Or in Bash:

$ nano hook.bash

  run_story  greeting name Alexey message hello 

Or in Powershell:

$ nano hook.ps1

  $params = @{name="Alexey";message="hello"}  
  run_story 'greeting', -hash $params

This table describes how run_story() function is called in various languages:

+------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Language   | signature                                    |
+------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Perl       | run_story(SCALAR,HASHREF)                    |
| Bash       | run_story STORY_NAME NAME VAL NAME2 VAL2 ... | 
| Python(*)  | run_story(STRING,DICT)                       | 
| Ruby       | run_story(STRING,HASH)                       | 
| Powershell | run_story(STRING,HASH)                       | 
+------------+----------------------------------------------+

Story variables are accessible in downstream story by story_var() function, see below.

(*) You need to from outthentic import * in Python to import set_stdout function.

Examples:

In Perl:

$ nano modules/greeting/story.pl

  print story_var('name'), 'say ', story_var('message');

In Python:

$ nano modules/greeting/story.py

  from outthentic import *

  print story_var('name') + 'say ' + story_var('message')

In Ruby:

$ nano modules/greeting/story.rb

  puts "#{story_var('name')} say #{story_var('message')}"

In Bash:

$ nano modules/greeting/story.bash

  echo $name say $message

In Bash (alternative way):

$ nano modules/greeting/story.bash

  echo $(story_var name) say $(story_var message)

In Powershell:

$ nano modules/greeting/story.ps1

  $name     =  story_var 'name'
  $message  =  story_var 'message'

  Write-Host "$name say $message"

Story variables are accessible inside check files as well.

This table describes how story_story() function is called in various languages:

+------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Language         | signature                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Perl             | story_var(SCALAR)                           |
| Python(*)        | story_var(STRING)                           | 
| Ruby             | story_var(STRING)                           | 
| Bash (1-st way)  | $foo $bar ...                               |
| Bash (2-nd way)  | $(story_var foo.bar)                        |
| Powershell       | story_var(STRING)                           | 
+------------------+---------------------------------------------+

(*) You need to from outthentic import * in Python to import story_var() function.

Stories without scenarios

The minimal set of files should be present in outthentic story is either scenario file or hook script, the last option is story without scenario.

Examples:

# Story with scenario only

$ nano story.pl

# Story with hook only

$ nano hook.pl

Story helper functions

Here is the list of function one can use inside hooks:

• project_root_dir() - the project root directory.

• cache_root_dir() - the cache root directory ( see strun ).

• cache_dir() - storie's cache directory ( containing story's compiled files )

• story_dir() - relate path to the directory containing story data, so the full path to the story is project_root_dir()/story_dir()

• config() - returns suite configuration hash object. See also suite configuration.

• os() - return a mnemonic ID of operation system where story is executed.

• You need to from outthentic import * in Python to import os() function.

• in Bash these functions are represented by variables, e.g. $project_root_dir, $os, so on.

Recognizable OS list

• alpine
• amazon
• archlinux
• centos5
• centos6
• centos7
• debian
• fedora
• minoca
• ubuntu
• funtoo
• darwin
• windows

Story meta headers

Story meta headers are just plain text files with some useful description.

The content of the meta headers will be shown when story is executed.

Example:

$ nano meta.txt

  The beginning of the story ...

Ignore scenario failures

If scenario fails ( the exit code is not equal to zero ), the story executor marks such a story as unsuccessful and this results in overall failure. To suppress any story errors use ignore_story_err() function.

Examples:

# Python

$ nano hook.py

  from outthentic import *

  ignore_story_err(1)


# Ruby

$ nano hook.rb

  ignore_story_err 1

# Perl

$ nano hook.pl

  ignore_story_err(1)

# Bash

$ nano hook.bash

  ignore_story_err 1

# Powershell

$ nano hook.ps1

  ignore_story_err(1)

Immediate exit/die

You can cause strun exits immediate with code 0, using quit() function.

Examples:

Python:

$ nano hook.py

  from outthentic import *

  quit("this script is temporarily disabled")

Ruby:

$ nano hook.rb

  if os != "windows"
    quit("windows system is not supported")
  end

Perl:

$ nano hook.pl

  unless (os() eq "ubuntu"){
    quit("runs on ubuntu system only")
  }

Bash:

$ nano hook.bash

  which /bin/curl || quit "curl not found, skip"

Powershell:

$ nano hook.ps1

  if ( -NOT  (os() -eq 'windows') ) {
    quit("only windows system is supported")
  }

Alternately you can ask strun to abort straight away ( with none zero exit code ), using outthentic_die() function.

Examples:

$ nano hook.bash

if [ "$EUID" -ne 0 ]
    then outthentic_die "Please run as root"
fi

Story libraries

Story libraries are files to make your libraries' code automatically required into the story scenarios, hooks and check files context:

Here are some examples:

Bash:

$ nano my-story/common.bash

  function hello_bash {
    echo 'hello bash'
  } 

$ nano my-story/story.bash

    echo hello_bash

$ nano my-story/story.check

  generator: <<CODE;
  !bash
    echo hello_bash
  CODE

Ruby:

$ nano modules/my-story/common.rb

  def hello_ruby
    'hello ruby'
  end

$ nano modules/my-story/hook.rb

  set_stdout(hello_ruby())

$ nano modules/my-story/story.check

  generator: <<CODE;
  !ruby
    pust hello_ruby()
  CODE

This table describes file name -> language mapping for story libraries:

+-----------+-----------------+--------------------------------+
| Language  | file            | locations                      |
+-----------+-----------------+--------------------------------+
| Bash      | common.bash     | $project_root_dir/common.bash  |
|           |                 | $story_dir/common.bash         |
+-----------+-----------------+--------------------------------+
| Ruby      | common.rb       | $project_root_dir/common.rb    |
|           |                 | $story_dir/common.bash         |
+-----------+-----------------+--------------------------------+

If you put story library file into project root directory it will be required by any story:

$ nano common.bash

  function hello_bash {
    echo 'hello bash'
  }

NOTE! Story libraries are not supported for Python and Perl

PERL5LIB

$project_root_directory/lib path is added to $PERL5LIB variable.

This make it easy to place custom Perl modules under project root directory:

$ nano my-app/lib/Foo/Bar/Baz.pm

  package Foo::Bar::Baz;

  1;

$ nano common.pm

  use Foo::Bar::Baz;

Story runner console tool

$ strun <options>

Options

• --root

The project root directory. Default value is the current working directory.

• --cwd

Sets working directory when strun executes stories.

• --debug

Enable/disable debug mode:

* Increasing debug value results in more low level information appeared at output.

* Default value is 0, which means no debugging. 

* Possible values: 0,1,2,3.

• --format

Sets reports format. Available formats are: concise|production|default. Default value is default.

In concise format strun shrinks output to only STDOUT/STDERR comes from scenarios. It's useful when you want to parse stories output by external commands.

Production format omits debug information.

• --purge-cache

Purge strun cache directory upon exit. By default --purge-cache is disabled.

• --match_l

Truncate matching strings. When matching lines are appeared in a report they are truncated to $match_l bytes. Default value is 200.

• --story

Run only a single story. This should be path relative to the project root directory.

Examples:

# Project with 3 stories

foo/story.pl
foo/bar/story.rb
bar/story.pl

# Run various stories

--story foo # runs foo/ stories
--story foo/story # runs foo/story.pl
--story foo/bar/ # runs foo/bar/ stories

• --recurse

Runs all the stories recursively.

• --ini

Configuration file path.

See suite configuration section for details.

• --yaml

YAML configuration file path.

See suite configuration section for details.

• --json

JSON configuration file path.

See suite configuration section for details.

• --nocolor

Disable colors in reports. By default reports are color.

• --dump-config

Dumps suite configuration and exit. See also suite configuration section.

Suite configuration

Outthentic projects are configurable. Configuration data is passed via configuration files.

There are three type of configuration files are supported:

• Config::General format (aka ini files)
• YAML format
• JSON format

Config::General style configuration files are passed by --ini parameter:

$ strun --ini /etc/suites/foo.ini

$ nano /etc/suites/foo.ini

<main>

  foo 1
  bar 2

</main>

There is no special magic behind ini files, except this should be Config::General compliant configuration file.

Or you can choose YAML format for suite configuration by using --yaml parameter:

$ strun --yaml /etc/suites/foo.yaml

$ nano /etc/suites/foo.yaml

main :
  foo : 1
  bar : 2

Unless user sets path to the configuration file explicitly either by --ini or --yaml or --json story runner looks for the files named suite.ini and then ( if suite.ini is not found ) for suite.yaml, suite.json at the current working directory.

If configuration file is passed and read, the configuration data is accessible in a story hook file via config() function:

$ nano hook.pl

  my $foo = config()->{main}->{foo};
  my $bar = config()->{main}->{bar};

Examples for other languages:

Bash:

$ nano hook.bash

  foo=$(config main.foo )
  bar=$(config main.bar )

Python:

$ nano hook.py

  from outthentic import *

  foo = config()['main']['foo']
  bar = config()['main']['bar']

Ruby:

$ nano hook.rb

  foo = config['main']['foo']
  bar = config['main']['bar']

Powershell:

$ nano hook.ps1

  $config = config 'main'
  $foo = $config.foo
  $bar = $config.bar

Runtime configuration

Runtime configuration parameters override ones in suite configuration. Consider this example:

$ nano suite.yaml

foo:
  bar: 10

$ strun --param foo.bar=20 # will override foo.bar parameter to 20

Free style command line parameters

Alternative way to pass input parameters into outthentic scripts is a free style command line arguments:

$ strun -- <arguments>

Consider a simple example. We want to create a wrapper for some external script which accepts the following command line arguments:

script {flags} {named parameters} {value} 

Where flags are:

--verbose
--debug

Named parameters are:

--foo foo-value
--var bar-value

And value is just a string:

foo-value

It's quite demanding to map external script parameters into Outthentic configuration. More over some parameters of external scripts are optional.

Here is free style command line arguments to the rescue:

$ nano story.bash
script $(args_cli)        

That's all. Now we are safe to run our story-wrapper with command line arguments in terms of external script:

$ strun -- --foo foo-value --debug the-value

Auto coercion of configuration data into free style command line parameters

Moreover it's possible declare external script parameters in suite configuration:

$ nano suite.yaml

  ---

  args:
    - foo: foo-value
    -
      - debug 
      - verbose 
    - the-value

$ strun

This is end up in running story with following command line arguments for external script:

--foo foo-value --debug --verbose the-value

Auto coercion rules

• Args should be array which elements are processed in order, for every elements rules are applied depending on element's type
• Scalars are turned into scalars: the-value ---> the-value
• Arrays are turned into scalars with double dashes perpended: (debug, verbose) ---> --debug --verbose. This is useful for declaring boolean flags
• Hashes are turned into named parameters: foo: foo-value ---> --foo foo-value

Auto coercion, using single dashes instead of double dashes

Double dashes are default behavior of how named parameters and flags converted. If you need single dashes, prepend parameters in configuration file with ~ :

$ nano suite.yaml

  ---

  args:
    - '~foo': foo-value
    -
      - ~debug 
      - ~verbose 

Environment variables

• OUTTHENTIC_MATCH - overrides default value for --match_l parameter of story runner.

• SPARROW_ROOT - sets the prefix for the path to the cache directory with compiled story files, see also story runner.

• SPARROW_NO_COLOR - disable color output, see --nocolor option of story runner.

• OUTTHENTIC_CWD - sets working directory for strun, see --cwd parameter of story runner

• OUTTHENTIC_FORMAT - overrides default value for --format parameter of story runner.

Cache directory resolution:

+---------------------+----------------------+
| The Cache Directory | SPARROW_ROOT Is Set? |
+---------------------+----------------------+
| ~/.outthentic/tmp/  | No                   |
| $SPARROW_ROOT/tmp/  | Yes                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+

Examples

An example stories can be found in examples/ directory, to run them:

$ strun --root examples/ --story $story-name

Where $story-name is any top level directory inside examples/.

Check files syntax

• Brief introduction of check file syntax could be found here - https://github.com/melezhik/outthentic/blob/master/check-files-syntax.md

• For the full detailed explanation follow Outthentic::DSL doc pages at https://github.com/melezhik/outthentic-dsl

AUTHOR

Aleksei Melezhik

Home Page

https://github.com/melezhik/outthentic

See also

• Sparrow - Multipurposes scenarios manager.

• Outthentic::DSL - Outthentic::DSL specification.

• Swat - Web testing framework.

Thanks

To God as the One Who inspires me in my life!