We use standard PHPUnit tests for IXP Manager for some mission critical aspects. These take data from a test database filled with known sample data (representing a range of different member configurations). The tests then use this information to generate configurations and compare these against known-good configurations.
This way, we know that for a given set of data, we will get a predictable output so long as we haven’t accidentally broken anything in development.
But, as an end user, how do you know that what you stick in a web-based form gets put into the database correctly? And conversely, how do you know that form represents the database data correctly when editing?
This is an issue we ran into recently around some checkbox logic and a dropdown showing the wrong selected element. These issues are every bit as dangerous to mission critical elements as the output tests we do with PHPUnit.
To test the frontend, we turn to Laravel Dusk – an expressive, easy-to-use browser automation and testing API. What this actually means is that we can right code like this:
$this->browse( function( $browser ) use ( $user ) {
$browser->visit('/login')
->type( 'username', $user->email )
->type( 'password', 'secret' )
->press('Login')
->assertPathIs('/home')
->assertSee( 'Welcome to IXP Manager ' . $user->name );We have now added Dusk tests for UI elements that involve adding, editing and deleting all aspects of a member interface and all aspects of adding, editing and delete a router object. Here’s an example of the latter:
