Snapshot testing is a way to test without writing actual test cases
use Spatie\Snapshots\MatchesSnapshots;
class OrderTest
{
use MatchesSnapshots;
public function test_it_casts_to_json()
{
$order = new Order(1);
$this->assertMatchesJsonSnapshot($order->toJson());
}
}
On the first run, the test runner will create a new snapshot.
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit
There was 1 incomplete test:
1) OrderTest::test_it_casts_to_json
Snapshot created for OrderTest__test_it_casts_to_json__1
OK, but incomplete, skipped, or risky tests!
Tests: 1, Assertions: 0, Incomplete: 1.
On subsequent runs, the test will pass as long as the snapshot doesn't change.
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit
OK (1 test, 1 assertion)
If there's a regression, the test will fail!
$orderId = new Order(2); // Regression! Was `1`
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit
1) OrderTest::test_it_casts_to_json
Failed asserting that two strings are equal.
--- Expected
+++ Actual
@@ @@
Failed asserting that '{"id":2}' matches JSON string "{
"id": 1
}
FAILURES!
Tests: 1, Assertions: 1, Failures: 1.
You can install the package via composer:
composer require --dev spatie/phpunit-snapshot-assertions
To make snapshot assertions, use the Spatie\Snapshots\MatchesSnapshots
trait in your test case class. This adds five assertion methods to the class:
assertMatchesSnapshot($actual)
assertMatchesJsonSnapshot($actual)
assertMatchesXmlSnapshot($actual)
assertMatchesFileSnapshot($filePath)
assertMatchesFileHashSnapshot($filePath)
Let's do a snapshot assertion for a simple string, "foo".
public function test_it_is_foo() {
$this->assertMatchesSnapshot('foo');
}
The first time the assertion runs, it doesn't have a snapshot to compare the string with. The test runner generates a new snapshot and marks the test as incomplete.
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit
There was 1 incomplete test:
1) ExampleTest::test_it_matches_a_string
Snapshot created for ExampleTest__test_it_matches_a_string__1
OK, but incomplete, skipped, or risky tests!
Tests: 1, Assertions: 0, Incomplete: 1.
Snapshot ids are generated based on the test and testcase's names. Basic snapshots return a var_export
of the actual value.
<?php return 'foo';
Let's rerun the test. The test runner will see that there's already a snapshot for the assertion and do a comparison.
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit
OK (1 test, 1 assertion)
If we change actual value to "bar", the test will fail because the snapshot still returns "foo".
public function test_it_is_foo() {
$this->assertMatchesSnapshot('bar');
}
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit
1) ExampleTest::test_it_matches_a_string
Failed asserting that two strings are equal.
--- Expected
+++ Actual
@@ @@
-'foo'
+'bar'
FAILURES!
Tests: 1, Assertions: 1, Failures: 1.
When we expect a changed value, we need to tell the test runner to update the existing snapshots instead of failing the test. This is possible by adding a-d --update-snapshots
flag to the phpunit
command.
> ./vendor/bin/phpunit -d --update-snapshots
OK (1 test, 1 assertion)
As a result, our snapshot file returns "bar" instead of "foo".
<?php return 'bar';
The MatchesSnapshots
trait offers two ways to assert that a file is identical to the snapshot that was made the first time the test was run:
The assertMatchesFileHashSnapshot($filePath)
assertion asserts that the hash of the file passed into the function and the hash saved in the snapshot match. This assertion is fast and uses very little disk space. The downside of this assertion is that there is no easy way to see how the two files differ if the test fails.
The assertMatchesFileSnapshot($filePath)
assertion works almost the same way as the file hash assertion, except that it actually saves the whole file in the snapshots directory. If the assertion fails, it places the failed file next to the snapshot file so they can easily be manually compared. The persisted failed file is automatically deleted when the test passes. This assertion is most useful when working with binary files that should be manually compared like images or pdfs.
Snapshot ids are generated via the getSnapshotId
method on the MatchesSnapshot
trait. Override the method to customize the id. By default, a snapshot id exists of the test name, the test case name and an incrementing value, e.g. Test__my_test_case__1
.
protected function getSnapshotId(): string
{
return (new ReflectionClass($this))->getShortName().'--'.
$this->getName().'--'.
$this->snapshotIncrementor;
}
By default, snapshots are stored in a __snapshots__
directory relative to the test class. This can be changed by overriding the getSnapshotDirectory
method.
protected function getSnapshotDirectory(): string
{
return dirname((new ReflectionClass($this))->getFileName()).
DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.
'snapshots';
}
Drivers ensure that different types of data can be serialized and matched in their own way. A driver is a class that implements the Spatie\Snapshots\Driver
interface, which requires three method implementations: serialize
, extension
and match
.
Let's take a quick quick look at the JsonDriver
.
namespace Spatie\Snapshots\Drivers;
use PHPUnit\Framework\Assert;
use Spatie\Snapshots\Driver;
use Spatie\Snapshots\Exceptions\CantBeSerialized;
class JsonDriver implements Driver
{
public function serialize($data): string
{
if (! is_string($data)) {
throw new CantBeSerialized('Only strings can be serialized to json');
}
return json_encode(json_decode($data), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT).PHP_EOL;
}
public function extension(): string
{
return 'json';
}
public function match($expected, $actual)
{
Assert::assertJsonStringEqualsJsonString($actual, $expected);
}
}
- The
serialize
method returns a string which will be written to the snapshot file. In theJsonDriver
, we'll decode and re-encode the json string to ensure the snapshot has pretty printing. - We want to save json snapshots as json files, so we'll use
json
as their file extension. - When matching the expected data with the actual data, we want to use PHPUnit's built in json assertions, so we'll call the specific
assertJsonStringEqualsJsonString
method.
Drivers can be used by passing them as assertMatchesSnapshot
's second argument.
$this->assertMatchesSnapshot($something->toYaml(), new MyYamlDriver());
Please see CHANGELOG for more information what has changed recently.
composer test
Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.
If you discover any security related issues, please email [email protected] instead of using the issue tracker.
You're free to use this package, but if it makes it to your production environment we highly appreciate you sending us a postcard from your hometown, mentioning which of our package(s) you are using.
Our address is: Spatie, Samberstraat 69D, 2060 Antwerp, Belgium.
We publish all received postcards on our company website.
Spatie is a webdesign agency based in Antwerp, Belgium. You'll find an overview of all our open source projects on our website.
Does your business depend on our contributions? Reach out and support us on Patreon. All pledges will be dedicated to allocating workforce on maintenance and new awesome stuff.
The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.