oliverdavies.uk/content/node.a699f864-3453-4f53-92d5-b394bfaebef7.json

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    "title": [
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            "value": "How not to break 36,000 websites\n"
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            "value": "\n          <p>I've maintained the Override Node Options module for Drupal since early 2012.<\/p>\n\n<p>I've maintained the Drupal 7 version and written new versions for Drupal 8 onwards.<\/p>\n\n<p>At the time of writing, the module is used on at least 36,244 active Drupal websites.<\/p>\n\n<p>I don't want to break 36,000 websites, and automated testing is my way of avoiding that.<\/p>\n\n<p>I have three examples of how automated testing helped me when working on this module.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"upgrading-to-drupal-8\">Upgrading to Drupal 8<\/h2>\n\n<p>When writing the initial Drupal 8 version of the module, as I started re-writing a feature, the first thing I did was recreate the tests from the Drupal 7 version.<\/p>\n\n<p>Then, I followed a test-driven development approach to get the test passing using the Drupal 7 code for reference.<\/p>\n\n<p>When the whole test suite was in place and passing, I knew there was feature parity between the two versions.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"resolving-a-large-merge-conflict\">Resolving a large merge conflict<\/h2>\n\n<p>I was reviewing a feature request that had been open for some time, which included a large patch file with the code changes to implement it.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, the patch no longer applied to the code, which caused various merge conflicts.<\/p>\n\n<p>There were no additional tests within the patch, but I was able to use the existing tests to ensure the original functionality worked once the merge conflicts were resolved and there were no regressions caused by committing the patch.<\/p>\n\n<p>I did later add tests for the new functionality, but without the original test suite, I would have likely not have accepted the patch and not committed the feature.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"refactoring-the-code\">Refactoring the code<\/h2>\n\n<p>A few years ago, a colleague and I wanted to refactor the module code to make it more maintainable and easier to work on.<\/p>\n\n<p>Then, the module was used on around 30,000 websites, so this could have been risky.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, we had the test suite to ensure the functionality still worked and that our refactors were successful.<\/p>\n\n<p>If we broke something and introduced a regression, a test would fail, and we could fix it.<\/p>\n\n<p>Following the release containing the refactored code, there were no reported issues or regressions from the community.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"here%27s-the-thing\">Here's the thing<\/h2>\n\n<p>Automated testing is about providing confidence.<\/p>\n\n<p>Confidence the software works as expected and is releasable, either to clients for custom software or consumers of open-source software.<\/p>\n\n<p>With a passing test suite, you can add and change code with confidence and without worrying about breaking it.<\/p>\n\n        ",
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            "processed": "\n          <p>I've maintained the Override Node Options module for Drupal since early 2012.<\/p>\n\n<p>I've maintained the Drupal 7 version and written new versions for Drupal 8 onwards.<\/p>\n\n<p>At the time of writing, the module is used on at least 36,244 active Drupal websites.<\/p>\n\n<p>I don't want to break 36,000 websites, and automated testing is my way of avoiding that.<\/p>\n\n<p>I have three examples of how automated testing helped me when working on this module.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"upgrading-to-drupal-8\">Upgrading to Drupal 8<\/h2>\n\n<p>When writing the initial Drupal 8 version of the module, as I started re-writing a feature, the first thing I did was recreate the tests from the Drupal 7 version.<\/p>\n\n<p>Then, I followed a test-driven development approach to get the test passing using the Drupal 7 code for reference.<\/p>\n\n<p>When the whole test suite was in place and passing, I knew there was feature parity between the two versions.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"resolving-a-large-merge-conflict\">Resolving a large merge conflict<\/h2>\n\n<p>I was reviewing a feature request that had been open for some time, which included a large patch file with the code changes to implement it.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, the patch no longer applied to the code, which caused various merge conflicts.<\/p>\n\n<p>There were no additional tests within the patch, but I was able to use the existing tests to ensure the original functionality worked once the merge conflicts were resolved and there were no regressions caused by committing the patch.<\/p>\n\n<p>I did later add tests for the new functionality, but without the original test suite, I would have likely not have accepted the patch and not committed the feature.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"refactoring-the-code\">Refactoring the code<\/h2>\n\n<p>A few years ago, a colleague and I wanted to refactor the module code to make it more maintainable and easier to work on.<\/p>\n\n<p>Then, the module was used on around 30,000 websites, so this could have been risky.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, we had the test suite to ensure the functionality still worked and that our refactors were successful.<\/p>\n\n<p>If we broke something and introduced a regression, a test would fail, and we could fix it.<\/p>\n\n<p>Following the release containing the refactored code, there were no reported issues or regressions from the community.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"here%27s-the-thing\">Here's the thing<\/h2>\n\n<p>Automated testing is about providing confidence.<\/p>\n\n<p>Confidence the software works as expected and is releasable, either to clients for custom software or consumers of open-source software.<\/p>\n\n<p>With a passing test suite, you can add and change code with confidence and without worrying about breaking it.<\/p>\n\n        ",
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