Symfony2 Testing - overriding container values does not affect after redirecting / form submitting / few requests

[pleerock]

I want to replace service container value with a test one to test if another implementation of the class injected by service container would work in my controller. I can set it via $client->getContainer()->set method, but it does not work well. But after redirecting / following to another page container value is reset. I think code example will show the problem more detail:

$client = static::createClient();

 // this one implements CarList interface
$carList = new CarList();
$carList->add($car1);
$carList->add($car2);
// ...

// now I replace default carlist implementation defined in the service 
// container and used by CarController with my custom $carList.
$client->getContainer()->set('car.car_list', $carList);

// try to open CarController with the list of cars
$crawler = $this->requestGET($client, '/car/list/');

// and check if $car1 added to the custom CarList exists
$this->assertGreaterThan(0,
               $crawler->filter('html:contains("'. $car1->getName() .'")')->count()); 
// well, it works fine! we replaced value defined in the container 
// by our custom car list object

// now lets try to check it again!
$crawler = $this->requestGET($client, '/car/list/');
$this->assertGreaterThan(0,
               $crawler->filter('html:contains("'. $car1->getName() .'")')->count()); 
// FAIL. container value has been reset (e.g. CarController works 
// with its default carList implmenetation and there is no way
// to set a new container value, calling $client->getContainer()->set()
// does not work anymore


// the same result we have if we try to submit a new car via form,
// container value will not be set anymore and car will be added to
// the old carList implementation

[fabpot]

That's to be expected. The client goal is to reproduce what would happen when serving a request from a real client (like a browser). So, a change made on one request does not affect the next one.

[pleerock]

@fabpot, its okay if this is correct behavior. But the problem is that there is no way to change client settings (change service container values) after a first request, e.g. change settings of a next one.

[pleerock]

Please look at this example and tell me how to prevent the second test from failing?:

$client = static::createClient();

 // this one implements CarList interface
$carList = new CarList();
$carList->add($car1);
$carList->add($car2);
// ...

// first try
$client->getContainer()->set('car.car_list', $carList);
$crawler = $this->requestGET($client, '/car/list/');
$this->assertGreaterThan(0,
               $crawler->filter('html:contains("'. $car1->getName() .'")')->count());  // OK!

// second try
$client->getContainer()->set('car.car_list', $carList);
$crawler = $this->requestGET($client, '/car/list/');
$this->assertGreaterThan(0,
               $crawler->filter('html:contains("'. $car1->getName() .'")')->count());  // FAIL!!

You see both tests are identical, but the second fails because cant framework set container value for second time.

[stof]

IMO, setting the instance of a service in the container from your functional test is a hack. The client cannot modify your app DI container before doing a request.

[pleerock]

I agree, even if sometimes its a simplest way to make your test work. Anyway, the code I wrote above works wrong, I think - programmer does not get what he is expecting.