CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cakephpmodelphpunit
alairock
alairock

Reputation: 1934

CakePHP UnitTest a method which calls another model

I'm writing a variety of Model Tests in CakePHP (PHPUnit)

In TravisCI, I get something like: "Base table or view not found: 1146 Table 'test.events' In Cake's test runner I get an assertion failure.

The problem I am having is there are methods in my ModelClasses that I am trying to test which call other models with App::uses. For example:

Method on User model:

public function getOtherData() {
    App::uses('Event', 'Model');
    $this->Event = new Event;
    return $this->Event->find('all');
}

And the test:

public function testGetOtherData() {
    $result = $this->User->getOtherData();
    $this->assertTrue(!empty($result));
}

Note the above example is just that. An example, simplified to show the problem. I understand that the above example has better 'cake' ways of doing it.

Also, I am using defining required fixtures and they work just fine. (I know this by another method in the model which uses a join in the find, instead of App::Uses())

EDIT: The code when run works, BUT the UnitTest is looking for the other models data (When using App::uses) in the default database, and not the test database. Why doesn't it use the test database? Am I missing something?

LAST NOTE

Using App::uses() and then instantiating the class will work at runtime. But during testing it will fail, as it attempts to use the default database connection, instead of the test database connection.

Per the selected answer, rather than using App::uses, Cakes built in class registry, ClassRegistry::init('Model', true);, you can include a Model from inside another model method.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 590

Answers (1)

Kaia Leahy
Kaia Leahy

Reputation: 325

It's not generally a good idea to instantiate an object in the middle of your functions using the new statement. This is why -- there's no way to block or redirect that call. Also, it's not necessarily easy to get the right parameters to the object's constructor when it's in the middle of another function, so it's best to keep that code separate.

The right way to do this is to use a different method call to get your object. If you use Cake's ClassRegistry::init() to create model objects, they should use the test database.

If you need to create other non-Cake objects, it's best to create them using some other function, e.g. $this->fetchMeOneOThemEventThingies(). Then, during testing, you can mock out that function and have it return something else. Or, you could use some other DI container like pimple, which will take the same role as Cake's ClassRegistry.

If you need a mock model object for testing, be sure to pass the appropriate arguments to the model's constructor as the third parameter to getMock(), or it may use the production database.

Upvotes: 1

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