TestData module

Maintainer

Mateusz Uzdowski

Requirements

SilverStripe 3 (master) SilverStripe 2.4.x (branch 2.4)

Installation

Include the module folder in your project root folder and rename it to "testdata"
Flush the manifest (?flush=1)

Features

Allows easy injection of the test data via Yaml files
Data is added on top of the current database
The test data can then be added, updated or removed
Test data can be broken down into chunks, separate Yaml files are allowed and can be added on the fly
Original YamlFixture class is overriden to allow for circular references within yml files
Creates dummy files (either empty, or content copied from file with matchin name)

Usage

You can obtain the help message by calling the following:

sapphire/sake dev/data

You can also access the module via your browser. Log in as admin and make sure your site is in the dev mode. Then visit:

<site_url>/dev/data

Basic workflow

TestData Yaml files should be added /mysite/testdata directory. The names are case insensitive and they need to have .yml extension. The format of these files is the same as for SapphireTest, so you can freely copy them between one and the other.

Let's start with something simple. In the data directory, create a file named media.yml:

Page:
	page:
		Title: Media Releases
	release1:
		Title: Double rainbow seen over Wellington
		Parent: =>Page.page

To add this data, run:

dev/data/load/media

Then if you'd like to add some modifications, you can edit the file:

Page:
	page:
		Title: Media Releases
	release1:
		Title: Triple rainbow seen over Wellington
		Content: Really! Saw it with me own eyes!
		Parent: =>Page.page
	release2:
		Title: The claim about double rainbow is a hoax
		Parent: =>Page.page

To update the data, run the command again:

dev/data/load/media

When you are done, you can remove all data by using:

dev/data/reset

And that's basically it.

Dummy files

The files will be automatically created (touched) by the module so they are at least available.

If you place a file in /mysite/testdata/files with the same name as the one in your dummy fixture, the content will be automatically copied to the newly created file.

Dev notes

Do not use this functionality on live.
The records are tracked on the basis of the Yaml filename and the Yaml handle, so you need to be aware that if you change any of these, TestData will think that you have added new records.
Because of the above, you can update test records as long as you retain the filename and the Yaml handle. Their IDs will be retained, so your relations will stay intact.
TestData will automatically publish versioned objects to Live, and remove them from both stages, so you don't have to do it manually.
From the project perspective, we find it useful to keep a dummy.yml with data used for dev and testing, so everyone is at least using the same baseline. Apart from that, ia.yml is useful for keeping a clean IA for initial loading to the production server and for the client.

ohararyan/silverstripe-testdata