Chapter 4. The Command-Line Test Runner

The PHPUnit command-line test runner can be invoked through the phpunit command. The following code shows how to run tests with the PHPUnit command-line test runner:

phpunit ArrayTest
PHPUnit 2.3.0 by Sebastian Bergmann.

..

Time: 0.067288

OK (2 tests)

For each test run, the PHPUnit command-line tool prints one character to indicate progress:

.

Printed when the test succeeds.

F

Printed when an assertion fails while running the test method.

E

Printed when an error occurs while running the test method.

I

Printed when the test is marked as being incomplete or not yet implemented (see Chapter 7).

PHPUnit distinguishes between failures and errors. A failure is a violated PHPUnit assertion. An error is an unexpected exception or a PHP error. Sometimes this distinction proves useful since errors tend to be easier to fix than failures. If you have a big list of problems, it is best to tackle the errors first and see if you have any failures left when they are all fixed.

Let's take a look at the command-line test runner's switches in the following code:

phpunit --help
PHPUnit 2.3.0 by Sebastian Bergmann.

Usage: phpunit [switches] UnitTest [UnitTest.php]
  --coverage-data <file> Write Code Coverage data in raw format to file.
  --coverage-html <file> Write Code Coverage data in HTML format to file.
  --coverage-text <file> Write Code Coverage data in text format to file.

  --testdox-html <file>  Write agile documentation in HTML format to file.
  --testdox-text <file>  Write agile documentation in Text format to file.
  --log-xml <file>       Log test progress in XML format to file.

  --loader <loader>      TestSuiteLoader implementation to use.

  --skeleton             Generate skeleton UnitTest class for Unit in Unit.php.

  --wait                 Waits for a keystroke after each test.

  --help                 Prints this usage information.
  --version              Prints the version and exits.
phpunit UnitTest

Runs the tests that are provided by the class UnitTest. This class is expected to be declared in the UnitTest.php sourcefile.

UnitTest must be either a class that inherits from PHPUnit2_Framework_TestCase or a class that provides a public static suite() method which returns an PHPUnit2_Framework_Test object, for example an instance of the PHPUnit2_Framework_TestSuite class.

phpunit UnitTest UnitTest.php

Runs the tests that are provided by the class UnitTest. This class is expected to be declared in the specified sourcefile.

--coverage-data, --coverage-html, and --coverage-text

Control the collection and analysis of Code Coverage information for the tests that are run. (See Chapter 9.)

--testdox-html and --testdox-text

Generates agile documentation in HTML or plain text format for the tests that are run. (See Chapter 11.)

--log-xml

Generates a logfile in XML format for the tests run.

The following example shows the XML logfile generated for the tests in ArrayTest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<testsuites>
  <testsuite name="ArrayTest" tests="2" failures="0" errors="0" time="0.020026">
    <testcase name="testNewArrayIsEmpty" class="ArrayTest" time="0.014449"/>
    <testcase name="testArrayContainsAnElement" class="ArrayTest" time="0.005577"/>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>

This XML logfile was generated for two tests, testFailure and testError, of a test-case class named FailureErrorTest and shows how failures and errors are denoted.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<testsuites>
  <testsuite name="FailureErrorTest" tests="2" failures="1" errors="1" time="0.013603">
    <testcase name="testFailure" class="FailureErrorTest" time="0.011872">
      <failure message="" type="PHPUnit2_Framework_AssertionFailedError"></failure>
    </testcase>
    <testcase name="testError" class="FailureErrorTest" time="0.001731">
      <error message="" type="Exception"></error>
    </testcase>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>
--loader

Specifies the PHPUnit2_Runner_TestSuiteLoader implementation to use.

The standard test suite loader will look for the sourcefile in the current working directory and in each directory that is specified in PHP's include_path configuration directive. Following the PEAR Naming Conventions, a class name such as Project_Package_Class is mapped to the sourcefile name Project/Package/Class.php.

--skeleton

Generates a skeleton test-case class UnitTest (in UnitTest.php) for a class Unit (in Unit.php). For each method in the original class, there will be an incomplete test-case (see Chapter 7) in the generated test-case class.

The following example shows how to generate a a skeleton test class for a class named Sample.

phpunit --skeleton Sample
PHPUnit 2.3.0 by Sebastian Bergmann.

Wrote test class skeleton for Sample to SampleTest.php.

phpunit SampleTest
PHPUnit 2.3.0 by Sebastian Bergmann.

I

Time: 0.007268
There was 1 incomplete test case:
1) testSampleMethod(SampleTest)


OK, but incomplete test cases!!!
Tests run: 1, incomplete test cases: 1.

When you are writing tests for existing code, you have to write the same code fragments as in the following example:

public function testSampleMethod() {
}

over and over again. PHPUnit can help you by analyzing the existing code and generating a skeleton test-case class for it.

--wait

Waits for a keystroke after each test. This is useful if you are running the tests in a window that stays open only as long as the test runner is active.

Note

When the tested code contains PHP syntax errors the TextUI test runner might exit without printing error information. The standard test suite loader will check the test suite sourcefile for PHP syntax errors, but not sourcefiles included by the test suite sourcefile. Future versions of PHPUnit will solve this issue by using a sandboxed PHP interpreter.