Is writing Drupal tests boring? Maybe. Is running tests boring? Not anymore!

There is a patch for Drupal 7 pending that introduces a couple of new hooks into the simpletest module. These hooks will allow you to listen to the progress of a test run and react to tests that pass or fail. I have already created a new testlistener module that uses these new hooks to execute shell commands.

Some examples:

I have a Dell XPS laptop with built-in LEDs that can be controlled using the dellLEDCtl shell command (Linux). Using these new hooks, I can turn the LEDs green at the start of a test run, make them red when a test fails and turn them off when the test run has completed. This is very similar to the functionality of my Eclipse XPS plugin that shows JUnit results in Eclipse.

Another (typical) example is to have two lava lamps, a red one and a green one. You connect both of them to an X10 device (I have an X10 starterkit from IntelliHome) so you can turn them on/off with the heyu shell command (Linux). The testlistener module allows you to let the lamps reflect the status of the Drupal code. Other people are using this setup in their (non-Drupal) continuous integration environment.

If lamps are too soft for you, you might consider shooting missiles instead.

Drupal testing will never be boring again ;)