Dancer2::Test(3pm)

NAME
Dancer2::Test - Useful routines for testing Dancer2 apps

VERSION
version 2.1.0

SYNOPSIS
    use Test::More;
    use Plack::Test;
    use HTTP::Request::Common; # install separately

    use YourDancerApp;

    my $app  = YourDancerApp->to_app;
    my $test = Plack::Test->create($app);

    my $res = $test->request( GET '/' );
    is( $res->code, 200, '[GET /] Request successful' );
    like( $res->content, qr/hello, world/, '[GET /] Correct content' );

    done_testing;

DESCRIPTION
DEPRECATED. This module and all the functions listed below are deprecated. Do not use this module. The routines provided by this module for testing Dancer2 apps are buggy and unnecessary. Instead, use the Plack::Test module as shown in the SYNOPSIS above and ignore the functions in this documentation. Consult the Plack::Test documentation for further details.

This module will be removed from the Dancer2 distribution in the near future. You should migrate all tests that use it over to the Plack::Test module and remove this module from your system. This module will throw warnings to remind you.

For now, you can silence the warnings by setting the "NO_WARN" option:

    $Dancer::Test::NO_WARN = 1;

In the functions below, $test_name is always optional.

FUNCTIONS

  dancer_response ($method, $path, $params, $arg_env);
Returns a Dancer2::Core::Response object for the given request.

Only $method and $path are required.

$params is a hashref with 'body' as a string; 'headers' can be an arrayref or a HTTP::Headers object, 'files' can be arrayref of hashref, containing some files to upload:

    dancer_response($method, $path,
        {
            params => $params,
            body => $body,
            headers => $headers,
            files => [ { filename => '/path/to/file', name => 'my_file' } ],
        }
    );

A good reason to use this function is for testing POST requests. Since POST requests may not be idempotent, it is necessary to capture the content and status in one shot. Calling the response_status_is and response_content_is functions in succession would make two requests, each of which could alter the state of the application and cause Schrodinger's cat to die.

    my $response = dancer_response POST => '/widgets';
    is $response->status, 202, "response for POST /widgets is 202";
    is $response->content, "Widget #1 has been scheduled for creation",
        "response content looks good for first POST /widgets";

    $response = dancer_response POST => '/widgets';
    is $response->status, 202, "response for POST /widgets is 202";
    is $response->content, "Widget #2 has been scheduled for creation",
        "response content looks good for second POST /widgets";

It's possible to test file uploads:

    post '/upload' => sub { return upload('image')->content };

    $response = dancer_response(POST => '/upload', {files => [{name => 'image', filename => '/path/to/image.jpg'}]});

In addition, you can supply the file contents as the "data" key:

    my $data  = 'A test string that will pretend to be file contents.';
    $response = dancer_response(POST => '/upload', {
        files => [{name => 'test', filename => "filename.ext", data => $data}]
    });

You can also supply a hashref of headers:

    headers => { 'Content-Type' => 'text/plain' }

  response_status_is ($request, $expected, $test_name);
Asserts that Dancer2's response for the given request has a status equal to the one given.

    response_status_is [GET => '/'], 200, "response for GET / is 200";

  route_exists([$method, $path], $test_name)
Asserts that the given request matches a route handler in Dancer2's registry. If the route would have returned a 404, the route still exists and this test will pass.

Note that because Dancer2 uses the default route handler Dancer2::Handler::File to match files in the public folder when no other route matches, this test will always pass. You can disable the default route handlers in the configs but you probably want "response_status_is" in Dancer2::Test or "dancer_response" in Dancer2::Test

    route_exists [GET => '/'], "GET / is handled";

  route_doesnt_exist([$method, $path], $test_name)
Asserts that the given request does not match any route handler in Dancer2's registry.

Note that this test is likely to always fail as any route not matched will be handled by the default route handler in Dancer2::Handler::File. This can be disabled in the configs.

    route_doesnt_exist [GET => '/bogus_path'], "GET /bogus_path is not handled";

  response_status_isnt([$method, $path], $status, $test_name)
Asserts that the status of Dancer2's response is not equal to the one given.

    response_status_isnt [GET => '/'], 404, "response for GET / is not a 404";

  response_content_is([$method, $path], $expected, $test_name)
Asserts that the response content is equal to the $expected string.

 response_content_is [GET => '/'], "Hello, World",
        "got expected response content for GET /";

  response_content_isnt([$method, $path], $not_expected, $test_name)
Asserts that the response content is not equal to the $not_expected string.

    response_content_isnt [GET => '/'], "Hello, World",
        "got expected response content for GET /";

  response_content_like([$method, $path], $regexp, $test_name)
Asserts that the response content for the given request matches the regexp given.

    response_content_like [GET => '/'], qr/Hello, World/,
        "response content looks good for GET /";

  response_content_unlike([$method, $path], $regexp, $test_name)
Asserts that the response content for the given request does not match the regexp given.

    response_content_unlike [GET => '/'], qr/Page not found/,
        "response content looks good for GET /";

  response_content_is_deeply([$method, $path], $expected_struct, $test_name)
Similar to response_content_is(), except that if response content and $expected_struct are references, it does a deep comparison walking each data structure to see if they are equivalent.

If the two structures are different, it will display the place where they start differing.

    response_content_is_deeply [GET => '/complex_struct'],
        { foo => 42, bar => 24},
        "got expected response structure for GET /complex_struct";

  response_is_file ($request, $test_name);

  response_headers_are_deeply([$method, $path], $expected, $test_name)
Asserts that the response headers data structure equals the one given.

    response_headers_are_deeply [GET => '/'], [ 'X-Powered-By' => 'Dancer2 1.150' ];

  response_headers_include([$method, $path], $expected, $test_name)
Asserts that the response headers data structure includes some of the defined ones.

    response_headers_include [GET => '/'], [ 'Content-Type' => 'text/plain' ];

  route_pod_coverage()
Returns a structure describing pod coverage in your apps

for one app like this:

    package t::lib::TestPod;
    use Dancer2;

    =head1 NAME

    TestPod

    =head2 ROUTES

    =over

    =cut

    =item get "/in_testpod"

    testpod

    =cut

    get '/in_testpod' => sub {
        return 'get in_testpod';
    };

    get '/hello' => sub {
        return "hello world";
    };

    =item post '/in_testpod/*'

    post in_testpod

    =cut

    post '/in_testpod/*' => sub {
        return 'post in_testpod';
    };

    =back

    =head2 SPECIALS

    =head3 PUBLIC

    =over

    =item get "/me:id"

    =cut

    get "/me:id" => sub {
        return "ME";
    };

    =back

    =head3 PRIVAT

    =over

    =item post "/me:id"

    post /me:id

    =cut

    post "/me:id" => sub {
        return "ME";
    };

    =back

    =cut

    1;

route_pod_coverage;

would return something like:

    {
        't::lib::TestPod' => {
            'has_pod'             => 1,
            'routes'              => [
                "post /in_testpod/*",
                "post /me:id",
                "get /in_testpod",
                "get /hello",
                "get /me:id"
            ],
            'undocumented_routes' => [
                "get /hello"
            ]
        }
    }

  is_pod_covered('is pod covered')
Asserts that your apps have pods for all routes

    is_pod_covered 'is pod covered'

to avoid test failures, you should document all your routes with one of the following: head1, head2,head3,head4, item.

    ex:

    =item get '/login'

    route to login

    =cut

    if you use:

    any '/myaction' => sub {
        # code
    }

    or

    any ['get', 'post'] => '/myaction' => sub {
        # code
    };

    you need to create pods for each one of the routes created there.

  import
When Dancer2::Test is imported, it should be passed all the applications that are supposed to be tested.

If none passed, then the caller is supposed to be the sole application to test.

    # t/sometest.t

    use t::lib::Foo;
    use t::lib::Bar;

    use Dancer2::Test apps => ['t::lib::Foo', 't::lib::Bar'];

AUTHOR
Dancer Core Developers

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2026 by Alexis Sukrieh.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.