Already have this in the ensembl-test package. no need for it here

modules/t/TestUtils.pm

-use strict;
-
-package TestUtils;
-
-require Exporter;
-use vars qw( @ISA @EXPORT_OK );
-@ISA=('Exporter');
-@EXPORT_OK=qw(&debug &test_getter_setter &count_rows);
-
-=head2 test_getter_setter
-
-  Arg [1]    : Object $object
-               The object to test the getter setter on
-  Arg [2]    : string $method
-               The name of the getter setter method to test
-  Arg [3]    : $test_val
-               The value to use to test the set behavior of the method.
-  Example    : ok(&TestUtils::test_getter_setter($object, 'type', 'value'));
-  Description: Tests a getter setter method by attempting to set a value
-               and verifying that the newly set value can be retrieved.  The
-               old value of the the attribute is restored after the test 
-               (providing the method functions correctly).
-  Returntype : boolean - true value on success, false on failure
-  Exceptions : none
-  Caller     : test scripts
-
-=cut
-
-sub test_getter_setter {
-    my ($object, $method, $test_val) = @_;
-    
-    my $ret_val = 0;
-    
-    #save the old value
-    my $old_val = $object->$method;
-    
-    $object->$method($test_val);
-    
-    #verify value was set
-    $ret_val = (!defined($test_val) && !defined($object->$method)) || 
-	       ($object->$method eq $test_val);
-
-    #restore the old value
-    $object->$method($old_val);
-    
-    return $ret_val;
-}
-
-sub debug {
-  if( $::verbose ) {
-    print STDERR @_,"\n";
-  }
-}
-
-sub count_rows {
-  my $db = shift;
-  my $tablename = shift;
-
-  my $sth = $db->prepare( "select count(*) from $tablename" );
-  $sth->execute();
-  my ( $count ) = $sth->fetchrow_array();
-  return $count;
-}
-
-
-
-1;
-
-