Laravel Dummy Observer

A purpose-built model observer that can be registered with an Eloquent model to intercept all attempted saves and perform assertions on the data. The data being saved never reaches the database.

Installation

Requirements

• PHP ≥ 7.3
• PHPUnit ≥ 9.0
• Laravel Eloquent ≥ 5.3

Installation

Install it via Composer:

composer require --dev bogdanghervan/laravel-dummy-observer

Usage

Let's assume we'd like to test a method named landed on a model called Flight. This method would update the flight's status by invoking save internally.

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Flight extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = [
        'departure',
        'destination',
        'status'
    ];

    public function landed()
    {
        $this->status = 'landed';
        $this->save();
    }
}

This is how a unit test could look like:

<?php

namespace Tests\Unit;

use Tests\TestCase;
use App\Models\Flight;
use BogdanGhervan\DummyObserver;

class FlightTest extends TestCase
{
    protected function setUp(): void
    {
        parent::setUp();

        // Prevent model from being saved
        Flight::observe(DummyObserver::class);
    }

    protected function tearDown(): void
    {
        DummyObserver::clear();
    }

    public function testLanded(): void
    {
        $flight = new Flight([
            'departure' => 'Bucharest',
            'destination' => 'New York',
        ]);
    
        $flight->landed();
    
        DummyObserver::assertSavedAttributes([
            'departure' => 'Bucharest',
            'destination' => 'New York',
            'status' => 'landed'
        ]);
    }
}

Available assertions

assertSavedAttributes($attributes)

Verify that expected attributes are saved.

Flight::observe(DummyObserver::class);

$flight = Flight::create([
    'passenger' => 'John Smith'
]);

DummyObserver::assertSavedAttributes([
    'passenger' => 'John Smith'
]);

It's possible to verify that only a relevant subset of the attributes was saved.

Flight::observe(DummyObserver::class);

$flight = Flight::create([
    'passenger' => 'John Smith',
    'departure' => 'Bucharest',
    'destination' => 'New York',
    'status' => 'boarded'
]);

DummyObserver::assertSavedAttributes([
    'passenger' => 'John Smith',
    'status' => 'boarded'
]);

We can make multiple assertions if consecutive saves are being made in the code being tested. Just make sure to specify them in the same order.

Flight::observe(DummyObserver::class);

$flight = Flight::create([
    'departure' => 'Bucharest',
    'destination' => 'New York'
]);

$flight->update([
    'status' => 'boarded',
    'gate' => 'A1'
]);

DummyObserver::assertSavedAttributes([
    'destination' => 'New York'
]);
DummyObserver::assertSavedAttributes([
    'status' => 'boarded',
    'gate' => 'A1'
]);

assertSavedTimes($times = 1)

Make an assertion on the number of times a model has been saved.

Flight::observe(DummyObserver::class);

$flight = Flight::create([
    'departure' => 'Bucharest',
    'destination' => 'New York'
]);

$flight->update([
    'status' => 'boarded',
    'gate' => 'A1'
]);

DummyObserver::assertSavedTimes(2);

assertNothingSaved()

Make an assertion the model hasn't been saved.

Flight::observe(DummyObserver::class);

$flight = new Flight();

DummyObserver::assertNothingSaved();

clear()

Make sure to clear any captured data after every test. A good place to do this from is in the tearDown method:

protected function tearDown(): void
{
    DummyObserver::clear();
}

Limitations

When working with multiple models, it is not possible to assert a save against the model where the save originated. See issue #1 for more details.

Support

Has this just helped you in a pinch when you tried to mock the Eloquent save method and nothing was working? Consider leaving me a note and buying me a coffee by clicking the button below.

Have you found a problem? Submit an issue

I myself have been inspired by the work done by @timacdonald on timacdonald/log-fake whom I'd like to thank!

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. All contributions should follow the PSR-2 coding standard and should be accompanied by passing tests.

License

This package is available under the MIT License.