Implement StrictClient that expects a sequence of requests

[localheinz]

Q	A
Bug?	no
New Feature?	yes
Version	n/a

Actual Behavior

Currently, when using the Client and configuring matchers using on()

• iterates over all matchers and returns the response or throws the exception from the matching matcher
• throws an exception (when available) from the queue of exceptions previously added
• returns a response (when available) from the queue of responses previously added
• throws a default exception when no request matcher matched the outgoing request and a default exception has been set
• returns a default response when no request matcher matched the outgoing request and no default exception, but a default response has been set
• returns a response created by the composed request factory when no request matcher matched the outgoing request and neither a default exception nor a default response have been set

This is fine, but what if we expect a specific sequence of requests to be sent with matching responses? If we use use the Client as it is right now, it's of course possible to define such a sequence.

However, the order in which request are sent does not matter.

What do you think about introducing a StrictClient, that allows specifying an exact sequence of matchers, and that

• allows introspecting in the assert phase whether all expected requests have been sent (the (the sequence has been completed)
• throws a specific exception in the act phase when - given a configured sequence of requests - an unexpected request has been sent

I think this could also nicely cover #36.

What do you think?

Possible Solutions

I would of course propose a PR if you think such a feature would be a nice addition.

🤓

[localheinz]

Just thinking, at least some of the behavior could be implemented with the current Client implementation by using assertions in RequestMatcher::matches().

[dbu]

@localheinz did the implementation you use in your project prove useful? you had closed #42 after opening, saying you want to try it out a bit more...

[localheinz]

@dbu

It worked well in that regard that tests failed when

• requests where not sent out in the expected order
• not all requests where sent out

However, when the StrictClient threw exceptions, then, it was not easy to find out why. I had to var_dump() the actual request and the request matcher, then.

[localheinz]

I'll close this for now.

[dbu]

thanks. feel free to open it again if you have further ideas.