# Test Suite

Python-Markdown comes with a test suite which uses the [Nose][] testing

framework.The test suite primarily serves to ensure that new bugs are not

introduced as existing bugs are patched or new features are added. It also

allows Python-Markdown to be tested with the tests from other implementations

such as John Gruber's [Perl][] implementation or Michel Fortin's [PHP][]

implementation.

The test suite can be run by calling the `run_tests.py` command at the root of

the distribution tarball or by calling the `nosetests` command directly. Either

way, Nose will need to be installed on your system first (run `easy_install

nose`). Any standard nosetests config options can be passed in on the command

line (i.e.: verbosity level or use of a plugin like coverage).

Additionally, a nicely formatted HTML report of all output is written to a

temporary file in `tmp/test-output.html`. Open the file in a browser to view

the report.

The test suite contains three kinds of tests: Markdown Syntax Tests, Unit

Tests, and Doc Tests.

# Markdown Syntax Tests

The Syntax Tests are in the various directories contained within the 'tests'

directory of the packaged tarball. Each test consists of a matching pair of txt

and html files. The txt file contains a snippet of Markdown source text

formated for a specific syntax feature and the html file contains the expected

HTML output of that snippet. When the test suite is run, each txt file is run

through Markdown and the output is compared with the html file as a separate

Unit Test.

In fact, this is the primary reason for using Nose, it gives us an easy way to

treat each of these tests as a separate unit test which is reported on

separately. Additionally, with the help of a couple custom Nose plugins which

are included with the Markdown Test Suite, we are able to get back an easy to

read diff of the actual output compared to expected output when a test fails.

Here is some sample output with a test that is failing because of some

insignificant white space differences:

    $ ./run-tests.py

    ..........................................................M...........

    ............................SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

    SSSSSSSSSS.................S..........................................

    .........

    ======================================================================

    MarkdownSyntaxError: TestSyntax: "misc/lists3"

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    MarkdownSyntaxError: Output from "/home/waylan/code/python-markdown/te

    sts/misc/lists3.txt" failed to match expected output.

    --- /home/waylan/code/python-markdown/tests/misc/lists3.html 

    +++ actual_output.html 

    @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ 

     <ul> 

     <li>blah blah blah 

    -sdf asdf asdf asdf asdf 

    -asda asdf asdfasd</li> 

    +    sdf asdf asdf asdf asdf 

    +    asda asdf asdfasd</li> 

     </ul>

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

    Ran 219 tests in 7.698s

    FAILED (MarkdownSyntaxError=1, SKIP=53)

Note that 219 tests were run, one of which failed with a `MarkdownSyntaxError`.

Only Markdown Syntax Tests should fail with a `MarkdownSyntaxError`. Nose then

formats the error reports for `MarkdownSyntaxError`s so that they only include

useful information. Namely the txt file which failed and a unified diff showing

the failure. Without the plugin, you would also get a useless traceback showing

how the code stepped through the test framework, but nothing about how Markdown

actually ran.

If, on the other hand, a Syntax Test failed because some other exception gets

raised by either Markdown or the test suite, then that would be reported as per

a normal unit test failure with the appropriate traceback for debugging

purposes.

### Syntax Test Config Settings

The other thing to note about the above example is that 53 tests were skipped.

Those tests have been explicitly configured to be skipped as they are primarily

tests from either PHP or Perl which are known to fail for various reasons. In

fact, a number of different configuration settings can be set for any specific

test.

Each Syntax Test directory contains a `test.cfg` file in the ini format. The

file may contain a separate section for each txt file named exactly as the file

is named minus the file extension (i.e.; the section for a test in `foo.txt`

would be `[foo]`). All settings are optional. Default settings for the entire

directory can be set under the `[DEFAULT]` section (must be all caps). Any

settings under a specific file section will override anything in the

`[DEFAULT]` section for that specific test only.

Below are each of the config options available and the defaults used when they

are not explicitly set.

* `normalize`: Switches whitespace normalization of the test output on or off. 

  Defaults to `0` (off). Note: This requires that [uTidylib] be installed on 

  the system. Otherwise the test will be skipped, regardless of any other 

  settings.  

* `skip`: Switches skipping of the test on and off. Defaults to `0` (off).  

* `input_ext`: Extension of input file. Defaults to `.txt`. Useful for tests 

  from other implementations.

* `output_ext`: Extension of output file. Defaults to `.html`. Useful for tests

  from other implementations.

* Any keyword arguement accepted my Markdown. If not set, Markdown's defaults

  are used. 

## Unit Tests

All Unit Tests shipped with Python-Markdown are standard Python Unit Tests and

are currently all contained in `tests/test_apis.py`. Standard discovery methods

are used to find and run the tests. Therefor, when writing new tests, those

standards and naming conventions should be followed.

## Doc Tests

Some Python-Markdown extensions also include standard Python doctests, which

are discovered and run in the standard manner; one Unit Test for each file.

[Nose]: http://somethingaboutorange.com/mrl/projects/nose/ 

[Perl]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/ 

[PHP]: http://michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/ 

[uTidylib]: http://utidylib.berlios.de/