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This page describes the standard test format for CSSWG self-describing tests and reftests. The requirements are explained below; to make things easier we've also provided a template that you can copy.
The recommended structure for CSS tests is a self-describing reftest. If it's possible for a test to be a reftest, it must be a reftest. (We prefer reftests to also be self-describing or otherwise easy for humans to interpret, but this is not a requirement.)
The following are requested of all tests submitted to the CSSWG, both for reftests and self-describing tests:
The preferred submission format for CSSWG tests is XHTML in UTF-8. HTML is also acceptable; however note that the test source will be parsed and reserialized.
Images must be in PNG format.
A set of scripts will generate the various formats (XHTML, HTML, XHTML for Printers) from this source version.
Tests must be valid XHTML, so please validate your tests before submission. For tests that use the HTML style header, the validator may report errors on the flags and assert metadata. These specific errors can be ignored - this is a known issue and work is in progress to correct the problem.
A template for new tests follows. Copy and paste the code below into a new file or save this template file and replace the capitalized parts as described below.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>CSS Test: DESCRIPTION OF TEST</title> <link rel="author" title="NAME_OF_AUTHOR" href="mailto:EMAIL OR http://CONTACT_PAGE"/> <link rel="help" href="RELEVANT_SPEC_SECTION"/> <meta name="flags" content="TOKENS" /> <meta name="assert" content="TEST ASSERTION"/> <style type="text/css"><![CDATA[ CSS FOR TEST ]]></style> </head> <body> CONTENT OF TEST </body> </html>
<title>CSS Test: DESCRIPTION OF TEST</title>
The title appears in the generated index, so make sure it is concise, unique and descriptive. The role of the title is to identify what specific detail of a feature or combination of features is being tested, so that someone looking through an index can see quickly what's tested in which file. In most cases, this description should not require more than 5 or 6 words. There is no need to provide the chapter or section in the title.
<link rel="author" title="NAME_OF_AUTHOR" href="mailto:EMAIL OR http://CONTACT_PAGE" />
Credits provide a way to identify the person or organization that created the test and/or holds copyright in the test. This is useful for reviewing purposes and for asking questions about the individual test. A test can have multiple author credits if necessary.
<link rel="reviewer" title="NAME_OF_REVIEWER" href="mailto:EMAIL OR http://CONTACT_PAGE" /> <!-- YYYY-MM-DD -->
If a test has passed review, then the reviewer should note this by adding his or her name as a reviewer, along with the date of the review. A test can have multiple reviewers if necessary. A reviewer must be a person, not an organization.
<link rel="reviewer" title="Boris Zbarsky" href="mailto:bzbarsky@mit.edu" /> <!-- 2008-02-19 -->
Example 2:
<link rel="reviewer" title="Bert Bos" href="http://www.w3.org/People/Bos/" /> <!-- 2005-05-03 -->
If a test would pass review with some (non-metadata) changes and the reviewer chooses to make these changes, then the reviewer should add his or her name as a reviewer-author, along with the date of the review, when checking in those changes. This indicates that the reviewer-author approves of the original author's test when taken with these proposed changes, and that someone else (possibly the original author) must review the changes. The test is fully reviewed only when the latest reviewer did not also contribute changes to the test at the time of the review.
<link rel="author" title="Bert Bos" href="http://www.w3.org/People/Bos/" /> <link rel="reviewer author" title="Boris Zbarsky" href="mailto:bzbarsky@mit.edu" /> <!-- 2008-02-19 --> <link rel="reviewer" title="Bert Bos" href="http://www.w3.org/People/Bos/" /> <!-- 2008-04-22 -->
This test was written by Bert Bos, then reviewed by Boris Zbarsky, who made some corrections before deeming it acceptable. Those corrections were then reviewed and accepted by Bert Bos.
<link rel="help" href="RELEVANT_SPEC_SECTION" />
The specification link elements provide a way to align test with information in the CSS 2.1 specification.
<link rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/text.html#alignment-prop" />
Example 2:
<link rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/text.html#alignment-prop" /> <link rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visudet.html#q7" /> <link rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visudet.html#line-height" /> <link rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/colors.html#background-properties" />
<link rel="match" href="RELATIVE_PATH_TO_REFERENCE_FILE" /> <link rel="mismatch" href="RELATIVE_PATH_TO_REFERENCE_FILE" />
The reference link elements are used in reftests and provide the list of reference file(s) that the test should be compared to.
match references must be files that render identically to the test, but use an alternate means to do somatch references are used when the test can match any of the reference filesmatch references that all need to match (for example, to catch when a reference fails in the same way the test does), then chain the references together, i.e.: place reference links to the additional match references in the reference files. It is recommended that the chained reference files form a loop (e.g.: a → b → c → a) so that a test linking to any reference in the chain will find all the references.mismatch references are files that render differently than the test file. A test may have any number of mismatch references.<meta name="flags" content="TOKENS" />
Flags document the test’s prerequisites, for example, the Ahem font, or a paged presentation. Multiple tokens are space separated.
All flags documented elsewhere are deprecated except the following:
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
| ahem | Requires the Ahem font |
| animated | Test is animated in final state. (Cannot be verified using reftests/screenshots.) |
| combo | Test, which must have an unsuffixed filename number, is strictly the union of all the suffixed tests with the same name and number. (See File name format, below.) |
| dom | Requires support for JavaScript and the Document Object Model (DOM) |
| font | Requires a specific font to be installed. (Details must be provided and/or the font linked to in the test description) |
| history | User agent session history is required. Testing :visited is a good example where this may be used. |
| http | Requires HTTP headers |
| HTMLonly | Test case is only valid for HTML |
| image | Requires support for bitmap graphics and the graphic to load |
| interact | Requires human interaction (such as for testing scrolling behavior) |
| invalid | Tests handling of invalid CSS. Note: This case contains CSS properties and syntax that may not validate. |
| namespace | Requires support for XML Namespaces |
| nonHTML | Test case is only valid for formats besides HTML (e.g. XHTML or arbitrary XML) |
| may | Behavior tested is preferred but OPTIONAL. [RFC2119] (These tests must be reviewed by a test suite owner or peer.) |
| paged | Only valid for paged media |
| should | Behavior tested is RECOMMENDED, but not REQUIRED. [RFC2119] |
| scroll | Only valid for continuous (scrolling) media |
| svg | Requires support for vector graphics (SVG) |
| userstyle | Requires a user style sheet to be set |
| 32bit | Assumes a 32-bit integer as the minimum (-2147483648) or maximum (2147483647) value |
| 96dpi | Assumes 96dpi display |
<meta name="assert" content="TEST ASSERTION" />
This element should contain a complete detailed statement expressing what specifically the test is attempting to prove. If the assertion is only valid in certain cases, those conditions should be described in the statement.
The assertion should not be:
The test assertion is optional. It helps the reviewer understand the goal of the test so that he or she can make sure it is being tested correctly. Also, in case a problem is found with the test later, the testing method (e.g. using 'color' to determine pass/fail) can be changed (e.g. to using 'background-color') while preserving the intent of the test (e.g. testing support for ID selectors).
<style type="text/css"><![CDATA[ CSS FOR TEST ]]></style>
When creating styles primarily use ID or Class selectors. Inline styles should not be used unless the case is specifically testing this scenario.
<script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[ ... Javascript code here ... ]]></script>
Some testcases require support for javascript and the Document Object Model (DOM).
Although type=“application/javascript” and type=“application/ecmascript” are recommended by [RFC4329], the CSS 2.1 test suite only accepts type=“text/javascript”.
<body> CONTENT OF TEST </body>
<div>, <span>, <p>, <img><p> has margins by default!table features with both HTML table elements and <div> + display: table-*style attribute (inline styles) unless specifically testing that attributeGuidelines on designing the content of the test can be found in the CSS2.1 Test Case Authoring Guidelines.
The new file name format is test-topic-###.ext where test-topic somewhat describes the test and
### is a zero-filled number used to keep the file names unique.
The file name is no longer restricted to 31 characters, but please try to keep them short.
test-topic
A short identifier that describes the test. The test-topic should avoid
conjunctions, articles, and prepositions. It is a file name, not an English phrase: it should be as
concise as possible.
margin-collapsing-###.ext
border-solid-###.ext
float-clear-###.ext
###
This is a zero-filled number used to keep the file names unique when files have the same test-topic name.
Note: The number format is limited to 999 cases. If you go over this number it is recommended that you reevaluate your test-topic name.
margin-collapsing-001.xht
margin-collapsing-002.xht
margin-collapsing-003.xht
There may also be a letter affixed after the number, which can be used to indicate variants of a test.
float-wrap-001l.xht and float-wrap-001r.xht might be left and right variants of a float test.
If tests using both the unsuffixed number and the suffixed number exist, the suffixed tests must be subsets of the unsuffixed test.
bidi-004 and bidi-004a both exist, bidi-004a must be a subset of bidi-004.
If the unsuffixed test is strictly the union of the suffixed tests, i.e. covers all aspects of the suffixed tests (such that a user agent passing the unsuffixed test will, by design, pass all the suffixed tests), then the unsuffixed test should be marked with the combo flag.
bidi-004a and bidi-004b cover all aspects of bidi-004 (except their interaction), then bidi-004 should be given the combo flag.
ext
The file extension or format of the file, usually .xht for test files.
A number of standard images are provided in the support directory. These include
Additional generic files can be added as necessary, and should have a descriptive file name. Test-specific files should be named after the test (or test-topic if they are shared across several tests within a series). If possible tests should not rely on transparency in images, as they are converted to JPEG (which does not support transparency) for the xhtml1print version.
Some test may require special user style sheets to be applied in order for the case to be verified.
In order for proper indications and prerequisite to be displayed every user style sheet should contain the following rules.
#user-stylesheet-indication { /* Used by the harness to display and indication there is a user style sheet applied */ display: block!important; }
The rule #user-stylesheet-indication is to be used by any harness running the test suite.
A harness should identify test that need a user style sheet by looking at their flags meta tag. It then should display appropriate messages indicating if a style sheet is applied or if a style sheet should not be applied.
#userstyle { color: green; display: none; } #nouserstyle { color: red; display: none; }
Harness userstyle flag found:
<p id="user-stylesheet-indication" class="userstyle">A user style sheet is applied.</p>
Harness userstyle flag NOT found:
<p id="user-stylesheet-indication" class="nouserstyle">A user style sheet is applied.</p>
Within the test case it is recommended that the case itself indicate the necessary user style sheet that is required.
#cascade /* ID name should match user style sheet file name */ { /* Used by the test to hide the prerequisite */ display: none; }
The rule #cascade in the example above is used by the test page to hid the prerequisite text. The rule name should match the user style sheet CSS file name in order to keep this orderly.
Examples: (code for the cascade-### XHTML files)
<p id="cascade">PREREQUISITE: The <a href="support/cascade.css">"cascade.css"</a> file is enabled as the user agent's user style sheet.</p>
The id value should match the user style sheet CSS file name and the user style sheet rule that is used to hide this text when the style sheet is properly applied.
Please flag test that require user style sheets with the userstyle flag so people running the tests know that a user style sheet is required.
Some tests may require special HTTP headers. These should be configured in a .htaccess file located in the same directory as the relevant file. An example configuration is shown below. Note that multiple file extensions are supported in the configuration so that exported formats are all handled correctly. The build scripts will concatenate all .htaccess files in the test sources' parent directories and support directories.
<Files ~ "^lang-selector-005\.(xht|xhtml|xml|html|htm)$"> AddLanguage fr .xht .xhtml .xml .html .htm </Files>
Please flag tests that require HTTP interaction with the http flag so people running the tests locally know their results will not be valid.