Inferno Core

Inferno Core is the central library of the Inferno Framework that allows you to write, execute, and distribute executable conformance tests for the HL7® FHIR® standard standard. Inferno Core isn't built to be used alone; it is imported as a library into Inferno Test Kits, which are web-based testing applications that target specific data exchange use cases enabled by FHIR.

To learn how to use the Inferno Framework and Inferno Core to develop your own Inferno Test Kit, visit Inferno Framework Documentation: Getting Started for Inferno Test Writers.

Inferno Core is a Ruby library used to create Ruby-based test applications (called Inferno Test Kits) and provides features useful for writing and executing FHIR API tests:

• Inferno DSL: A domain specific language for authoring FHIR API tests that includes a FHIR client, native Ruby classes for FHIR, and FHIR instance validators
• API, Web and CLI Interfaces: Multiple interfaces for executing tests and retrieving results
• Test Reuse: Methods for reusing tests within a project or from other projects

Because tests are written as Ruby scripts, test writers are able to leverage a fully-featured programming language and a rich ecosystem of open source third-party libraries to write their tests if needed. This makes Inferno well-suited for testing data exchanges that:

• include the use of additional standards beyond FHIR,
• have large specifications that could benefit from Ruby's meta-programming capabilities to ease maintenance burden,
• or require complex logic to thoroughly validate API responses.

Inferno Core provides common utilities for FHIR-based testing, but tests are not limited to what is provided by Inferno Core. Inferno Core's goal is to expand on the set of common utilities it provides for the benefit of the community.

To learn more about Inferno Framework and Inferno Core, please visit:

• Inferno Framework documentation
• Inferno Core Ruby API documentation
• Inferno Core JSON API documentation

Inferno Core contains functionality that should be broadly useful for testing any FHIR-based data exchange, and the team welcomes contributions.

Developers interested in contributing to the Inferno Core gem must have Ruby 3.1+, Node.js and NPM, and Docker Desktop installed. Podman may be used an alternative to Docker Desktop.

Inferno Core development is supported within MacOS, Linux or Windows environments. However, Windows development currently requires the use of WSL2. Please visit the Inferno Framework documentation site for more information.

# Install dependencies
npm install
bundle install
gem install foreman

# Set up database
bin/inferno migrate

# Start Inferno background services using Docker/Podman (validator, redis, nginx)
bin/inferno services start
# Start web server, worker, and webpack
bin/inferno start

# When you're done, stop the background services
bin/inferno services stop

Inferno Core can then be accessed by navigating to http://localhost:4567/inferno

To only run the server (JSON API with no UI): bundle exec puma

If you would like to test other test suites with changes being made to Inferno Core, you may do so by following the instructions provided in the Gemfile:

# To test with the g10 test kit (this also adds the US Core, SMART, and TLS test
# kits):
# - Uncomment this line (and change test kit gem as necessary):
# gem 'onc_certification_g10_test_kit'

# - Run `bundle`
# - Uncomment (and change as necessary) the require at the top of
# `dev_suites/dev_demo_ig_stu1/demo_suite.rb`.

With the server running, first retrieve a list of available test suites:

GET http://localhost:4567/inferno/api/test_suites

See the details of a test suite:

GET http://localhost:4567/inferno/api/test_suites/TEST_SUITE_ID

Then create a test session for the suite you want to use:

POST http://localhost:4567/inferno/api/test_sessions?test_suite_id=TEST_SUITE_ID

Tests within a suite are organized in groups. Create a test run to run an entire suite, a group, or an individual test. Only one of test_suite_id, test_group_id, or test_id should be provided.

POST http://localhost:4567/inferno/api/test_runs
{
  "test_session_id": "TEST_SESSION_ID",
  "test_suite_id": "TEST_SUITE_ID",
  "test_group_id": "TEST_GROUP_ID",
  "test_id": "TEST_ID",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "name": "input1",
      "value": "input1 value"
    },
    {
      "name": "input2",
      "value": "input2 value"
    }
  ]
}

Then you can view the results of the test run:

GET http://localhost:4567/inferno/api/test_runs/TEST_RUN_ID/results
or
GET http://localhost:4567/inferno/api/test_sessions/TEST_SESSION_ID/results

To get to an interactive console, run bundle exec bin/inferno console

Inferno Core documentation has primarily moved to the Inferno Framework documentation site. However, Ruby Docs (generated from the source code using ./bin/docs) and the Swagger API documentation is still located within the docs/ directory. This documentation is rendered using Jekyll, which creates a site that can be built and served with:

./bin/docs
cd docs/
bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve

View the Ruby Docs at http://localhost:4000/inferno-core/docs and the API Docs at http://localhost:4000/inferno-core/api-docs.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

HL7, FHIR and the FHIR [FLAME DESIGN] are the registered trademarks of Health Level Seven International and their use does not constitute endorsement by HL7.