Show HN: Pg_yregress, Structured Testing for Postgres (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

56 pointsyrashk2y ago17 comments

Originally inspired by pg_regress, pg_yregress provides a TAP-compatible test executor that allows for better test organization, easier instance management, native JSON handling and so on.

17 comments

15 comments · 8 top-level

vkaku2y ago· 4 in thread

This is great. Good to see standardized testing improvements to the pg_regress add-on. YAML does better than JSON when it comes to readability. To an extent, TOML as well.

smt882y ago

I couldn't disagree more about YAML. Semantic whitespace is unreadable, as are all the optional language elements. I've been using YAML for years and still can't read it quickly. I find myself asking, "Wait is that a string or boolean? Is it an object or siblings in an array?"

JSON is unambiguous and whitespace agnostic. There's only one way to do things. It's far more readable.

hitchstory2y ago

It's readable, it just desperately needs type safety: https://github.com/crdoconnor/strictyaml

When I read "gbq enabled: yes" I don't worry about whether it's a string or a boolean when reading it, I worry about whether it's a string or a boolean when I want to change it and it gets parsed again.

lamontcg2y ago

UCL: https://github.com/vstakhov/libucl

1 more reply

vkaku2y ago

Try adding anything with quotes and multiple lines, and you'll quickly realize that YAML works better than JSON here.

JSON as-is has fewer types and some things are better realized with the JSONNET way than stock.

1 more reply

mdaniel2y ago· 1 in thread

Fun fact: IJ has "embedded language" support, meaning it understands that some parts of yaml (and any other source code) are another source code and thus offers both syntax highlighting and its usual bunch of introspections. That may not be as meaningful for test SQL, since it probably doesn't have a ton of existing schema against which it should check, but it undoubtedly is helpful when IJ is told this is the PostgreSQL dialect of SQL and thus is able to offer relevant completion and quick-doc for the functions

One can tell IJ what's going on in one of two ways: comment markup or creating a JSON Schema for the yaml and placing x-intellij-language-injection metadata into the relevant elements

  tests:
  - #language=SQL
    query: select 1 as result
    results:
    - result: 1

  $id: pg_yregress
  $schema: "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
  properties:
    tests:
      type: array
      items:
        $ref: '#/definitions/Test'
  definitions:
    Test:
      type: object
      properties:
        query:
          description: the test query to run
          type: string
          # https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-community/blob/idea/233.9802.14/json/src/jsonSchema/schema.json#L52
          x-intellij-language-injection: SQL
        results:
          type: array
          item:
            type: object
            additionalProperties: true

yrashkOP2y ago

This is incredibly useful and it'd be great to add this helper to pg_yregress to improve the experience for IntelliJ users!

Deipayan2y ago· 1 in thread

I am fairly newbie to the Postgres ecosystem. Explain me like I am 5 how this is better than TAP - what pains precisely this addresses

yrashkOP2y ago

This is not "better than TAP" but rather better than implementing tests as captures of psql outputs as done in pg_regress. Besides that, there are other features that are harder or impossible to test in pg_regress, like binary encodings of types.

Plus, it provides TAP output for test runners/printers that support it.

pilotdeveloper2y ago· 1 in thread

How does this compares to pgTAP? I've been using pgTAP for a long time, how is this better?

yrashkOP2y ago

1. pgTAP is an extension, pg_yregress is not (although there are plans to make it available as such as well)

2. Allows for organizing and structuring nested tests (providing organizational clarity)

3. Binary encoding testing (useful for new data types)

4. pg_yregress manages Postgres instances and their configuration

pgTAP has functionality that is not yet part of pg_yregress (vast library of helpers)

Ultimately, I believe both of these tools can coexist rather nicely. Would be great to integrate neatly.

rxrog2y ago

This is such an interesting project. Having written SQL based tests with MTR, I really love the reusable queries and not having to dump the full SQL output into test results.

weijun952y ago

Look like an interesting approach to handling YAML.

vira282y ago

As much as I don’t prefer YAML, this is a very good use case for it.

rohan_puri2y ago

Looks interesting Yurii!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

17 comments

15 comments · 8 top-level

vkaku2y ago· 4 in thread

This is great. Good to see standardized testing improvements to the pg_regress add-on. YAML does better than JSON when it comes to readability. To an extent, TOML as well.

smt882y ago

JSON is unambiguous and whitespace agnostic. There's only one way to do things. It's far more readable.

hitchstory2y ago

It's readable, it just desperately needs type safety: https://github.com/crdoconnor/strictyaml

lamontcg2y ago

UCL: https://github.com/vstakhov/libucl

1 more reply

vkaku2y ago

Try adding anything with quotes and multiple lines, and you'll quickly realize that YAML works better than JSON here.

JSON as-is has fewer types and some things are better realized with the JSONNET way than stock.

1 more reply

mdaniel2y ago· 1 in thread

One can tell IJ what's going on in one of two ways: comment markup or creating a JSON Schema for the yaml and placing x-intellij-language-injection metadata into the relevant elements

  tests:
  - #language=SQL
    query: select 1 as result
    results:
    - result: 1

  $id: pg_yregress
  $schema: "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"
  properties:
    tests:
      type: array
      items:
        $ref: '#/definitions/Test'
  definitions:
    Test:
      type: object
      properties:
        query:
          description: the test query to run
          type: string
          # https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-community/blob/idea/233.9802.14/json/src/jsonSchema/schema.json#L52
          x-intellij-language-injection: SQL
        results:
          type: array
          item:
            type: object
            additionalProperties: true

yrashkOP2y ago

This is incredibly useful and it'd be great to add this helper to pg_yregress to improve the experience for IntelliJ users!

Deipayan2y ago· 1 in thread

I am fairly newbie to the Postgres ecosystem. Explain me like I am 5 how this is better than TAP - what pains precisely this addresses

yrashkOP2y ago

Plus, it provides TAP output for test runners/printers that support it.

pilotdeveloper2y ago· 1 in thread

How does this compares to pgTAP? I've been using pgTAP for a long time, how is this better?

yrashkOP2y ago

1. pgTAP is an extension, pg_yregress is not (although there are plans to make it available as such as well)

2. Allows for organizing and structuring nested tests (providing organizational clarity)

3. Binary encoding testing (useful for new data types)

4. pg_yregress manages Postgres instances and their configuration

pgTAP has functionality that is not yet part of pg_yregress (vast library of helpers)

Ultimately, I believe both of these tools can coexist rather nicely. Would be great to integrate neatly.

rxrog2y ago

This is such an interesting project. Having written SQL based tests with MTR, I really love the reusable queries and not having to dump the full SQL output into test results.

weijun952y ago

Look like an interesting approach to handling YAML.

vira282y ago

As much as I don’t prefer YAML, this is a very good use case for it.

rohan_puri2y ago

Looks interesting Yurii!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse