README

Use comments in markdown to automatically compile tested examples into your README.

Warning

This package is still in development. It is not yet ready for production use and the API may change at any time.

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require luttje/php-example-tester

Usage

1. Prepare your README

Add the start and end comments to your README where you want each individual example to appear:

### `exampleMethod`

Document the example method here, as you normally would.

**Here's the example code:**

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_START = \Luttje\ExampleTester\Tests\Fixtures\ExampleClassTest::exampleMethod -->

This will be replaced with the example code.

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_END -->

*🤓 Yay calculations!*

For a full example have a look at 👀 the example README with placeholders.

You must provide a fully qualified path to the method you want to copy. You can also provide a fully qualified path to a class to copy the entire class.

2. Write tests for that example code

Write your tests in a separate static method in your test class. This package can then extract the body of the method and use it as the example code.

use Luttje\ExampleTester\Tests\TestCase;

final class ExampleClassTest extends TestCase
{
    public static function exampleMethod(): void
    {
        // This is an example method.
        $a = 1;
        $b = 25;

        $c = $a + $b;

        echo $c;
        // This is the end of the example method.
    }

    /**
     * @test
     */
    public function testExampleMethod(): void
    {
        ob_start();
        self::exampleMethod();
        $output = ob_get_clean();

        $this->assertSame('26', $output);
    }
}

3. Compile the examples into your README

Run the example-tester command to compile the examples into your README using the vendor/bin/example-tester compile command.

vendor/bin/example-tester compile

After running the command, the examples will be compiled into your README. This is a section in your README may look like after running the command:

exampleMethod

Document the example method here, as you normally would.

Here's the example code:

// This is an example method.
$a = 1;
$b = 25;

$c = $a + $b;

echo $c;
// This is the end of the example method.

🤓 Yay calculations!

For a full example have a look at 🏗 the compiled example README.

Note

You can make your workflow even smoother by adding the example-tester compile command to your composer.json scripts. That way you can run it with composer compile-readme.

{
    "scripts": {
        "compile-readme": [
            "vendor/bin/example-tester compile"
        ]
    }
}

Advanced usage

You've seen the simple syntax to mark the start of an example, but you can also provide some extra options to the #EXAMPLE_COPY_START comment in the form of a JSON object:

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_START = { "symbol": "\\Luttje\\ExampleTester\\Tests\\Fixtures\\ExampleClassTest::exampleMethod" } -->

Is equivalent to this simpler syntax:

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_START = \Luttje\ExampleTester\Tests\Fixtures\ExampleClassTest::exampleMethod -->

However providing a JSON object unlocks the ability to configure additional properties, like the short property.

The short property

The short property defaults to true and ensures only the body of the method or class is copied into the README.md file.

Setting short to false for a method

Setting the short property to false will also copy the entire method signature into the README.md file for this result:

public static function exampleMethod(): void
{
    // This is an example method.
    $a = 1;
    $b = 25;

    $c = $a + $b;

    echo $c;
    // This is the end of the example method.
}

Setting short to false for a class

For classes it may make more sense to set short to false to copy the entire class into the README.md file for this result:

use Luttje\ExampleTester\Tests\TestCase;

final class ExampleClassTest extends TestCase
{
    public static function exampleMethod(): void
    {
        // This is an example method.
        $a = 1;
        $b = 25;

        $c = $a + $b;

        echo $c;
        // This is the end of the example method.
    }

    /**
     * @test
     */
    public function testExampleMethod(): void
    {
        ob_start();
        self::exampleMethod();
        $output = ob_get_clean();

        $this->assertSame('26', $output);
    }
}

Ignoring examples

Especially for the readme in the root of this package, we want to selectively ignore examples. This can be done by wrapping <!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_IGNORE_START --> and <!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_IGNORE_END --> comments around the sections of the readme where you want to not copy examples.

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_IGNORE_START -->

#### Ignored example

This example will be ignored.

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_START = { "symbol": "\\Luttje\\ExampleTester\\Tests\\Fixtures\\ExampleClassTest", "short": false } -->

Should not be removed.

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_END -->

<!-- #EXAMPLE_COPY_IGNORE_END -->

Command-line interface

The command has the following signature:

compile [--output OUTPUT] [--input INPUT]

You must run the command from the root of your project. That way the command can find the vendor directory containing the composer autoload file.

--output

The path to the README file to write the compiled examples to. Defaults to README.md in the root of your project.

vendor/bin/example-tester compile --output DOCS.md

--input

The path to the README file to read the examples from. Defaults to the --output path.

Testing

Run the tests with:

composer test

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.