SPRAT is a test tool, which uses spreadsheets to define tests and then runs those tests against specified APIS.

1. SPRAT
Spreadsheet API Tester
Julian Higman

2. Julian Higman
●
Freelance developer
●
PHP/Ruby/Linux/etc
●
Agile (XP)
●
Tests

3. Sprat : Spreadsheet API Tester
●
Why
●
What
●
How
●
WTF?

4. Background
●
KnowMalaria
●
Prescription System
●
Antimalarials, and now vaccines

6. KnowMalaria
●
Data-centric app
●
Domain experts
●
People might die

7. Testing
●
Unit test
●
Integration test
●
Functional test
●
Live monitoring
●
...Exo-test?

8. Manual Test Scenarios

9. Manual Test Scenarios

10. Requirement
●
Non-programmers
●
Complex test scenarios
●
Running outside of the build
●
Scheduled or On Demand
●
Feedback

11. Idea
●
Use spreadsheets as test input
●
Expose testable functions as APIs
●
“Run” button

12. Architecture

13. APIs
●
RESTful (well, GET, at least)
●
Return JSON

14. Github API
https://api.github.com/search/repositories?q=sprat

15. {
"total_count": 3,
"items": [
{
"id": 1898910,
"name": "sprat",
"full_name": "hinathan/sprat",
"html_url": "https://github.com/hinathan/sprat",
"description": "A simple PHP+REST API toolkit"
},
{
"id": 9957180,
"name": "sprat",
"full_name": "jhigman/sprat",
"html_url": "https://github.com/jhigman/sprat",
"description": "Spreadsheet API Test Runner"
},
{
"id": 1840441,
"name": "Spratly",
"full_name": "rgv151/Spratly",
"html_url": "https://github.com/rgv151/Spratly",
"description": "Backend & Development Kit for Laravel 4"
}
]
}

16. JSONPath
●
$.store.book[0].title
●
$['store']['book'][0]['title']
●
$.store.book[(@.length-1)].title
●
$.store.book[?(@.price < 10)].title
http://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/

17. Tests
id
q
$.total_count
1
sprat
3

18. Tests
id
q
$.total_count
$.items[0].description
1
sprat
3
A simple PHP+REST
API toolkit
2
mackerel
7
Object storage system
3
shark
511
Hive on Spark

19. Sprat spreadsheet

20. Config

21. Menu

22. Simplification : Hashes
for API response
{ “key1” : “val1”, “key2” : “val2” }
expectation columns called
“key1”, “key2”
will be interpreted as
“$.key1”, “$.key2”

23. Special case : Arrays
id
country
1
Albania
2
Angola
3
Antartica
4
Aruba
Cholera
Diptheria
Hep A
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

24. Array API
/api/diseases?country=Aruba
[“Diptheria”, “Hep A”]

25. Array spreadsheet

26. Sprat server
●
Ruby
●
Sinatra
●
Redis
●
Resque

27. Invoke Sprat
POST to /jobs
params:
spreadsheet = <spreadsheet name>
worksheet = <worksheet name>
host = <host name>

28. Read and write spreadsheets
Ruby Gem : https://github.com/gimite/google-drive-ruby
session = GoogleDrive.login("username@gmail.com", "mypassword")
ws = session.spreadsheet_by_key("pz7XtlQC-PYx-jrVMJErTcg").worksheets[0]
ws[2, 1] = "foo"
ws[2, 2] = "bar"
ws.save()

29. In the spreadsheets..
●
Google Apps Script (basically Javascript)
●
Menus
●
URL Fetch Service
●
PDFs
●
Emails
●
Triggers

30. Add menu items
function onOpen() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var menuEntries = [
{name: "Run tests", functionName: "runThisSheet"
} ];
ss.addMenu("Test Runner", menuEntries);
}

31. Invoke test runner
var payload =
{
"spreadsheet" : “My Test Spreadsheet”,
"worksheet" : “Worksheet 1”,
"host" : “api.test.com”
};
var options =
{
"method" : "POST",
"payload" : payload
};
var response= UrlFetchApp.fetch(“http://sprat.testrunner.org”, options);
var content = response.getContentText();

32. Create PDF
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var file = DriveApp.getFileById(ss.getId())
var pdf = file.getAs(MimeType.PDF);
var folder = DocsList.getFolder(“SpratPDFs”);
var file = folder.createFile(pdf);

33. Send Email
MailApp.sendEmail(
“sprat-user@sprat.org”,
“Your latest Sprat report”,
“Please see attached”,
{attachments:[pdf]}
);

34. Triggers

35. Demo
●
Github
●
Travis
●
Heroku
●
Redis Cloud

36. So how's it working for us?
●
10 spreadsheets
●
2000 tests
●
Nightly emails

37. Other benefits
●
Step-change in rate of data tests
●
TDD by users
●
Pair-programming data changes
●
Diagnosing problems
●
Versioning
●
Authentication
●
API-first design

38. Limitations
●
GET
●
JSON
●
No custom headers
●
Assumes HTTPS endpoint
●
JSONPath
●
Error responses
●
Setup/teardown

39. Future
●
Matchers
●
OAuth
●
Standards
●
JSON Schema
●
Continuous Integration

40. Questions
●
Anyone similar problem?
●
Anything that already exists?
●
Any glaring problems?
●
Any suggestions for improvements?
●
Anyone want to try it?

41. KTHXBYE!
http://jhigman.github.io/sprat/
@jhigman
@staringskyward