Creating unit tests for a CodeIgniter4 CRUD application

Let’s quickly walk through creating unit tests for a CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) application using CodeIgniter4. We’ll use a simple example of a “tasks” application where you can manage tasks.

In this example, we’ll create unit tests for the following actions:

1. Creating a new task
2. Retrieving a task
3. Updating a task
4. Deleting a task

Assuming you have already set up a CodeIgniter 4 project and created the necessary controllers, models, and views for the CRUD operations, let’s proceed to create unit tests.

1. Creating a New Task (Create) Test:

Create a new file CreateTaskTest.php in your tests directory:

namespace Tests\Feature;

use CodeIgniter\Test\FeatureTestCase;

class CreateTaskTest extends FeatureTestCase
{
    public function testCreateTask()
    {
        $data = [
            'title' => 'Sample Task',
            'description' => 'This is a sample task',
        ];

        $result = $this->post('/tasks/create', $data);

        $result->assertStatus(200);
        $result->assertSee('Task created successfully');

        // You can also add more assertions to check the data in the database
    }
}

2. Retrieving a Task (Read) Test:

Create a new file RetrieveTaskTest.php in your tests directory:

namespace Tests\Feature;

use CodeIgniter\Test\FeatureTestCase;

class RetrieveTaskTest extends FeatureTestCase
{
    public function testRetrieveTask()
    {
        $result = $this->get('/tasks/1'); // Assuming the task with ID 1 exists

        $result->assertStatus(200);
        $result->assertSee('Sample Task');
        $result->assertSee('This is a sample task');
    }
}

3. Updating a Task (Update) Test:

Create a new file UpdateTaskTest.php in your tests directory:

namespace Tests\Feature;

use CodeIgniter\Test\FeatureTestCase;

class UpdateTaskTest extends FeatureTestCase
{
    public function testUpdateTask()
    {
        $data = [
            'title' => 'Updated Task Title',
            'description' => 'This task has been updated',
        ];

        $result = $this->put('/tasks/update/1', $data); // Assuming the task with ID 1 exists

        $result->assertStatus(200);
        $result->assertSee('Task updated successfully');

        // You can also add more assertions to check the updated data in the database
    }
}

4. Deleting a Task (Delete) Test:

Create a new file DeleteTaskTest.php in your tests directory:

namespace Tests\Feature;

use CodeIgniter\Test\FeatureTestCase;

class DeleteTaskTest extends FeatureTestCase
{
    public function testDeleteTask()
    {
        $result = $this->delete('/tasks/delete/1'); // Assuming the task with ID 1 exists

        $result->assertStatus(200);
        $result->assertSee('Task deleted successfully');

        // You can also add assertions to check that the task is no longer in the database
    }
}

Remember to adjust the URLs and data based on your actual application routes and database structure.

To run the tests, navigate to your project directory and execute:

php spark test

This will execute all the tests in your tests directory.

Please note that this is a basic example of unit testing in CodeIgniter 4. In a real-world application, you might need to mock dependencies, set up test databases, and perform more advanced testing scenarios.