Tester Laravel Package

Getting Started

Start by installing nette/tester via Composer: composer require --dev nette/tester. Create a tests directory and write your first test as a PHP file ending in Test.php (e.g., tests/ExampleTest.php). Within, define test cases using the test() global function (enabled by including the autoloader and calling Environment::setupFunctions() or relying on auto-bootstrapping):

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use Nette\Tester\Assert;

test('addition works', function () {
    Assert::same(2 + 2, 4);
});

Run all tests with vendor/bin/tester tests. For rapid feedback, use --watch mode (vendor/bin/tester --watch tests) to rerun affected tests on file changes.

Implementation Patterns

• Functional & Unit Tests Together: Use test() for simple functional tests and TestCase classes for stateful, lifecycle-aware tests (e.g., when needing setUp(), tearDown(), or data providers).
• Data Providers: Use @dataProvider annotation or pass an array to test('name', callback, $data) to DRY repeated assertions.
• HTML DOM Assertions: Use DomQuery toassert on HTML output—ideal for testing rendered views or HTTP responses:

  $html = '<div><p>Hello</p></div>';
  $q = new DomQuery($html);
  Assert::equal('Hello', $q->find('p')->text());
  

• Parallel Testing: Enable parallel execution with -j N (e.g., -j 4) for speed—now fully supported on Windows since v2.6.0.
• Code Coverage: Run vendor/bin/tester --coverage src --coverage-src src tests to generate HTML/Clover coverage reports—works with PCOV (preferred) and Xdebug.
• Async & CLI Testing: Use Runner::addAsyncTest() or run CLI scripts with PhpInterpreter for isolated process testing.

Gotchas and Tips

• System php.ini by default: Since v2.6.0, Tester respects your system php.ini—disable with --no-ini or Environment::setupFunctions(['phpIni' => false]) if relying on dev-only settings.
• tearDown() runs on failure: Finally fixed in v2.6.0—verify cleanup logic actually runs even when tests throw; avoid assumptions about order without explicit setup.
• test() vs TestCase: test() functions do not support data providers—use TestCase::data() or the newer test('name', callback, $data) form for parametrized tests.
• Watch mode quirks: Paths must be absolute; --watch uses filemtime, so don’t manually touch files. Silent errors during reload can be debugged with -v.
• Coverage: PCOV > Xdebug: Prefer PCOV—it's faster, works out-of-the-box with Tester, and integrates cleanly with CI. Disable Xdebug’s collect_includes.
• FileMock pitfalls: Always call FileMock::cleanup() in tearDown() when using FileMock to avoid stray temp files across runs.
• Console output: Use Dumper::dump() for debugging—not var_dump()—it’s PHPUnit/Xdebug-friendly, supports color, and handles recursions gracefully. In PhpStorm, install Awesome Console for clickable stack trace links.