#PhpSpec Laravel Extension
Work-in-progress PhpSpec Extension for testing Laravel applications.
##Why this extension?
This extension allows you to test your objects and classes as you would normally with PhpSpec, but gives you a Laravel application context to test within, so that you can continue to make use of Laravel's nice features.
In detail,
it:
- Bootstraps the Laravel environment, so that you can use class aliases across your application without running into to testing trouble, and so that you can make use of Laravel's environment configuration for your testing environment. You will also continue to be able to use Laravel's helper functions across your codebase
- Allows you to test your Eloquent models, which I ran into difficulty with before writing this extension
- Provides a few extra Laravel-specific PhpSpec matchers to make testing your application code more straightforward
and
it is not:
- A swap-in replacement for Laravel's built in PHPUnit setup. If you'd like functional tests, please use that, Behat, or Codeception
##Installation
Add this to your composer.json
:
{
"require": {
"benconstable/phpspec-laravel": "*"
}
}
then add this to your phpspec.yml
:
extensions:
- PhpSpec\Laravel\Extension\LaravelExtension
##Configuration
###Testing environment
By default, the extension bootstraps Laravel in the testing
environment. You
can change this to production (or whatever you like) by setting:
laravel_extension:
testing_environment: 'production'
in your phpspec.yml
.
###Database migration
If you'd like your database migrations to be run before each spec, you can specify:
laravel_extension:
migrate_db: true
This is useful if you'd like to make use of a SQLite in-memory database for any Eloquent model tests (see here for how you'd set this up).
##Usage
###General testing
You should test your regular classes by extending the PhpSpec\Laravel\LaravelObjectBehavior
class:
<?php namespace spec;
use PhpSpec\Laravel\LaravelObjectBehavior;
class MyClassSpec extends LaravelObjectBehavior {
// Test code here...
}
###Testing Eloquent models
You should test your Eloquent models by extending the PhpSpec\Laravel\EloquentModelBehavior
class:
<?php namespace spec;
use PhpSpec\Laravel\EloquentModelBehavior;
class MyPostModelSpec extends EloquentModelBehavior {
public function it_should_have_comments()
{
$this->comments()->shouldDefineRelationship('hasMany', 'Comment');
}
}
###Accessing the IoC container
You shouldn't need to, but just in case, the booted Laravel IoC container can be accessed like:
<?php
$this->laravel->app['variable'];
in your specs.
##Custom Matchers
Some custom matchers are provided for convenience, feel free to ignore them completely!
###DefineRelationshipMatcher
This matcher lets you check for the existence of a valid Eloquent relationship.
####Usage
should[Not]DefineRelationship('relationshipType', 'Related\Class')
Example
<?php namespace spec;
use PhpSpec\Laravel\EloquentModelBehavior;
class MyPostModelSpec extends EloquentModelBehavior {
public function it_should_have_comments()
{
$this->comments()->shouldDefineRelationship('hasMany', 'Comment');
}
}
##Roadmap
- Improved code generation for Laravel
- More useful Eloquent matchers
- Tests
##Further reading
The following articles/websites have been useful to me when developing this extension:
- This open issue on the PHPSpec repo was a good help and is an interesting read
- Taylor Otwell's video on DI and unit testing in Laravel
- Laracasts has a few posts and guides on PHPSpec and Laravel
- This tutorial has some useful information on setting up your database for testing