How to choose which PHPUnit tests to run in Laravel 3.x?

Question

I'm using php artisan test to execute my tests, but now I'm having too many of them and I'd like to be able to choose which one to run. I am familiar with test groups in PHPUnit, I just don't know how to apply this in the case of Laravel, since phpunit.xml is dynamically generated here.

Thanks

Answer 1

You can group PHPUnit tests with the @group annotation. I suspect you can refer to this group from artisan as well: http://laravel.com/docs/artisan/commands#unit-tests

You can put the @group on the test-class, or just a test-method. You can put multiple groups on a class/method. This way you can organize them.

Answer 2

It isn't possible to do this without modifying several of Laravel's core files. I was in need of this functionality desperately, and so went ahead and added the functionality to Laravel.

The following is for Laravel 3: Open up Laravel/cli/tasks/tests/runner.php, and replace the bundle function with the following:

public function bundle($bundles = array())
{
    if (count($bundles) == 0)
    {
        $bundles = Bundle::names();
    }

    $is_bundle = false;
    $this->base_path = path('sys').'cli'.DS.'tasks'.DS.'test'.DS;

    foreach ($bundles as $bundle)
    {
        // To run PHPUnit for the application, bundles, and the framework
        // from one task, we'll dynamically stub PHPUnit.xml files via
        // the task and point the test suite to the correct directory
        // based on what was requested.
        if (is_dir($path = Bundle::path($bundle).'tests'))
        {
            $this->stub($path);

            $this->test();
            $is_bundle = true;
        }
    }

    if (!$is_bundle)
    {
        $this->stub($path);

        // Run a specific test group
        $this->test($bundles[0], $bundles[1]);
    }
}

Then, replace the test function with the following:

protected function test($group = null, $file = null)
{
    // We'll simply fire off PHPUnit with the configuration switch
    // pointing to our requested configuration file. This allows
    // us to flexibly run tests for any setup.
    $path = 'phpunit.xml';

    // fix the spaced directories problem when using the command line
    // strings with spaces inside should be wrapped in quotes.
    $esc_path = escapeshellarg($path);

    $group_string = '';

    if ($group)
    {
        $group_string = '--group ' . $group . ' ';

        if ($file)
        {
            $group_string .= path('app') . 'tests/' . $file . '.test.php';
        }
        else
        {
            $group_string .= path('app') . 'tests/' . $group . '.test.php';
        }
    }

    passthru('phpunit --configuration '.$esc_path.' '.$group_string, $status);

    @unlink($path);

    // Pass through the exit status
    exit($status);
}

The solution is a little hacky, but it gets the job done.

In short, to run a specific test group for PHPUnit, run the following from the command line:

php artisan test group_name_here

This will run the group from a file with the same name as the group (groupname.test.php). To run a specific group within a specific file, specify the group name and then the first part of the file name:

php artisan test mygroupname myfilename

You could always add functionality to allow it to run the group name from all files in the directory too, I guess.

I hope this helps anyone else out there that need the functionality :)