From: Brian Marick <marick@...>
Date: 2008-03-26T02:04:10+09:00
Subject: Flexible, template-freeable web framework?

I have this idea of answering the question "What would happen if I  
added unprecedented amounts of built-in support for exploratory  
testing to a web app?" For the reasons, see <http://www.exampler.com/blog/2008/03/23/an-alternative-to-business-facing-tdd/ 
 >, but the reasons aren't important for this note.

Adding such support would (I suspect) require that the app make some  
things real (into objects) that we ordinarily leave implicit. Examples:

1. Rather than substituting a bunch of values into a template,  
stuffing the resulting string into an HTTP Response, and then  
forgetting everything that went into the response, I see a controller  
action creating a page object. That page object can be told to render  
itself the normal way, but it can also be told to render itself in  
ways a tester might prefer.

2. If I'm going to put a link on a page, and it's a link to a  
particular model object, I don't want to lose that fact. I want a  
tester to be able to say "oh, so you're an edit link to a  
Certification, eh? Show me the Certification you link to as HTML - no,  
wait, show it in some raw form."

3. I bet it would be nice if the GoF Command pattern were used for  
controller actions so that a tester could easily replay what she just  
did. (And snapshot workflow state so that she can "back up" and  
restart along another path: think Prevayler, journaling file systems,  
and version control systems applied to app state.)


I don't think Rails would be a good choice for this work because it's  
built around assumptions that I would have to violate, meaning  
potentially substantial changes to a big and complex code base.  
Further, if the ideas turn out to be worthwhile, I'd want them to end  
up in trunk, and that's pretty unlikely of a mature product that  
oughtn't disrupt its user base this much.

So ideal would be a smaller, newer framework that's looking to  
distinguish itself from Rails. I've been looking around at the  
different frameworks, but I thought it'd also be good to ask if people  
have frameworks to recommend. (Best would be a note from a framework  
author saying, "What a coincidence - I'm already working on something  
very like that!")

-----
Brian Marick, independent consultant
Mostly on agile methods with a testing slant
www.exampler.com, www.exampler.com/blog, www.twitter.com/marick