Writing tests for controllers with forms - php

Question

Ever since I started using Zend Framework 3, I had problems with testing my controllers. I'm trying to test my controllers with PhpUnit 5.7 and my controllers depend on Zend Form, which is hydrated with Doctrine's DoctrineObject.
I'm trying to put this as simple as possible, so here's a minimal example of a setup that's giving me headaches:
Controller:
class IndexController extends AbstractActionController {
private $form;
public function __construct(AlbumForm $form) {
$this->form = $form;
}
public function indexAction() {
return ['form' => $this-form];
}
}
ControllerFactory:
class IndexControllerFactory implements FactoryInterface {
public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, ...) {
$formManager = $container->get('FormElementManager');
return new IndexController($formManager->get(AlbumForm::class));
}
}
The corresponding view template in albums/index/index.phtml:
<?php
$this->form->prepare();
$this->form->setAttribute('action', $this->url(null, [], true));
$albumFieldset = $this->form->get('album');
?>
<?= $this->form()->openTag($this-form) ?>
<div class="form-group">
<?= $this->formRow($albumFieldset->get('name')) ?>
</div>
<?= $this->form()->closeTag() ?>
The form:
class AlbumForm extends Form {
public function init() {
$this->add([
'name' => 'albumFieldset',
'type' => AlbumFieldset::class,
'options' => [
'use_as_base_fieldset' => true,
],
]);
}
}
The fieldset:
class AlbumFieldset extends Fieldset {
public function init() {
$this->add([
'name' => 'name',
'type' => Text::class,
'options' => [
'label' => 'Name of album',
],
]);
}
}
The FieldsetFactory:
class AlbumFieldsetFactory implements FactoryInterface {
public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, ...) {
$objectManager = $container->get(ObjectManager::class);
$fieldset = new AlbumFieldset();
$fieldset->setHydrator(new DoctrineObject($objectManager));
$fieldset->setObject(new Album());
return $fieldset;
}
}
Now, so far everything is working great.
However, when writing tests for this I run into troubles. Let me first show you what I have so far:
class IndexControllerTest extends AbstractHttpControllerTestCase {
protected function setUp() {
parent::setUp();
$this->configureServiceManager($this->getApplicationServiceLocator());
}
private function configureServiceManager(ServiceManager $services) {
$services->setAllowOverride(true);
$services->setService(ObjectManager::class, $this->mockObjectManager()->reveal());
$services->setService('FormElementManager', $this->mockFormManager()->reveal());
$services->setAllowOverride(false);
}
private $objectManager;
private function mockObjectManager() {
$this->objectManager = $this->prophesize(ObjectManager::class);
return $this->objectManager;
}
private $formManager;
private function mockFormManager() {
$this->formManager = $this->prophesize(FormElementManager::class);
$this->formManager->get(AlbumForm::class)->willReturn($this->mockForm()->reveal());
return $this->formManager;
}
private $form;
private function mockForm() {
$this->form = $this->prophesize(AlbumForm::class);
$this->form->prepare()->willReturn(null);
$this->form->setAttribute('action', Argument::type('string'))->willReturn(null);
$this->form->getAttributes()->willReturn([]);
$this->form->get('album')->willReturn($this->mockAlbumFieldset()->reveal());
return $this->form;
}
private $albumFieldset;
private function mockAlbumFieldset() {
$this->albumFieldset = $this->prophesize(AlbumFieldset::class);
$this->albumFieldset->get('name')->willReturn($this->mockName()->reveal());
return $this->albumFieldset;
}
private $name;
private function mockName() {
$this->name = $this->prophesize(Text::class);
$this->name->getLabel()->willReturn('label');
$this->name->getLabelAttributes()->willReturn(['for' => 'name']);
$this->name->getLabelOption('disable_html_escape')->willReturn(false);
$this->name->getLabelOption('always_wrap')->willReturn(false);
$this->name->getLabelOption('label_position')->willReturn('prepend');
$this->name->getName('album[name]');
$this->name->getAttribute('type')->willReturn('text');
$this->name->hasAttribute('id')->willReturn(true);
$this->name->getAttribute('id')->willReturn('name');
$this->name->getAttributes([])->willReturn([]);
$this->name->getValue()->willReturn(null);
$this->name->getMessages()->willReturn([]);
return $this->name;
}
}
This will eventually run without errors. However, I would like to draw your attention to the last few methods, especially mockName(). Most of those definitions are totally default and almost none of them are specified in AlbumFieldset in the beginning (only name is). It is very annoying to write them down for every form input I may have and writing this down actually introduces more errors than it solves. For example, I'm still not sure what the correct label option for always_wrap would be. I actually don't even care about that option, but I have to write something about it in my test, because otherwise the test fails with 'Prophecy\Exception\Call\UnexpectedCallException' with message 'Method call: - getLabelOption("always_wrap") on Double\Zend\Form\Element\Text\P245 was not expected, expected calls were: ....
Therefore, I'm asking you: is there any better way to go about this? A way that does not involve writing 20+ rows for every field I have in my fieldset. If it involves rewriting my controllers/fieldsets/view templates (etc.), that would totally be fine!
Any help is greatly appreciated! Also, this is my very first time asking something in a forum in over eight years of programming, so please bear with me if anything is unclear.
Yours
Steffen
PS: What I have already tried is to give the IndexController null instead of an actual form and simply abort the view template when it detects that the form is null. However, while that worked without that much setup, I was basically just avoiding the view template's logic. Because of that, I was not able to detect errors in the view template. That's not what I want.

Answer 1

edit IndexControllerTest: Change private as protected elsewhere and extends it for your new fields. Each new controller must overwrite methods calling parent::methodname($args) and add the needed code...