Unit testing custom validation constraint in Symfony 2.1 but without accessing the container?

Question

How can i unit test ContainsItalianVatinValidator custom validator, but w*ithout accessing the container* and the validator service (and thus, create a stub object)?

class ContainsItalianVatinValidator extends ConstraintValidator
{
    /**
     * @param mixed $value
     * @param \Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint $constraint
     */
    public function validate($value, Constraint $constraint)
    {    
        if (!preg_match('/^[0-9]{11}$/', $value, $matches)) {
            $this->context->addViolation($constraint->message, array(
                '%string%' => $value
            ));
        }

        // Compute and check control code
        // ...
    }
}

In my test case i know i should access the ConstraintViolationList, but i don't know how to do it from the validator itself:

class ContainsItalianVatinValidatorTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    public function testEmptyItalianVatin()
    {
        $emptyVatin = '';
        $validator  = new ContainsItalianVatinValidator();
        $constraint = new ContainsItalianVatinConstraint();

        // Do the validation
        $validator->validate($emptyVatin, $constraint);

        // How can a get a violation list and call ->count()?
        $violations = /* ... */;

        // Assert
        $this->assertGreaterThan(0, $violations->count());
    }
}

I would extract the validation logic into a service and write a unit test for this service. Inside the validator class you check your constraint with the service and add a message if the validation fail. Thereby your validation logic is not coupled to the framework and more robust to future changes. — fabwu
– fabwu, Commented Feb 24, 2017 at 12:29

Florian Eckerstorfer · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-12 22:47:59Z

24

When you take a look at the parent class of the validator Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintValidator you see that there is a method called initialize which takes an instance of Symfony\Component\Validator\ExecutionContext as argument.

After you created the validator you can call the initialize method and pass a mock context to the validator. You don't have to test if the addViolation method works correctly, you only have to test if it is called and if it is called with the correct parameters. You can do that with the mock functionality of PHPUnit.

...
$validator  = new ContainsItalianVatinValidator();
$context = $this->getMockBuilder('Symfony\Component\Validator\ExecutionContext')-> disableOriginalConstructor()->getMock();

$context->expects($this->once())
    ->method('addViolation')
    ->with($this->equalTo('[message]'), $this->equalTo(array('%string%', '')));

$validator->initialize($context);

$validator->validate($emptyVatin, $constraint);
...

In this code you have to replace [message] with the message stored in $constraint->message.

Actually, this question is more related to PHPUnit than to Symfony. You may find the Test Doubles chapter of the PHPUnit documentation interesting.

answered Sep 12, 2012 at 22:47

Florian Eckerstorfer

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5 Comments

gremo Over a year ago

Amazing good explanation. The only thing i can't get is why, in your opinion, counting violations is wrong and why i should prefer to rely on the constraint message itself. Anyway, +1.

Florian Eckerstorfer Over a year ago

Why should you count the violations. At least in the code in your question there is only one call to addViolation. If that method is called one time exactly one violation will be added to the context (the unit tests of Symfony2 test that).

Florian Eckerstorfer Over a year ago

If there should be more calls to addViolation in the code you could add multiple $context->expects statements where each covers one different call to addViolation. Sadly PHPUnit does only offer two methods to count the number of calls of a method once and any. However, Mockery is a mock library that is compatible with PHPUnit and can count the number of method calls on a mock object.

gremo Over a year ago

Thanks, i'll go for checking calls to addViolation.

mblaettermann Over a year ago

As of 2016 PHPUnit also supports $this->exactly($numberOfCalls) to count the calls to a mocked method.

iisisrael · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-03 18:02:30Z

Updated for Symfony 2.5+. Add a test for each possible message that the validate() method in your validator might add with the value that would trigger that message.

<?php

namespace AcmeBundle\Tests\Validator\Constraints;

use AcmeBundle\Validator\Constraints\SomeConstraint;
use AcmeBundle\Validator\Constraints\SomeConstraintValidator;

/**
 * Exercises SomeConstraintValidator.
 */
class SomeConstraintValidatorTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    /**
     * Configure a SomeConstraintValidator.
     *
     * @param string $expectedMessage The expected message on a validation violation, if any.
     *
     * @return AcmeBundle\Validator\Constraints\SomeConstraintValidator
     */
    public function configureValidator($expectedMessage = null)
    {
        // mock the violation builder
        $builder = $this->getMockBuilder('Symfony\Component\Validator\Violation\ConstraintViolationBuilder')
            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
            ->setMethods(array('addViolation'))
            ->getMock()
        ;

        // mock the validator context
        $context = $this->getMockBuilder('Symfony\Component\Validator\Context\ExecutionContext')
            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
            ->setMethods(array('buildViolation'))
            ->getMock()
        ;

        if ($expectedMessage) {
            $builder->expects($this->once())
                ->method('addViolation')
            ;

            $context->expects($this->once())
                ->method('buildViolation')
                ->with($this->equalTo($expectedMessage))
                ->will($this->returnValue($builder))
            ;
        }
        else {
            $context->expects($this->never())
                ->method('buildViolation')
            ;
        }

        // initialize the validator with the mocked context
        $validator = new SomeConstraintValidator();
        $validator->initialize($context);

        // return the SomeConstraintValidator
        return $validator;
    }

    /**
     * Verify a constraint message is triggered when value is invalid.
     */
    public function testValidateOnInvalid()
    {
        $constraint = new SomeConstraint();
        $validator = $this->configureValidator($constraint->someInvalidMessage);

        $validator->validate('someInvalidValue', $constraint);
    }

    /**
     * Verify no constraint message is triggered when value is valid.
     */
    public function testValidateOnValid()
    {
        $constraint = new SomeConstraint();
        $validator = $this->configureValidator();

        $validator->validate('someValidValue', $constraint);
    }
}

winkbrace · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-09 12:41:49Z

Updated for 3.4:

I've put the context creation in a trait, so we can reuse it for all our custom constraints.

class SomeConstraintValidatorTest extends TestCase
{
    use ConstraintValidationTrait;

    /** @var SomeConstraint */
    private $constraint;

    protected function setUp()
    {
        parent::setUp();

        $this->constraint = new SomeConstraint();
    }

    public function testValidateOnInvalid()
    {
        $this->assertConstraintRejects('someInvalidValue', $this->constraint);
    }

    public function testValidateOnValid()
    {
        $this->assertConstraintValidates('someValidValue', $this->constraint);
    }
}

The trait:

<?php

use PHPUnit\Framework\MockObject\MockObject;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintValidator;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Context\ExecutionContext;

trait ConstraintValidationTrait
{
    /**
     * The assertion is done in the mock.
     *
     * @param mixed $value
     */
    public function assertConstraintValidates($value, Constraint $constraint): void
    {
        $validator = $this->createValidator($constraint, true);
        $validator->validate($value, $constraint);
    }

    /**
     * The assertion is done in the mock.
     *
     * @param mixed $value
     */
    public function assertConstraintRejects($value, Constraint $constraint): void
    {
        $validator = $this->createValidator($constraint, false);
        $validator->validate($value, $constraint);
    }

    /** This is the phpunit mock method this trait requires */
    abstract protected function createMock($originalClassName): MockObject;

    private function createValidator(Constraint $constraint, bool $shouldValidate): ConstraintValidator
    {
        $context = $this->mockExecutionContext($shouldValidate);

        $validatorClass = get_class($constraint) . 'Validator';

        /** @var ConstraintValidator $validator */
        $validator = new $validatorClass();
        $validator->initialize($context);

        return $validator;
    }

    /**
     * Configure a SomeConstraintValidator.
     *
     * @param string|null $expectedMessage The expected message on a validation violation, if any.
     *
     * @return ExecutionContext
     */
    private function mockExecutionContext(bool $shouldValidate): ExecutionContext
    {
        /** @var ExecutionContext|MockObject $context */
        $context = $this->createMock(ExecutionContext::class);

        if ($shouldValidate) {
            $context->expects($this->never())->method('addViolation');
        } else {
            $context->expects($this->once())->method('addViolation');
        }

        return $context;
    }
}

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