Reporting

Types of reporting

What is a reporter? A Specter reporter is a module that interacts with test and spec events to produce human or machine-readable output. Currently, Specter supports four types of reporters out of the box:

• Console - Serial BDD-style output.

• Dots - Parallel output that displays a dot per test.

• xUnit - Produces xUnit compatible XML for CI tools.

• Specter - Produces JSON in the Specter format for storage and CI tools.

Console

This the default reporter that is used when tests are run serially. It gives a familiar BDD-style output for the user.

Example Output:

SSH Client Verification
  ∟ can create an instance
  ∟ can connect
  ∟ sets key policy on client
  ∟ can close
  ∟ can execute a command
  ∟ can connect with args
  ∟ unassigned client auto creates a paramiko client

------------------------
------- Summary --------
Pass            | 7
Skip            | 0
Fail            | 0
Error           | 0
Incomplete      | 0
Test Total      | 7
 - Expectations | 14
------------------------

Dots

This is the default reporter that is used when tests are run in parallel mode. Due to the nature of parallel execution, it is impossible to build a BDD-style report in real-time. As a result, Specter defaults to a simple dot-based report. A single dot represents a passed test; whereas a failed test is marked with an “x”.

Example Output:

.......xx.x
11 Test(s) Executed!

Specter Format

The specter format is designed to be a format that allows for you to easily store and retrieve information about your tests. Considering this format is just an expected structure around JSON, this format is especially useful when combining with a document store such as MongoDB.

Root:

Attribute	Note
format	Just a helper for parsers. It be the value “specter”
version	Aid for parsers to know what version of the format we are running.
specs	A list of spec objects that contain all of the test information

Example:

{
    "format": "specter",
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "specs": [...]
}

Spec:

*attributes in italics are optional

Attribute	Note
id	The UUID generated during the test-run for the Spec
name	This is considered the “human-readable” name
class_path	The full qualified class path for the Spec
doc	Docstring associated with the Spec
cases	List of test case objects attached to the Spec
specs	List of child spec objects attached to the Spec

Example:

{
    "id": "35e9900f-9325-4e78-928d-593044c1a4f0",
    "name": "Key Based",
    "class_path": "spec.rift.clients.ssh.SSHCredentials.KeyBased",
    "doc": null,
    "cases": [...],
    "specs": [...]
}

Case:

*attributes in italics are optional

Attribute	Note
id	The UUID generated during the test-run for the Case
name	This is consider the “human-readable” name
raw_name	The actual test name
start	The exact time when the test started (expressed in seconds since the epoch)
end	The exact time when the test ended (expressed in seconds since the epoch)
skipped	Boolean to indicate if the test was skipped for some reason
metadata	Dictionary containing the metadata that was attached to the test case
expects	List of expectation / requirement objects executed on the test
success	Is true when all expects successfully pass without errors or failures
skip_reason	String specifying the reason for why the test was skipped
doc	Docstring associated with the test case
error	Contains the error traceback associated with a test
execute_kwargs	During Data-Driven tests, this contains the kwargs used during execution

Example:

{
    "id": "1aa40954-d207-4264-a80f-e05605f57bd3",
    "name": "can generate a paramiko key",
    "raw_name": "can_generate_a_paramiko_key",
    "start": 1410748788.813371,
    "end": 1410748788.81438,
    "success": true,
    "skipped": false,
    "metadata": {},
    "expects": [...]
}

Expect:

Attribute	Note
assertion	The stringified version of the test assertion
required	Indicates if the expectation was a requirement i.e. require(…)
success	Indicates the pass/fail status of the expecation

Example:

{
    "assertion": "sample to equal [1]",
    "required": false,
    "success": true
}