Fixtures' references disapearing after one test - php

Question

In my LoadFixture.php, I add reference to all my fixtures like this :
public function load(ObjectManager $manager) {
$user = new user("Dummy");
$this->persist($user);
$this->addReference("user", $user);
}
In my test class I load them like this :
public function setUp() {
if(self::$do_setup){
$this->loadFixtures(array(
"Bundle\\Tests\\Fixtures\\LoadUser"
)) ;
}
}
In my tests I use them like this :
public function testOne() {
$client = $this->createClient($this->getReference("user_a"));
$client->request('GET', '/');
$this->assertStatusCode(200, $client);
self::$do_setup=false;
}
public function testTwo() {
$client = $this->createClient($this->getReference("user_a"));
$client->request('GET', '/home');
$this->assertStatusCode(200, $client);
}
The thing is, technically, I dont need to use setUp() for each test, so I use $do_setup and a if to execute setUp if needed.
But if I dont execute the setUp() in my testTwo, while my fixtures are in my database, $this->getReference("user_a") is giving me an error :
Call to a member function getReferenceRepository() on a non-object
How can I solve that ?
UPDATE
I have found a solution. So I post it here, just in case someone face the same problem as me.
Many thanks to #Damien Flament for his answer, regarding the fact that the TestCase is deleted after each test.
I changed the name of my setUp() method to open(), and my tearDown() method to close().
The first method of the class call the open() method, and now return $this.
The next method is annoted #depends testOne and take a parameter.
With this parameter I can use my references again.
Ex :
// new setUp Metod
public function open() {
if(self::$do_setup){
$this->loadFixtures(array(
"Bundle\\Tests\\Fixtures\\LoadUser"
)) ;
}
}
//new tearDown method
public function close() {
$this->getContainer()->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager')->getConnection()->close();
}
public function testOne() {
$this->open();
$client = $this->createClient($this->getReference("user_a"));
$client->request('GET', '/');
$this->assertStatusCode(200, $client);
return $this;
}
/**
* #depends testOne
*/
public function testTwo($it) {
$client = $this->createClient($it->getReference("user_a"));
$client->request('GET', '/home');
$this->assertStatusCode(200, $client);
return $it;
}
/**
* #depends testTwo
*/
public function testThree($it) {
$client = $this->createClient($it->getReference("user_a"));
$client->request('GET', '/about');
$this->assertStatusCode(200, $client);
$this->close();
}

Answer 1

I think the TestCase object is deleted and recreated by PHPUnit (I didn't read the PHPUnit source code, but I think it's the more easy way to reset the testing environment for each test).
So your object (probably referenced by a test class object attribute) is probably garbage collected.
To setup fixture once per test class, use the TestCase::setUpBeforeClass() method.
See documention on "Sharing fixtures".