Laravel test class property not persisting - php

Question

I'm trying to set a sensorId property that will be used by every method in my feature test. The problem is that it is not persisting between tests.
Here is my test class:
class LogApiPostTest extends TestCase
{
public $sensorId;
public function setUp(): void
{
parent::setUp();
$this->sensorId = 'SEN' . rand(10000000, 999999999);
}
public function test_creates_sensor()
{
$response = $this->post('/api/logs', $this->data([
//
]));
$response->assertStatus(200);
$response->assertSeeText('Sensor created');
}
public function test_updates_sensor()
{
$response = $this->post('/api/logs', $this->data([
//
]));
$response->assertStatus(200);
$response->assertSeeText('Sensor updated');
}
public function test_creates_car()
{
$response = $this->post('/api/logs', $this->data([
'CarID' => 'B',
]));
$response->assertStatus(200);
$response->assertSeeText('Car created');
}
public function test_updates_car()
{
$response = $this->post('/api/logs', $this->data([
'CarID' => 'B',
]));
$response->assertStatus(200);
$response->assertSeeText('Car updated');
}
public function test_is_unauthorized()
{
$response = $this->post('/api/logs', $this->data([
'token_id' => 'thisShouldntWork',
]));
$response->assertUnauthorized();
}
public function data($merge = [])
{
return array_merge([
'token_id' => config('api.token'),
'sensorID' => $this->sensorId,
'CarID' => 'A',
'LogType' => 'CarLog',
'Time' => time(),
'DrctnFlr' => '-02',
'MCSS' => 'STB',
'OpMode' => 'INA',
'DoorStats' => '][**',
'DoorCmd' => 'C6:C1>',
'OCSS' => 'GTN02',
'Load' => '002%',
], $merge);
}
}
I just want the sensorId property to persist for all tests in this class.

Answer 1

When there is a dependency between tests, you must use the #depends annotation.
This allows to ensure the execution order of tests is correct and also to pass values between tests. Instead of making sensorId to persist, just pass it from test to test.
https://phpunit.readthedocs.io/en/9.5/writing-tests-for-phpunit.html#test-dependencies