Cactus

Last update : May 2 2001

Home
  • Jakarta Commons


  • About
  • News
  • Features
  • Goals
  • Changes
  • Todo
  • Contributors
  • Contributing
  • License


  • Downloads
  • Downloads


  • User Guides
  • Architecture
  • Installation
  • Installing Ant
  • Installing Sample
  • Configuration
  • Writing Test Case
  • Servlet Sample
  • Ant integration
  • Servlet Engines
  • API Reference


  • Support
  • CVS
  • Bug database
  • Mailing lists
  • FAQ


  • Project description

    Cactus is a simple test framework for unit testing server-side java code. It uses JUnit and extends it. It's primary goal is to be able to unit test server side java methods which use Servlet objects such as HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse, HttpSession, ... (see the full feature list). This framework is not a functional test framework which views your server classes as a black box and only tests the returned results from externally calling your application (see HttpUnit for this). Both frameworks are complementary.

    Click here for the detailed scope and status of Cactus.


    Latest news

    02/05/2001   Cactus 1.0 is available for download. Check the updated changes for the details.  
    28/04/2001   The changes page now also lists the pages that have recently changed on this web site.  

    Why the name ?

    Here are some stories and reasons about the name :)

    • It's a cool name ... Short, easy to pronounce, same meanings in all spoken languages, has some punch ...
    • There is a cool french song by Jacques Dutronc about cacti that goes "le monde entier est un cactus ..." (the whole world is a Cactus). The lyrics is available here and the music (.wma format) here. It is a song that says that cacti are everywhere and that everything is a cactus. I like that ! :) ...
    • The J2EEUnit name (which was the previous name of Cactus) was fine but there was a Sun trademark on the J2EE part of the name ...
    • Cactus is actually an acronym ... ha ha .. for Computer Assisted Construction of Test Unit for the Server, or Cool and Comprehensive Test Unit for the Server, or ... (please send your suggestions to me) ...
    • The company for which I work ( OCTO Technology) had organized a diner to celebrate our 3 years of existence. I was looking for a new name for J2EEUnit. I asked some workmates of mine to help me look for a name. We tried to find a name which had something to do with the Apache name. We though of indians of course ... we tried several names and then Dominique said "Cactus" (you know, indians, the desert, cacti. That's one cliché of indians we have here in France !). I immediatly liked it ...
    • The Cactus name has a rich visual iconography associated with it. So it should be possible to find a nice and funny logo (I'm still looking for the perfect logo ... Again if you have ideas, you can send them to me) ...
    • A Cactus is full of spines. Visually you can imagine that a piece of code that has gone through this rigourous and comprehensive testing has had all it's bug revealed ! ...
    • We can imagine a motto like "Tested on Apache-Cactus" !
    • Any more ... ?



    Copyright © 2000-2001 The Apache Software Foundation. All Rights Reserved.