Protected Properties PHP Laravel - php

Question

How can access properties of a protected object PHP while writing tests. Below is my sample code.
TestCase.php The test fails to run saying that the property is protected. But it can die dumped.
<?php
namespace Tests;
use Illuminate\Http\Response;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\TestCase as BaseTestCase;
abstract class TestCase extends BaseTestCase
{
use CreatesApplication;
public function getAuthUser()
{
$payload = [
'email' => 'admin#gamil.nl',
'password' => 'password',
];
return $this->json('post', 'api/v1/auth/login', $payload)
->assertStatus(Response::HTTP_OK);
}
}
my sample test
<?php
namespace Tests\Unit;
use Tests\TestCase;
use Illuminate\Http\Response;
class PatientsControllerTest extends TestCase
{
/**
* A basic unit test patient controller.
*
* #return void
*/
public function testPatientFetch()
{
$auth_user = $this->getAuthUser();
dd($auth_user->data);
}
}
my sample code
<?php
namespace Tests\Unit;
use Tests\TestCase;
use Illuminate\Http\Response;
class PatientsControllerTest extends TestCase
{
/**
* A basic unit test patient controller.
*
* #return void
*/
public function testPatientFetch()
{
$auth_user = $this->getAuthUser();
dd($auth_user->data);
}
}
Error received
FAIL Tests\Unit\PatientsControllerTest
⨯ patient fetch
---
• Tests\Unit\PatientsControllerTest > patient fetch
PHPUnit\Framework\ExceptionWrapper
Cannot access protected property Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse::$data
at vendor/phpunit/phpunit/phpunit:98
94▕ unset($options);
95▕
96▕ require PHPUNIT_COMPOSER_INSTALL;
97▕
➜ 98▕ PHPUnit\TextUI\Command::main();
99▕
Tests: 1 failed
Time: 1.05s

Answer 1

You can access and manipulate protected variables with ReflectionClass.
Please try this:
$user = $this->getAuthUser();
$reflectionClass = new ReflectionClass($user);
//If we assume we have a protected variable $data we can get access it with Reflection Class
$property = $reflectionClass->getProperty('data');
$property->setAccessible(true); //Here we are making protected variables accessible
$property->setValue($user, 'New Protected Data');

Answer 2

create getter function for $data
public function get_data(){
return $this->data;
}
unit test to test functions and not properties