Test::LectroTest::FailureRecorder(3pm)			User Contributed Perl Documentation		    Test::LectroTest::FailureRecorder(3pm)

NAME

       Test::LectroTest::FailureRecorder - Records/plays failures for regression testing

SYNOPSIS

	use Test::LectroTest::Recorder;

	my $recorder = Test::LectroTest::Recorder->new("storage_file.txt");

	my $recorder->record_failure_for_property(
	   "property name",
	   $input_hashref_from_counterexample
	);

	my $failures = $recorder->get_failures_for_property("property name");
	for my $input_hashref (@$failures) {
	   # do something with hashref
	}

DESCRIPTION

       This module provides a simple means of recording property-check failures so they can be reused as regression tests.  You do not need to use
       this module yourself because the higher-level LectroTest modules will use it for you when needed.  (These docs are mainly for LectroTest
       developers.)

       The basic idea is to record a failure as a pair of the form

	[ <property_name>, <input hash from counterexample> ]

       and Dump these pairs into a text file, each record terminated by blank line so that the file can be read using paragraph-slurp mode.

       The module provides methods to add such pairs to a recorder file and to retrieve the recorded failures by property name.  It uses a cache
       to avoid repetitive reads.

METHODS

   new(storage-file)
	 my $recorder = Test::LectroTest::Recorder->new("/path/to/storage.txt");

       Creates a new recorder object and tells it to use storage-file for the reading and writing of failures.

       The recorder will not access the storage file until you attempt to get or record a failure.  Thus it is OK to specify a storage file that
       does not yet exist, provided you record failures to it before you attempt to get failures from it.

   get_failures_for_property(propname)
	 my $failures = $recorder->get_failures_for_property("property name");
	 for my $input_hashref (@$failures) {
	    # do something with hashref
	    while (my ($var, $value) = each %$input_hashref) {
		# ...
	    }
	 }

       Returns a reference to an array that contains the recorded failures for the property with the name propname.  In the event no such failures
       exist, the array will be empty.	Each failure is represented by a hash containing the inputs that caused the failure.

       If the recorder's storage file does not exist or cannot be opened for reading, this method dies.  Thus, you should call it from within an
       "eval" block.

   record_failure_for_property(propname, input-hashref)
	 my $recorder->record_failure_for_property(
	    "property name",
	    $input_hashref_from_counterexample
	 );

       Adds a failure record for the property named propname.  The record captures the counterexample represented by the input-hashref.  The
       record is immediately appended to the recorder's storage file.

       Returns 1 upon success; dies otherwise.

       If the recorder's storage file cannot be opened for writing, this method dies.  Thus, you should call it from within an "eval" block.

SEE ALSO

       Test::LectroTest::TestRunner explains the internal testing apparatus, which uses the failure recorders to record and play back failures for
       regression testing.

LECTROTEST HOME

       The LectroTest home is http://community.moertel.com/LectroTest.	There you will find more documentation, presentations, mailing-list
       archives, a wiki, and other helpful LectroTest-related resources.  It's also the best place to ask questions.

AUTHOR

       Tom Moertel (tom@moertel.com)

COPYRIGHT and LICENSE
       Copyright (c) 2004-06 by Thomas G Moertel.  All rights reserved.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.12.3							    2007-08-30				    Test::LectroTest::FailureRecorder(3pm)