1. that the output() function is getting its info correctly (by testing the functions it calls)
2. that the output() function is outputting correctly formatted whatever
3. that the output() function's whatever has the relevant bits in the relevant places.

Personally, I'd use something like XML::Parser or HTML::Parser vs. modifying my tests every time. Then, you just look for the relevant text nodes and go from there.

But, that solution sucks rocks. The better solution is to use templates or output decorators. Don't worry about how it's being outputted. Then, the output decorators can be tested for general completeness instead of specific correctness. (Or, even better, you can use a CPAN module and fuhgeddaboudit!)

perl fix_fonts_test.pl C:\thomasdata\thomasprojects\fixhtml\test\fonts
+\stripStandard Fixtotext
perl fix_fonts_test.pl C:\thomasdata\thomasprojects\fixhtml\test\fonts
+\toClassWeiss Fixtoclassweiss
perl fix_fonts_test.pl C:\thomasdata\thomasprojects\fixhtml\test\fonts
+\toClassRot Fixtoclassrot
perl fix_fonts_test.pl C:\thomasdata\thomasprojects\fixhtml\test\fonts
+\toClassKlein Fixtoclassklein
perl fix_fonts_test.pl C:\thomasdata\thomasprojects\fixhtml\test\fonts
+\toClassesKleinNGrau Fixtoclasskleinandgrau
[download]

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
use File::Find;

#custom modules
use Modules::Htmlripper::Noreplaceroot::Fixtotext;
use Modules::Htmlripper::Gotreplaceroot::Fixtoclassweiss;
use Modules::Htmlripper::Gotreplaceroot::Fixtoclassrot;
use Modules::Htmlripper::Gotreplaceroot::Fixtoclassklein;
use Modules::Htmlripper::Gotnestedreplaceroot::Fixtoclasskleinandgrau;

use Modules::Filecontrol qw(get_files);

my $test_dir = shift or die "no test directory specified file\n";
opendir (DIR, $test_dir) or die "couldn't open directory: $test_dir";
closedir DIR;

my $ripperClass = shift or die "no HTML ripper class specified";

my @test_dirs = Filecontrol::get_test_dirs($test_dir);
my $ripper = $ripperClass->new();

#keys are directory names.
for ( @test_dirs ) {
    print "Testing $ripperClass against directory $_: \n"; 
    $ripper->test_dir($_);
    my $result = $ripper->test();
    if ($result) {
        print "ok\n";
    } else {
        print "not ok\n";    
    }
    
}
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sub get_test_dirs {
    my $dir = shift or die "no directory specified.";
    opendir (DIR, $dir) or die "couldn't open directory: $dir";
    
    my @directories_to_search = ("$dir");
    my %dirs = ();
    find( sub { 
            if (-d $File::Find::name) { # it's a dir
                my $current_dir = $File::Find::name;
                if ( (-f "$current_dir" . '/before.html') && (-f "$cur
+rent_dir" . '/after.html') ) { #before and after files exist
                        $dirs{$current_dir} = 1;
                } #end check if file
            } # end check if directory
        }, @directories_to_search );
    my @dirs = keys %dirs;
       return @dirs;    
}
[download]

So, what's the best way to check output? Do you decided absolutely what the output will look like at the beginning of the project and hardcode it into a test? Do you just ignore testing output, and look at the output after every change? Do you do something completely different?

Some suggestions:

• Put as little presentational markup in the HTML as possible, relying on CSS for look and feel. This makes the underlying HTML far less likely to change.
• Test for well formed HTML, since that catches lots of typos.
• To get something quick and dirty up and running use a regex test, e.g. like( $obj->output, qr/relevant info/i ).

In general I try and make output layers as thin as possible, do as little as possible, and have as little knowledge about what they're presenting as possible. For example rather than having:

my $o = FribbleList::HTML->new;
$o->output;
[download]

I'd tend to have something like

my $html_list_output = ListOutput::HTML->new;
my $o = FribbleList->new( output => $html_list_output );
$o->output; # really does $html_list_output->output( $o->list );
[download]

so I can test my FribbleList class completely independently of my ListOutput::HTML class.