Laravel CRUD controller test - php

Question

Basically I have to write tests for many Laravel Controllers most of which are CRUD (read, store, update) and most of the logic is placed inside those(Inherited code, not mine).
What I need to do is automate the testing from a User's perspective. So I need to hit all the endpoints and test against a real database and check if everything turns out well.
I have almost no experience in testing, but from what I gather controllers should be tested with integration / acceptance tests. Now I did fine with testing Read methods by extending Laravel's TestCase, here is one example :
class SongsTest extends TestCase
{
public function testBasicIndex()
{
$arguments = [];
$response = $this->call('GET', '/songs', $arguments);
$this->assertResponseOk();
$this->seeJson();
}
/**
* #dataProvider providerSearchQuery
*/
public function testSearchIndex($query)
{
$arguments = ['srquery' => $query];
$response = $this->call('GET', '/songs', $arguments);
$this->assertResponseOk();
$this->seeJson();
}
public function providerSearchQuery()
{
return array(
array('a'),
array('as%+='),
array('test?Someqsdag8hj$%$')
);
}
public function testGetSongsById()
{
$id = 1;
$response = $this->call('GET', '/songs/' . $id);
$this->assertContains($response->getStatusCode(), [200, 404]);
$this->seeJson();
if($response->getStatusCode() == 404)
{
$content = json_decode($response->getContent());
$this->assertContains($content->message[0], ['Song not found', 'Item not active']);
}
}
}
These tests hit the endpoints and check if the response is 200 and the format is JSON and few other things. These work fine.
What I have problem with is :
Let's say for example we have a UserController, and a method that creates users. After that, said user should be used in TokensController to create a token that should be somehow remembered and used in future tests with token protected requests.
My question :
How do I automate : tests of UserController's store method by creating a real user in a testing database(without mocking), tests of TokensController's store method by using that user's email, testing other controllers with the created token and deleting that once the test is done, so it can be performed once again.
I just cannot conceptualize all that since I haven't really done much testing.

Answer 1

This is an example to use token and user's data for testing -
<?php
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\WithoutMiddleware;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\DatabaseMigrations;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\DatabaseTransactions;
class PostTest extends TestCase
{
use WithoutMiddleware;
public $token = "lrSFMf0DpqRAh4BXTXWHp5VgFTq4CqA68qY3jG2CqvcpNTT6m0y9Qs6OdpSn";
/*
A browser that receives a 302 response code HAS to redirect which means it will take the URL in the response and submit a new request. The result you see in your browser is the redirected page.
Unit testing does not redirect. Your unit test is only doing what you direct it to do. If your unit test should test for the redirect then you evaluate the response and the correct assertion is 302 and not 200.
*/
public function testExample()
{
$this->assertTrue(true);
}
public function testLogin()
{
$this->visit('/')
->type('abc#gmail.com', 'email')
->type('123456', 'password')
->press('Login') // type submit - value / button - lable
->seePageIs('/Wall'); // for redirect url
}
public function testFavourite()
{
$this->testLogin();
$request = [
'user_id' => '172',
'token' => $this->token,
'post_id' => '500'
];
$response = $this->call('POST', '/DoFavoriteDisc',$request);
$this->assertEquals(200, $response->getStatusCode());
}
}
Hope this will help you.