Akelos uses the unit testing framework simpletest for running unit tests. You don't need to download simpletest apart, as it is integrated into your Akelos installation.

By using the command ./script/test path/to/your/test, you can run your tests easily.

Let’s show you a really basic test, and then we’ll step through it and explain some details.

In the file ./test/hello_test.php

<?php
 
class HelloTestCase extends AkUnitTest{
    function test_hello(){
        $this->assertTrue( true );
    }
}
 
?>

Quite possibly the simplest and least useful test ever invented, but it shows you the bare bones of writing a test case.

Simply run ./script/test hello_test.php from your application directory and you will see the following:

HelloTestCase
OK
Test cases run: 1/1, Passes: 1, Failures: 0, Exceptions: 0
/Volumes/Files/Sites/blog/test/hello_test.php

Congratulations, your first test. Reach behind you and pat yourself….. (no, not there, on your back).

By looking at the output of a test, you will be able to tell if the tests pass or not. In our example, not surprisingly, we’ve passed. The summary shows Test cases run: 1/1, Passes: 1, Failures: 0, Exceptions: 0.

So, let’s break our test source code down.

The classes and functionality to write and run unit tests is provided automatically by ./script/test

First, we have a class HelloTestCase which derives from AkUnitTest.

class HelloTestCase extends AkUnitTest{
  //...
}

All of the tests that you create will directly subclass AkUnitTest. By convention test case classes should end in TestCase for the ./script/test to run it automatically.

Finally, we have a method called test_hello.

  function test_hello(){
    // ...
  }

All tests must follow this naming convention: their names start with the first 4 characters test, as in test_hello, testme, and testarosa. If you create a method that doesn’t start with test, the testing framework won’t recognize it as a test, hence, won’t run it automatically, hence it is a normal PHP method.

Inside our test_hello method, we have an assertion.

  $this->assertTrue( true );

Assertions are where the real work gets done. There are a whole army of different types of assertions that you’ll use to make sure your code is doing the right thing.

Grab a cup of coffee and dunk your head in some ice water, because here’s some more theory.

There are 4 major players in the testing game.

An Assertion is 1 line of code that evaluates an object (or expression) for expected results.

For example, is this value = that value? is this object null? does this line of code throw an exception? is the user’s password greater than 5 characters?

Akelos assertions are the same as those available in simpletest

• assertTrue($x) Fail if $x is false
• assertFalse($x) Fail if $x is true
• assertNull($x) Fail if $x is set
• assertNotNull($x) Fail if $x not set
• assertIsA($x, $t) Fail if $x is not the class or type $t
• assertNotA($x, $t) Fail if $x is of the class or type $t
• assertEqual($x, $y) Fail if $x == $y is false
• assertNotEqual($x, $y) Fail if $x == $y is true
• assertWithinMargin($x, $y, $m) Fail if abs($x - $y) < $m is false
• assertOutsideMargin($x, $y, $m) Fail if abs($x - $y) < $m is true
• assertIdentical($x, $y) Fail if $x == $y is false or a type mismatch
• assertNotIdentical($x, $y) Fail if $x == $y is true and types match
• assertReference($x, $y) Fail unless $x and $y are the same variable
• assertClone($x, $y) Fail unless $x and $y are identical copies
• assertPattern($p, $x) Fail unless the regex $p matches $x
• assertNoPattern($p, $x) Fail if the regex $p matches $x
• expectError($x) Swallows any upcoming matching error
• assert($e) Fail on failed expectation object $e

A Test is method that contains assertions which represent a particular testing scenario.

For example, we may have a test method called test_valid_password. In order for this test to pass, we might need to check a few things:

• password is 4 or more characters
• password isn’t the word ‘password’
• password isn’t all spaces

If all of these assertions are successful, the test will pass.

A Test Case is a class inherited from AkUnitTest containing a testing “strategy” comprised of contextually related tests.

For example, I may have a test case called UserTestCase which has a bunch of tests that check that:

• the password is valid (test_password)
• the username doesn’t have any forbidden words (test_username_cussin)
• a user is under the age of 150 (test_shriveled_raisin)

A Test Suite is a collection of test cases. When you run a test suite, it will, in turn, execute each test that belongs to it.

For example, instead of running each test unit individually, you can run them all by creating a suite and including them. This is good for stuff like continuous-build integration.

We won’t get into test suites in this article.

The relationship of these objects to one-another looks like this:

• a test suite
  • has many test cases
    • which have many tests
      • which have many assertions

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