README
=======

Introduction
-------------
testpilot is a simple and modular tool for accelerating Test-driven 
Development. It is highly modular, consisting of a input modules, output 
modules and a core. It is currently in a very rough state and fairly 
brittle, but works beautifully. Currently it is Linux-dependent, 
since it uses inotify for file monitoring and I haven't got a OS X (FSEvents) 
or Windows (Win32 API) machine to develop on at the moment.

The responsibilities of the core:
 - monitor file changes
 - run test suite (as defined in input)
 - pass results to output

Input modules are interfaces to a particular test engine and 
setup (rspec, JUnit, cxxtest etc.) which defines a few properties:
 - extensions of source files to be watched, e.g. [".c", ".cpp", ".h"] 
 - files to be ignored by the file alteration monitor
 - a block that, given the exit code and output (stdout, stderr) from 
the test engine, determines whether the test passed or failed (often 
determined by looking at the exit code alone)
 - two blocks that take as input stdout and stderr from the test engine 
and formats convenient output messages
 - the sequence of commands for invoking the test engine

Output modules are interfaces to presentation of test results 
(e.g. libnotify notification or a HTML report). An output module 
defines:
 - a block that is executed when the test suite passes
 - a block that is executed when the test suite fails

Input and output modules can easily be added to make testpilot support 
addition test engines or presentation methods. Pre-packed modules:

Input: 
 - cxxtest
 - JUnit
 - rspec

Output
 - libnotify
 - Mumbles
 - Audio (through mpg123)

Dependencies
-------------
 * ruby-inotify (http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-inotify)
 * open4 (http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/open4)

Example usage
--------------

    testpilot --input junit --output libnotify MyTestSuite.java

It is also possible to use several output modules at once:

    testpilot --input cxxtest --output mumbles,audio MyTestSuite.h 

The latter example will provide both visual and audible feedback. 

Run
  
    testpilot --help
    
to view a list of all command-line options.
  
Todo
-----
 * Implement an interface to FSEvents (OS X) and the Win32 API file monitoring.
 * Allow for user-specific configuration, inputs, outputs and resources in home directory.