Mock Slim endpoint POST requests with PHPUnit

1

I want to test the endpoints of my Slim application with PHPUnit. I’m struggling to mock POST requests (the request body is always empty).

  • I’ve tried the approach as described here: LINK_OMITTED. (adding the environment variable slim-input)
  • I’ve tried writing to php://input directly, but I’ve found out php://input is read only (the hard way)

The emulation of the environment works correctly as for example the REQUEST_URI is always as expected. I’ve found out that the body of the request is read out in Slim\Http\RequestBody from php://input.

my test code so far:

//inherits from Slim/App
$this->app = new SyncApiApp(); 

// write json to //temp, does not work
$tmp_handle = fopen('php://temp', 'w+');
fwrite($tmp_handle, $json);
rewind($tmp_handle);
fclose($tmp_handle);

//override environment
$this->app->container["environment"] =
    Environment::mock(
        [
            'REQUEST_METHOD' => 'POST',
            'REQUEST_URI' => '/1.0/' . $relativeLink,
            'slim.input' => $json,
            'SERVER_NAME' => 'localhost',
            'CONTENT_TYPE' => 'application/json;charset=utf8'
        ]
    );

 //run the application
 $response = $this->app->run();
 //result: the correct endpoint is reached, but $request->getBody() is empty

My test code on github (be aware that I’ve simplified the code in the example): LINK_OMITTED

Notes:

  • I want to avoid calling the controller methods directly, so I can test everything, including endpoints.
  • I want to avoid guzzle because it sends an actual request. I do not want to have a server running while testing the application.
  • I’ve posted the exact same question to stackoverflow 2 days ago: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40867377/mock-slim-endpoint-post-requests-with-phpunit. I hope you’re not mad about this, and I promise to keep both sites up to date :slight_smile: You’ll find there all the omitted links too
  • I’d be very open for suggestions on how to improve the architecture of the application if something caches your attention
2

I’m quite inexperienced when it comes to PHPUnit, but have you read through Testing Slim Framework Actions?

3

I’m aware of this blog post, but unfortunately it uses the query parameters to submit the “infomation” rather than the body of a POST request.

PHPUnit is for testing purposes, its a framework which basically executes one test method at a time, and evaluates some assert statements. It therefore allows me to test some methods from my Slim application.

4

I’ve started using PHPUnit a bit, so I know what it is, but I’m just getting started. Perhaps a ping to @geggleto, @silentworks, @JoeBengalen r @akrabat as I bet one of them can help steer you in the right direction.

5

I’ve read now large parts of the source code (which is not that large to be honest), and I personally see no way this would work with the current set up. I’ve implemented the functionality with a new environment variable and will try my luck with a pull request today.

6

I’ve create a pull request for a patch which would enable the feature: https://github.com/slimphp/Slim/pull/2086
As there are some other open, unanswered pull requests it is probably gonna take some time till it gets accepted/rejected. Thanks for your help :slight_smile:

7

I’m so sorry for being late to the party…

I had written something up for mocking Slim Requests… http://glenneggleton.com/page/slim-unit-testing
Akrabat also has a page on it here… https://akrabat.com/testing-slim-framework-actions/

8

Thanks! It needs some more time to setup, but nonetheless works better than my solution, as one does not need to introduce a new “magic” key into the environment. My solution:

//setup environment vals to create request
$env = Environment::mock();
$uri = Uri::createFromString('/1.0/' . $relativeLink);
$headers = Headers::createFromEnvironment($env);
$cookies = [];
$serverParams = $env->all();
$body = new RequestBody();
$uploadedFiles = UploadedFile::createFromEnvironment($env);
$request = new Request('GET', $uri, $headers, $cookies, $serverParams, $body, $uploadedFiles);

//write request data
$request->write(json_encode([ 'key' => 'val' ]));
$request->getBody()->rewind();
//set method & content type
$request = $request->withHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
$request = $request->withMethod('POST');

//execute request
$app = new App();
$resOut = $app($request, new Response());
$resOut->getBody()->rewind();

$this->assertEquals('full response text', $resOut->getBody()->getContents());
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9

My current solution is to just grab the Request object from the container, modify it then just pass it into whatever controller I am trying to test. :thumbsup:

10

For the record, I’ve followed http://lzakrzewski.com/2016/02/integration-testing-with-slim/ which is working really well for me.

1 Like
11

It should be noted that this will NOT run middleware during unit testing, I had to:
$app->process($request, $response)
in order for jwt middleware to work, for example.