HTTP Feature Testing

Feature testing allows you to view the results of a single call to your application. This might be returning the results of a single web form, hitting an API endpoint, and more. This is handy because it allows you to test the entire life-cycle of a single request, ensuring that the routing works, the response is the correct format, analyze the results, and more.

The Test Class
Requesting a Page
Checking the Response

The Test Class 

Feature testing requires that all of your test classes use the CodeIgniter\Test\DatabaseTestTrait and CodeIgniter\Test\FeatureTestTrait traits. Since these testing tools rely on proper database staging you must always ensure that parent::setUp() and parent::tearDown() are called if you implement your own methods.

<?php

namespace App;

use CodeIgniter\Test\DatabaseTestTrait;
use CodeIgniter\Test\FeatureTestTrait;

class TestFoo extends CIUnitTestCase
{
    use DatabaseTestTrait;
    use FeatureTestTrait;

    protected function setUp(): void
    {
        parent::setUp();

        $this->myClassMethod();
    }

    protected function tearDown(): void
    {
        parent::tearDown();

        $this->anotherClassMethod();
    }
}

Requesting a Page 

Essentially, feature tests simply allows you to call an endpoint on your application and get the results back. To do this, you use the call() method.

The first parameter is the HTTP method to use (most frequently either GET or POST).
The second parameter is the URI path on your site to test.
The third parameter $params accepts an array that is used to populate the superglobal variables for the HTTP verb you are using. So, a method of GET would have the $_GET variable populated, while a POST request would have the $_POST array populated. The $params is also used in Formatting the Request.

Note

The $params array does not make sense for every HTTP verb, but is included for consistency.

<?php

// Get a simple page
$result = $this->call('get', '/');

// Submit a form
$result = $this->call('post', 'contact', [
    'name'  => 'Fred Flintstone',
    'email' => '[email protected]',
]);

Shorthand Methods 

Shorthand methods for each of the HTTP verbs exist to ease typing and make things clearer:

<?php

$this->get($path, $params);
$this->post($path, $params);
$this->put($path, $params);
$this->patch($path, $params);
$this->delete($path, $params);
$this->options($path, $params);

Setting Different Routes 

You can use a custom collection of routes by passing an array of “routes” into the withRoutes() method. This will override any existing routes in the system:

<?php

$routes = [
    ['get', 'users', 'UserController::list'],
];

$result = $this->withRoutes($routes)->get('users');

Each of the “routes” is a 3 element array containing the HTTP verb (or “add” for all), the URI to match, and the routing destination.

Setting Session Values 

You can set custom session values to use during a single test with the withSession() method. This takes an array of key/value pairs that should exist within the $_SESSION variable when this request is made, or null to indicate that the current values of $_SESSION should be used. This is handy for testing authentication and more.

<?php

$values = [
    'logged_in' => 123,
];

$result = $this->withSession($values)->get('admin');

// Or...

$_SESSION['logged_in'] = 123;

$result = $this->withSession()->get('admin');

Setting Headers 

You can set header values with the withHeaders() method. This takes an array of key/value pairs that would be passed as a header into the call:

<?php

$headers = [
    'CONTENT_TYPE' => 'application/json',
];

$result = $this->withHeaders($headers)->post('users');

Bypassing Events 

Events are handy to use in your application, but can be problematic during testing. Especially events that are used to send out emails. You can tell the system to skip any event handling with the skipEvents() method:

<?php

$result = $this->skipEvents()->post('users', $userInfo);

Formatting the Request 

You can set the format of your request’s body using the withBodyFormat() method. Currently this supports either json or xml. This is useful when testing JSON or XML APIs so that you can set the request in the form that the controller will expect.

This will take the parameters passed into call(), post(), get()… and assign them to the body of the request in the given format.

This will also set the Content-Type header for your request accordingly.

<?php

// If your feature test contains this:
$result = $this->withBodyFormat('json')->post('users', $userInfo);

// Your controller can then get the parameters passed in with:
$userInfo = $this->request->getJson();

Setting the Body 

You can set the body of your request with the withBody() method. This allows you to format the body how you want to format it. It is recommended that you use this if you have more complicated XMLs to test.

This will not set the Content-Type header for you. If you need that, you can set it with the withHeaders() method.

Checking the Response 

FeatureTestTrait::call() returns an instance of a TestResponse. See Testing Responses on how to use this class to perform additional assertions and verification in your test cases.