What is the recommended way to setup codeception tests for controller actions

[aloco]

Hi,

what is the recommended way to setup codeception tests for API / RESTful controller actions? I was able to setup codeception tests for Craft CMS and know a bit about fixtures, unit tests and stuff like that.

What I don´t get is how I can make calls / requests against the test instance .. as we know, we need to copy the project config into the test folder, tests are executed with the test project config, using a different database than the usual project config and so on. My goal is to setup test cases for JSON Responses.

When using codeception and following their recommended setup for REST tests (https://codeception.com/docs/modules/REST), I can make requests like this

public function makeTestRequest(ApiTester $I)
{
        $bodyData = $I->buildRequestBody();
        $I->sendPost('/api/v1/test/' . $I->amTinr, $bodyData);
        $I->seeResponseCodeIs(HttpCode::CREATED); // 201
}

My codeception configuration looks like this

actor: ApiTester
params: .env
modules:
  enabled:
      - \Monooso\Bolt\BoltModule
      - Asserts
      - REST:
          depends: PhpBrowser
          url: "%PRIMARY_SITE_URL%"

  configs:
    - \Monooso\Bolt\BoltModule:
        configFile: "tests/_craft/config/test.php"
    - PhpBrowser:
        url: "%PRIMARY_SITE_URL%"
    - \Helper\ExternalApi

I don´t get which url I should use to fire those requests against the test instance. As far as I understand, making an actual request leaves the test context completely -> the usual instance is receiving those requests without the testing context..

As far as I understand, one way is to make no real request but calling the controller actions directly like Craft Commerce does (https://github.com/craftcms/commerce/blob/develop/tests/unit/controllers/CartTest.php)

While this seems to work as expected, my question remains -> Is this the recommended way to test controller actions? Is there any option to make "real" HTTP requests / utilizing the HTTP features of codeception? Are there any downsides (besides creating a request object by hand) of calling the controller actions directly?

I hope I could express my problem understandably.

Thank you!

[angrybrad]

Not sure we have a recommended solution for this just yet.

From what I recall, the last time we looked at integrating the Codeception REST module, we ran into some issues we never found a good solution for, hence this workaround.

I can't recall the specifics, but maybe @nfourtythree does.

[nfourtythree]

@aloco as @angrybrad mentioned we haven't got an officially recommended solution at the moment.

We looked into the REST module for Codeception but we ended up fighting against some of the setup and the way it works. It is still on our list of something to look into and getting working "properly".

As the link to the Commerce tests shows we are simply circumventing the need for the REST module by setting everything up first and then calling the runAction method on the controller class. This gives us a close approximation of the controller action getting run during a request. Although we don't in those test examples, it is obviously possible to test against the result of the action as that is what is returned by runAction.

Hope this helps as an explanation for the moment and when we get to an official solution we will make sure to make it public.

Thanks!

[aloco]

Thanks! Looking forward to any suggestions how to use the REST module. I think a proper setup would help to use Craft CMS as a headless CMS with JSON based APIs for Apps and other Channels .. however, using runAction is close.