Test::Stream::Plugin::Explain::Terse

This module aims to provide a simple tool for adding trace-level details
about data-structures to the TAP stream to visually keep track of what
is being tested.

Its objective is to not be comprehensive, and only be sufficient for a
quick visual sanity check, allowing you to visually spot obviously wrong
things at a glance without producing too much clutter.

It is expected that if "Explain::Terse" produces a data structure that
needs compacting for display, that the user will also be performing
sub-tests on that data structure, and those sub-tests will trace their
own context closer to the actual test.

  # Checking: { a_key => ["a value"], b_key => ["b value'], ... }
    # Subtest: c_key is expected
    # Checking: ["c value"]
    ok 1 - c_key's array has value "c value"
    1..1
  ok 1 - c_key is expected

The idea being the higher up in the data structure you're doing the
comparison, the less relevant the individual details are to that
comparison, and the actual details only being relevant in child
comparisons.

This is obviously also better if you're doing structurally layered
comparison, and not simple path-based comparisons, e.g:

  # Not intended to be used this way.
  note explain_terse(\%hash);
  is( $hash{'key'}{'otherkey'}{'finalkey'}, 'expected_value' );

And you want something like:

  note explain_terse(\%hash);
  ok( exists $hash{'key'}, 'has q[key]')
    and subtest "key structure" => sub {

      my $structure = $hash{'key'};
      note explain_terse($structure);
      is( ref $structure, 'HASH', 'is a HASH' )
        and ok( exists $structure->{'otherkey'}, 'has q[otherkey]' )
        and subtest "otherkey structure" => sub {

          my $substructure = $structure->{'otherkey'};
          note explain_terse($substructure);
          is( ref $substructure, 'HASH', 'is a HASH' )
            and ok( exists $structure->{'finalkey'}, 'has final key' )
            and subtest "finalkey structure" => sub {

              my $final_structure = $substructure->{'finalkey'};
              note explain_terse($final_structure);
              ok( !ref $final_structure, "finalkey is not a ref")
                and ok( defined $final_structure, "finalkey is defined")
                and is( $final_structure, 'expected_value', "finalkey is expected_value" );
          };

      };
  };

Though of course you'd not want to write it like that directly in your
tests, you'd probably want something more like

  with(\%hash)->is_hash->has_key('key', sub {
      with($_[0])->is_hash->has_key('otherkey', sub {
        with($_[0])->is_hash->has_key('finalkey', sub {
          with($_[0])->is_scalar->defined->is_eq("expected_value");
        });
      });
  });

Or

  cmp_deeply( \%hash, superhashof({
      key => superhashof({
        otherkey => superhashof({
          finalkey => "expeted_value"
        }),
      }),
  }));

And have "Explain::Terse" operating transparently under the hood of
these implementations so you can see what is happening.

INSTALLATION

This is a Perl module distribution. It should be installed with whichever
tool you use to manage your installation of Perl, e.g. any of

  cpanm .
  cpan  .
  cpanp -i .

Consult http://www.cpan.org/modules/INSTALL.html for further instruction.
Should you wish to install this module manually, the procedure is

  perl Makefile.PL
  make
  make test
  make install

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2015 by Kent Fredric
<kentfredric@gmail.com>.

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