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Capturing Human Intelligence - ApprovalTests is an open source assertion/verification library to aid unit testing.
It is compatible with PHPUnit
Approval Tests can be used for verifying objects that require more than a simple assert. They also come prepackaged with utilities for some common scenarios including
- HashMaps & Collections
- Long Strings
- Log Files
- Xml
- Html
- Json (see features)
It's on Packagist; search for 'approval-tests'. If you're using Composer, you can add it as follows:
composer req --dev approvals/approval-testsYou can watch a bunch of short videos on getting started and using ApprovalTests at YouTube. These cover approval tests in Java and .NET, but the same concepts apply.
If you prefer auditory learning, you might enjoy the following podcast (Note: Some of these talk about the .Net and Java side)
ApprovalTests eats it own dogfood, so the best examples are in the source code itself.
None the less, Here's a quick look at some Sample Code
class ApprovalTest extends TestCase
{
public function testVerifyArray()
{
$list = ['zero', 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];
Approvals::verifyList($list);
}Will Produce a File
[0] -> zero
[1] -> one
[2] -> two
[3] -> three
[4] -> four
[5] -> fiveSimply rename this to ApprovalTest.testVerifyArray.approved.txt and the test will now pass.
The *.approved.* files must be checked into source your source control.
This can be an issue with git as it will change the line endings.
The suggested fix is to add
*.approved.* binary to your .gitattributes
twitter: @LlewellynFalco or @notthatjoshkel or #ApprovalTests