TestSuite in perl

jbrugger has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi monks

For my (web)application, i use WWW::Mechanize to test the front-end of the application

However, i'd like to make the tests more flexible, and more general using an XML-file like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<root>
        <test>
                <msg>Describe your test here</msg>
                <item id="userid"   type="inputtext">MyUserName</item>
                <item id="password" type="inputtext">IfIShouldTellYou<
+/item>

                <action perform="checkItems">confirmTrue</action>
                <action perform="submitForm">confirmFalse</action>
        </test>

        <test>
                <msg>Another test</msg>
                <item id="login.pm" type="perlmodule" />
                <action perform="loadModule">confirmTrue</action>

        </test>

</root>
[download]

On this moment, i read the file using XML::Simple, but i see some drawbacks (like if there is only one test described, i can't iterate on the tests that are given as an array in the example above

Are there any monks with more thoughts or ideas on how to create a generic, multi purpose test-suite for perl based web applications?
Thanks for your input and ideas.

"We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise." - Larry Wall.

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