How to Run Laravel Database Seeder from PHPUnit Test setUp?

Question

I am trying to recreate the database before each test in some PHPUnit test cases. I am using Laravel 5.3. Here is TestCase:

class CourseTypesTest extends TestCase
{
    public function setUp()
    {
        parent::setUp();
        Artisan::call('migrate');
        Artisan::call('db:seed', ['--class' => 'TestDatabaseSeeder ', '--database' => 'testing']);
    }

    /**
     * A basic functional test example.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function test_list_course_types()
    {
        $httpRequest = $this->json('GET', '/api/course-types');
        $httpRequest->assertResponseOk();
        $httpRequest->seeJson();

    }

    public function tearDown()
    {
        Artisan::call('migrate:reset');
        parent::tearDown();
    }
}

Running phpunit fails with error:

$ phpunit PHPUnit 5.7.5 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.

E 1 / 1 (100%)

Time: 2.19 seconds, Memory: 12.00MB

There was 1 error:

1) CourseTypesTest::test_list_course_types ReflectionException: Class TestDatabaseSeeder does not exist

D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php:749 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php:644 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Application.php:709 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Console\Seeds\SeedCommand.php:74 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Console\Seeds\SeedCommand.php:63 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model.php:2292 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Console\Seeds\SeedCommand.php:64 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php:508 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Console\Command.php:169 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\symfony\console\Command\Command.php:254 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Console\Command.php:155 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\symfony\console\Application.php:821 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\symfony\console\Application.php:187 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\symfony\console\Application.php:118 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Console\Application.php:107 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Console\Kernel.php:218 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Support\Facades\Facade.php:237 D:\www\learn-laravel\my-folder-api\tests\rest\CourseTypesTest.php:17

ERRORS! Tests: 1, Assertions: 0, Errors: 1.

but this class exists:

Answer 1

The problem is empty space in your --class argument. If you take close look at array '--class' => 'TestDatabaseSeeder ' there is space in the end ... this is the problem. Change it to '--class' => 'TestDatabaseSeeder' and it should work fine.

Answer 2

The DatabaseSeeder can be instantiated on its own, and its call method is public.

All you need to do in your CourseTypesTest class would be

(new DatabaseSeeder())->call(TestDatabaseSeeder::class);

Or you can make use of Laravel's app helper as follow

app(DatabaseSeeder::class)->call(TestDatabaseSeeder::class);

Answer 3

Since version 5.8 you can do:

// Run the DatabaseSeeder...
$this->seed();

// Run a single seeder...
$this->seed(OrderStatusesTableSeeder::class);

Take a look at the documentation