   _____         _            ____ ____ ___       
  |_   _|__  ___| |_   _ _   / ___/ ___|_ _|  _ _ 
    | |/ _ \/ __| __| (_|_) | |  | |  _ | |  (_|_)
    | |  __/\__ \ |_   _ _  | |__| |_| || |   _ _ 
    |_|\___||___/\__| (_|_)  \____\____|___| (_|_)
                                                  
   _____      _                        _ 
  | ____|_  _| |_ ___ _ __ _ __   __ _| |
  |  _| \ \/ / __/ _ \ '__| '_ \ / _` | |
  | |___ >  <| ||  __/ |  | | | | (_| | |
  |_____/_/\_\\__\___|_|  |_| |_|\__,_|_|
                                         


This is the README for Test::CGI::External version 0.11.

Test::CGI::External is a "module" for the Perl computer programming language, a
library of computer code to install on a computer.  This document contains four
sections:

1. About - what the module does

2. Documentation - how to learn more about the module

3. Installation - how to install this module on a computer

4. Help - what to do if you get stuck

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. ABOUT

Test::CGI::External - run tests on an external CGI program

Test::CGI::External is a tool for mocking a CGI (common gateway
interface) environment and running basic checks of the operation of a
CGI program. For example,

    use Test::More;
    my $tester = Test::CGI::External->new ();
    $tester->set_cgi_executable ('example.cgi');
    $tester->run ({});
    done_testing ();

tests whether









and when run, "example.cgi" 








debugging messages on standard output);







In other words, Test::CGI::External tests for extremely simple
"slip-up" mistakes, such as forgetting to install the program,
forgetting to make it executable, leaving print statements before the
headers are printed, exiting without printing output, or printing
useless error messages during running.

Test::CGI::External runs CGI programs as stand-alone programs, under a
faked CGI-like environment created by manipulating environment
variables. Thus it does not require a web server.  The tested CGI
program can be in any language, not just Perl; Test::CGI::External is
meant to test external programs which are completely independent of
itself. Test::CGI::External was originally created to check the
operation of CGI programs written in C.

Test::CGI::External is meant for the testing stage before the program
is put onto a web server. For example, if a program with stray printf
statements is uploaded to the web server and run as a CGI program, the
browser will show only a 500 Server Error message. Another typical
mistake is forgetting to make the CGI program executable; again, this
results in a difficult-to-understand server error, so this module nips
the problem in the bud by checking before the uploading.

Test::CGI::External is TAP (Test Anything Protocol)-compliant and
should work with Perl testing modules like "Test::More".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. DOCUMENTATION

You can read the documentation for the module online at the following websites:

    * http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Test::CGI::External
    * http://metacpan.org/release/Test-CGI-External

(These links go to the latest version of the module.)

After installing the module, you can read the documentation on your computer
using

    perldoc Test::CGI::External

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. INSTALLATION

This module requires Perl version 5.0.6 or later.

To install the module from CPAN, use

    cpan Test::CGI::External

If you have the App::cpanminus installer, you may prefer

    cpanm Test::CGI::External

To install the module from the source file, Test-CGI-External-0.11.tar.gz,
follow this sequence of commands:

    tar xfz Test-CGI-External-0.11.tar.gz
    cd Test-CGI-External-0.11
    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make install

If you want to test the module before installing it, use "make test" after
"make" and before "make install".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. HELP

To get help with the module, you can email the author, Ben Bullock, at
<bkb@cpan.org>. If you think there is a problem in the module, you can report a
bug at 

<https://github.com/benkasminbullock/test-cgi-external/issues>,

or if you want to alter the source code of Test::CGI::External, try the public
repository on github at 

<https://github.com/benkasminbullock/test-cgi-external>. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This README was written on Sat Nov 14 22:40:19 2015.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
