Purpose of integration tests is to make sure that all components work together as needed.
While making such tests, remember that changes to data storage or interactions with external services might happen. In order to handle such cases properly, you might still need to create Test Doubles for some classes.
Which classes should be doubled depends on your testing approach and might be different depending on app size.
Laravel provides 2 ways to create integration tests: making HTTP requests to routes and browser-based testing with
laravel/dusk package.
It is required to have HTTP tests, while browser tests don't have any specific requirements.
Integration tests must cover EVERY route of application and complete following purposes:
HTTP
- Authentication and policy tests. Each case must have separate test assertion.
- Check valid status codes for every type of response.
- Check correct redirect codes and paths on different events.
- Test validity of JSON responses.
- Test Error handlers for correct responses.
- Check validity of API versions (if necessary).
Database
- Ensure data is written to database correctly during requests.
- Test migration process.
- Test abnormal data insertions are handled properly.
If your application interacts with external services and servers, you either need to use staging versions of such services or mock your client classes.
Testing environment can be defined with special configurations and variables, e. g. testing database connection with
DB_TEST_DATABASE env variable. However it is strictly recommended to replace production variables instead in
phpunit.xml or CI configuration.
It is good to run tests twice with APP_ENV set both to testing and production.
<php>
<env name="APP_ENV" value="testing"/>
<env name="CACHE_DRIVER" value="array"/>
<env name="SESSION_DRIVER" value="array"/>
<env name="QUEUE_DRIVER" value="sync"/>
<env name="DB_HOST" value="test.database.local"/>
<env name="DB_USERNAME" value="testing"/>
<env name="DB_PASSWORD" value="secret"/>
</php>