Laravel - Test code execution results depend on how you handle the cache.

To execute test code in Laravel, those are essential that you have to know about otherwise, you might waste your time.

"Referencing values from '.env' when the config is cached before test execution."

"Referencing values from 'phpunit.xml' when the config isn't cached before test execution."

Here is the example.

tests/Sample01Test.php

This is a test code.

    public function testPrueba01()
    {
        $token = config('docurain.token');
        echo "===================================" . PHP_EOL;
        echo "token:{$token}" . PHP_EOL;
        echo "===================================" . PHP_EOL;
    }

config/docurain.php

This is the config file that is loading .env.

return [
    'token' => env('DOCURAIN_TOKEN'),
];

.env

DOCURAIN_TOKEN is an access token. By the way, it is a value prepared randomly.

DOCURAIN_TOKEN=FohVai3zei7dei8zainanuaphohqu5uz1Goh9aiy

phpunit.xml

    <php>
        <server name="APP_ENV" value="testing"/>
        <server name="BCRYPT_ROUNDS" value="4"/>
        <server name="CACHE_DRIVER" value="array"/>
        <server name="MAIL_MAILER" value="array"/>
        <server name="QUEUE_CONNECTION" value="sync"/>
        <server name="SESSION_DRIVER" value="array"/>
        <server name="TELESCOPE_ENABLED" value="false"/>
    </php>

When you execute this code, the result depends on whether config is cached before execution or not.

When cache the config

Execution command

php artisan config:clear | php artisan config:cache
php artisan test tests/Sample01Test.php

Execution result

===================================
token:FohVai3zei7dei8zainanuaphohqu5uz1Goh9aiy
===================================

When not cache the config

Execution command

php artisan config:clear
php artisan test tests/Sample01Test.php

Execution result

===================================
token:
===================================

What's happened

When caching the config, it is referring to the value of 'DOCURAIN_TOKEN' in .env.

When the config is not cached, it is referring to the value of 'server name ="DOCURAIN_TOKEN"' in phpunit.xml

However, in the above case, there is no such value in phpunit.xml, so, an empty value is output.

solution 1. Add to phpunit.xml　

For example, like this.

    <php>
        <server name="DOCURAIN_TOKEN" value="FohVai3zei7dei8zainanuaphohqu5uz1Goh9aiy"/>
    </php>

There is no problem if the information is not important.

However, sensitive information such as access tokens should not be included.

First of all, the token is duplicated in two places. From that point of view, this is not a good method.

It can be solved, but it is uncomfortable.

I would prefer different method.

Another idea is to "always cache the config and set the value of .env when running the test".

It is nonsense not to refer to the data in phpunit.xml when running the test.

solution 2. Limit the scope of test code execution.(Separate from CI/CD)

If the test code is embedded in CI/CD and executed, the execution command would look like this.

php artisan test

When dividing by unit test and functional test, it looks like this.

php artisan test tests/Unit
php artisan test tests/Feature

phpunit.xml looks like this.

phpunit.xml

    <testsuites>
        <testsuite name="Unit">
            <directory suffix="Test.php">./tests/Unit</directory>
        </testsuite>
        <testsuite name="Feature">
            <directory suffix="Test.php">./tests/Feature</directory>
        </testsuite>
    </testsuites>

In this case, the target of test code execution is the following directory.

/tests/Unit/*  
/tests/Feature/*  

Tests that require some values that you need to get from .env but don't want to include them in phpunit.xml(Access token for service, etc.) should be saved in a location separate from the above directories.

For example:

/tests/Docurain/EstimateTestExtra.php  

The only case you have to be aware of these is when you need access to an external service and need information such as tokens and secret keys.

However, there are many cases where it is better to be careful when integrating them into CI/CD, because the number of accesses is limited and the amount price depends on the number of accesses.

So, it's better to separate it from CI/CD and run the test manually or run it in a different section from the normal flow.

Remark

Japanese version　　
https://kaki-engine.com/laravel-test-code-execution-results-depend-on-how-you-handle-the-cache/