Reload a Catalyst application during testing

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

Hello Monks,

A seemingly simple question that is currently evading my perl- and google-fu.

How does one reload / restart a Catalyst application during testing? I'm using Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst and want to reload the Catalyst app with a different configuration. Obviously this can easily be done by splitting up the tests into two different files, but I'd prefer to keep them together.

Some pseudocode to demonstrate the situation:


my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new( catalyst_app => "CoolC
+atalystApp" );
run_tests( $mech );

# the application has various read-only values that get initialised fr
+om the environment
# when the app starts up. Alter those values to test alternative confi
+gs.
change_config();

# what goes here?!
# just creating a new mech does not reflect changes in the environment
+ that
# should result in a different config
missing_step_to_reload_catalyst_app();

run_tests( $mech );
[download]

Comment on Reload a Catalyst application during testing Download Code

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Re: Reload a Catalyst application during testing by talexb (Chancellor) on May 10, 2019 at 12:04 UTC
Can't you just use two separate scopes? `{ { my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new( catalyst_app => "CoolCatalystApp" ); run_tests( $mech ); } change_config(); { my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new( catalyst_app => "CoolCatalystApp" ); run_tests( $mech ); } }` [download] Once the app goes out of scope, it doesn't exist any more. Alex / talexb / Toronto Thanks PJ. We owe you so much. Groklaw -- RIP -- 2003 to 2013.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Reload a Catalyst application during testing by Anonymous Monk on May 15, 2019 at 12:58 UTC
Doh. Thank you, sometimes the most obvious answer is staring you in the face! - gwg (not logged in)	[reply]
Re: Reload a Catalyst application during testing by Your Mother (Archbishop) on May 09, 2019 at 17:41 UTC
I believe Catalyst forbids/ignores live app config changes (sidenote: this has nothing to with model data, just `$ctx->config` stuff) after `->setup` is run. There are probably some hacky re`->import(…)/unload` things you could try but I don’t think it’s a good idea. So, for “what goes here?” the easy and clear answer is a new test file with something like `local $ENV{CATALYST_CONFIG_LOCAL_SUFFIX} = "other_test"` at the top matching your new test config. If you use a PSGI test runner or something instead of the built-in test lib you could probably do this more easily in one test file, in blocks or subtests, but it doesn’t seem like it’s as transparent or a big gain over two test files.	[reply] [d/l] [select]