ZF1: unit testing of authentication functionality - php

Question

I am new to unit-testing and trying to implement first set of tests for Index controller in Zend Framework 1 application.
In this controller I have a login action that uses Zend_Auth for checking provided user's credentials. I don't quite understand what is the best way to test it:
Create separate test database config. Before making any tests upload SQL file with initial state of the database and set this test database as a default database.
Redefine (somehow) Zend_Auth so that it always return predefined array with user information (or empty array) and test this scenario. I found this implementation in Zend Framework 2, but no for version 1.
I would appreciate any advice and links to projects in ZF1 that have unit testing for authentication and functionality connected with database in general.
UPD
Here is a login action of Index Controller that I'm going to test
public function loginAction()
{
$loginForm = new Form_Login();
$modelUser = new Model_User();
$formData = $this->getRequest()->getPost();
$flashMessenger = $this->_helper->getHelper('FlashMessenger');
if(!empty($formData)){
if($loginForm->isValid($formData)){
$authAdapter = new Zend_Auth_Adapter_DbTable(Zend_Db_Table::getDefaultAdapter());
$authAdapter->setTableName('user')
->setIdentityColumn('email')
->setCredentialColumn('password')
->setCredentialTreatment('MD5(?)');
$authAdapter->setIdentity($formData['form_email']);
$authAdapter->setCredential($formData['form_password']);
$auth = Zend_Auth::getInstance();
$result = $auth->authenticate($authAdapter);
if($result->isValid()) {
$userData = $authAdapter->getResultRowObject();
$modelUser->setTimestamp($userData->user_id);
$this->_processLoggedInUser($userData);
} else {
$loginForm->addError("Incorrect email/password");
}
}
}
//Retrieve Facebook App ID
$this->view->facebookAppId = Zend_Registry::get('facebookAppId');
$this->view->googleClientId = Zend_Registry::get('googleClientId');
$this->view->loginForm = $loginForm;
$this->view->userMsg = $flashMessenger->getMessages();
}
So, I thought, maybe I can use Zend_Test_DbAdapter, set it as a default adapter and make it to return predefined set of data?

Answer 1

I've found out 2 ways to work with db data during unit tests:
1.
public function testStudentLogin()
{
$config = new Zend_Config_Ini(APPLICATION_PATH."/configs/application.ini", APPLICATION_ENV);
$testDatabaseConfig = $config->testDb;
$connection = Zend_Db::factory($testDatabaseConfig);
Zend_Db_Table::setDefaultAdapter($adapter);
$this->request->setMethod('POST');
$this->request->setPost(array('form_email' => 'student', 'form_password' => '123'));
$this->dispatch('/index/login');
$this->assertController('index');
$this->assertAction('login');
$this->assertRedirect('/index/student-professor');
}
So, here you store test db credentials in application.ini. Then you initialise connection to it through adapter and change Zend_Db_Table::setDefaultAdapter.
2.
public function testStudentLogin()
{
$adapter = new Zend_Test_DbAdapter();
$stmt1Rows = array(array('user_id' => 1, 'email' => 'student', 'password' => '202cb962ac59075b964b07152d234b70', 'user_type' => 'consumer', 'zend_auth_credential_match' => 1));
$stmt1 = Zend_Test_DbStatement::createSelectStatement($stmt1Rows);
$adapter->appendStatementToStack($stmt1);
$this->request->setMethod('POST');
$this->request->setPost(array('form_email' => 'student', 'form_password' => '123'));
$this->dispatch('/index/login');
$this->assertController('index');
$this->assertAction('login');
$this->assertRedirect('/index/student-professor');
}
Here you use Zend_Test_DbAdapter where you can predefine what data will be returned. I think that using separate database for test purpose makes your code cleaner, so I'll probably use this approach. If you have other ideas/best practices let me know