Avoid creating the same data: Private methods or setUp()

In this lesson, let's see how to avoid repeating some code in the tests. Now, we use a factory to create a user in every test. We will extract this part and see how to do it in two ways. The first is a general PHP way, and the second is setting up with PHPUnit and Laravel testing logic.

First Method

For the method, let's create a new private function where we will create a new user and return its Model.

tests/Feature/ProductsTest.php:

use App\Models\User;
 
class ProductsTest extends TestCase
{
    use RefreshDatabase;
 
    public function test_homepage_contains_empty_table(): void
    {
        $user = User::factory()->create(); 
        $user = $this->createUser(); 
 
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/products');
 
        $response->assertStatus(200);
        $response->assertSee(__('No products found'));
    }
 
    public function test_homepage_contains_non_empty_table(): void
    {
        $product = Product::create([
            'name'  => 'Product 1',
            'price' => 123,
        ]);
 
        $user = User::factory()->create(); 
        $user = $this->createUser(); 
 
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/products');
 
        $response->assertStatus(200);
        $response->assertDontSee(__('No products found'));
        $response->assertSee('Product 1');
        $response->assertViewHas('products', function (LengthAwarePaginator $collection) use ($product) {
            return $collection->contains($product);
        });
    }
 
    public function test_paginated_products_table_doesnt_contain_11th_record()
    {
        $products = Product::factory(11)->create();
        $lastProduct = $products->last();
 
        $user = User::factory()->create(); 
        $user = $this->createUser(); 
 
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/products');
 
        $response->assertStatus(200);
        $response->assertViewHas('products', function (LengthAwarePaginator $collection) use ($lastProduct) {
            return $collection->doesntContain($lastProduct);
        });
    }
 
    private function createUser(): User 
    {
        return User::factory()->create();
    } 
}

But the code didn't get much shorter, and this is more beneficial if you have more logic. For example, a few more lines of code related to the same user.

Second Method

A better way to refactor this code would be to have some constructor. In tests, the constructor is in a method setUp. In the setUp, we can assign a user to a private property and call this property where we need it.

tests/Feature/ProductsTest.php:

use App\Models\User;
 
class ProductsTest extends TestCase
{
    use RefreshDatabase;
 
    private User $user; 
 
    protected function setUp(): void 
    {
        parent::setUp();
 
        $this->user = $this->createUser();
    } 
 
    public function test_homepage_contains_empty_table(): void
    {
        $user = $this->createUser(); 
 
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/products'); 
        $response = $this->actingAs($this->user)->get('/products'); 
 
        $response->assertStatus(200);
        $response->assertSee(__('No products found'));
    }
 
    public function test_homepage_contains_non_empty_table(): void
    {
        $product = Product::create([
            'name'  => 'Product 1',
            'price' => 123,
        ]);
 
        $user = $this->createUser(); 
 
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/products'); 
        $response = $this->actingAs($this->user)->get('/products'); 
 
        $response->assertStatus(200);
        $response->assertDontSee(__('No products found'));
        $response->assertSee('Product 1');
        $response->assertViewHas('products', function (LengthAwarePaginator $collection) use ($product) {
            return $collection->contains($product);
        });
    }
 
    public function test_paginated_products_table_doesnt_contain_11th_record()
    {
        $products = Product::factory(11)->create();
        $lastProduct = $products->last();
 
        $user = $this->createUser(); 
 
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/products'); 
        $response = $this->actingAs($this->user)->get('/products'); 
 
        $response->assertStatus(200);
        $response->assertViewHas('products', function (LengthAwarePaginator $collection) use ($lastProduct) {
            return $collection->doesntContain($lastProduct);
        });
    }
 
    private function createUser(): User
    {
        return User::factory()->create();
    }
}

Let's re-run the tests to make sure everything works.

tests refactor user creation

When using setUp to add global variables, don't forget to add parent::setUp() first.

Auth Test: Does user have access to the page? Testing roles: only Admin can access creating products

Course Content

Testing in Laravel 9 For Beginners: PHPUnit, Pest, TDD

Avoid creating the same data: Private methods or setUp()

First Method

Second Method

Course Content

Intro

Practical Project: Testing of CRUD

So, What Should We Test?

PEST Example

TDD Example

What's Next?