[FIXED] Save variable during unit testing Laravel

Issue

Variable $this->id not visible in another function testExemple

If I pass this variable to a normal function that does not start on a “test” and not to a testing function, everything will work.

Can I fix this somehow?

class LoginTest extends TestCase
{
    protected $id;
    public function testLogin()
    {
        $response = $this->json('post', 'auth/login', 
            ['email' => 'admin@mail.com', 'password' => '12345678'])
            ->assertJsonStructure(['data' => ['id', 'name', 'email']]);

        $response->assertStatus(201);

        $userData = $response->getContent();
        $userData = json_decode($userData, true);
        $this->id = $userData['data']['id'];
    }
    public function testExemple()
    {
        echo($this->id);
    }
}

Solution

Each test runs independently as far as I know, if you want to pass data from one test to another you can use the @depends doc comment like below:

class LoginTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testLogin()
    {
        $response = $this->json('post', 'auth/login', 
            ['email' => 'admin@mail.com', 'password' => '12345678'])
            ->assertJsonStructure(['data' => ['id', 'name', 'email']]);

        $response->assertStatus(201);

        $userData = $response->getContent();
        $userData = json_decode($userData, true);
        return $userData['data']['id']; //Return this for the dependent tests
    }

    /**
      * @depends testLogin
      */
    public function testExample($id)
    {
        echo($id);
    }
}

However the problem you might encounter is that while the $id has a value the user is not actually logged in during this test because everything else (e.g. session) will be wiped clean.

To ensure the user is logged in then you will need to mock user login like below:

    public function testExample()
    {
        $this->actingAs(User::where('email', 'admin@mail.com')->first()); //User now logged in
        echo(\Auth::id());
    }

This ensures the user is logged in and also decouples tests.

Answered By - apokryfos