diff --git a/app/helpers/test_helper.rb b/app/helpers/test_helper.rb
--- a/app/helpers/test_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/test_helper.rb
@@ -1,2 +1,11 @@
 module TestHelper
+
+  def read_textfile(fname,max_size=2048)
+    begin
+      File.open(fname).read(max_size)
+    rescue
+      nil
+    end
+  end
+
 end