A few years ago I created a system where a test would disclose all of the files on which it depended. This allowed for continuous monitoring of those files and immediate re-execution of the test when it or its dependencies changed. When combined with real-time generation of an HTML dashboard, it resulted in real-time feedback every time I updated a file in a module's lib hierarchy.
That ad hoc system would easier to create with today's Test::TAP::Module and Test::TAP::HTMLMatrix modules, if there was a flexible TAP enhancement. I propose using of subset of the Config::Std syntax to allow tests to declare attributes that are captured in Test::TAP::Model as a hash. That would allow the test to declare configuration information, such as its dependencies, which would be available to downstream processors of the test results. I've put a more complete example on the new wiki (http://perl-qa.yi.org/index.php/Test_Attributes), but this should give you an idea of what I have in mind: # TAP ATTR test version = $Revision: 1.3 $ # TAP ATTR depends on = blib/Test/Koala/Tea.pm # TAP ATTR depends on = blib/Test/Koala/Eucalyptus/Tea.pm # TAP ATTR depends on = blib/Test/Koala/Tree.pm Or using a << block # TAP ATTR << Kangaroo_on_a_pogo_stick # # test version = $Revision: 1.3 $ # # depends on = blib/Test/Koala/Tea.pm # depends on = blib/Test/Koala/Eucalyptus/Tea.pm # depends on = blib/Test/Koala/Tree.pm # # Kangaroo_on_a_pogo_stick That would create in the TAP model object, a hash of attributes such as {test version} = "$Revision: 1.3 $"; {depends on} = [ "blib/Test/Koala/Tea.pm", "blib/Test/Koala/Eucalyptus/Tea.pm", "blib/Test/Koala/Tree.pm"]; Go wild on the wiki with your replies. Scott
