Agent framework designed for testing ZeroMQ Applications

The agent types correspond to underlying ZMQ Socket type under test

• Connects or Binds to local address
• Includes message caching for inspection

• Connects or Binds to local address
• Publishes

• Connects or Binds to local address
• Publishes request, returns response

• Connects or Binds to local address
• Listens for request, sends response

• Connects or Binds to local address
• Listens for requests, sends responses

Inside of your project, declare your agents inside of config/zmq_agents.rb like this:

require 'agent_zmq'

AgentZMQ.define_ZMQ_SUB :my_sub_agent do |a|
  a.socket_opts << {ZMQ::SUBSCRIBE=>'com.connamara.BODPosition'}
  a.end_point_type=:bind
  a.end_point='tcp://*:5556'
end

AgentZMQ.define_ZMQ_PUB :my_pub_agent do |a|
  a.end_point_type=:connect
  a.end_points=['tcp://127.0.0.1:5558', 'tcp://127.0.0.1:5559']
end

AgentZMQ.define_ZMQ_REQ :my_req_agent do |a|
  a.end_point_type=:connect
  a.end_point='tcp://127.0.0.1:5552'
end

AgentZMQ.define_ZMQ_REP :my_rep_agent do |a|
  a.reply = Proc.new {|msg| "ok"}
  a.end_point_type=:bind
  a.end_point='tcp://*:5552'
end

require 'agent_zmq'
AgentZMQ.start
at_exit { AgentZMQ.stop }

You may want to reset the agent states between tests without stopping and starting. This may be done with AgentZMQ.reset

Grab the agent by the name given in the config file

my_agent = AgentZMQ.agents_hash[:my_sub_agent]  

This agent provides a message cache

all_messages_received = my_sub_agent.messages_received

# returns and removes the last message received from the cache
last_message_received = my_sub_agent.pop

On reset, the sub agent cache is cleared

The publish method takes a single message of one or more parts

my_pub_agent.publish "single part message"
my_pub_agent.publish ["part 1", "part 2"]

The publish method takes a single message of one or more parts. The agent blocks until a response is received and returned as an array of message parts

response = my_req_agent.publish "single part message"
response = my_pub_agent.publish ["part 1", "part 2"]

Like the ZMQ_SUB agent, ZMQ_REP provides a message cache

all_messages_received = my_rep_agent.messages_received

# returns and removes the last message received from the cache
last_message_received = my_rep_agent.pop

When receiving requests, the agent will reply with the output of the reply Proc. The return value of this proc may be in the form of a multi-part message.

There is some support for cucumber. See features for example usage.

Once a message is captured, you may want to parse and inspect it some way. The message serialization technique is specific to the system being tested. Some common serialization methods include JSON and Protocol Buffers. json_spec and protobuf_spec are two examples of testing libraries that can be easily paired with agent_zmq for complete testing.

Check out specs and features to see all the ways you can use agent_zmq.

gem install agent_zmq

or add the following to Gemfile:

gem 'agent_zmq'

and run bundle install from your shell.

• Rubygems
• Issues
• Connamara Systems

Please see the contribution guidelines.

Contributers:

• Chris Busbey
• Brad Haan

agent_zmq is maintained and funded by Connamara Systems, llc.

The names and logos for Connamara Systems are trademarks of Connamara Systems, llc.

agent_zmq is Copyright © 2016 Connamara Systems, llc.

This software is available under the GPL and a commercial license. Please see the LICENSE file for the terms specified by the GPL license. The commercial license offers more flexible licensing terms compared to the GPL, and includes support services. Contact us for more information on the Connamara commercial license, what it enables, and how you can start developing with it.