@title Writing Unit Tests
@group developer

Simple guide to libphutil, Arcanist and Phabricator unit tests.

= Overview =

libphutil, Arcanist and Phabricator provide and use a simple unit test
framework. This document is aimed at project contributors and describes how to
use it to add and run tests in these projects or other libphutil libraries.

In the general case, you can integrate `arc` with a custom unit test engine
(like PHPUnit or any other unit testing library) to run tests in other projects.
See @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing Lint, Unit Tests and Workflows}
for information on customizing engines.

= Adding Tests =

To add new tests to a libphutil, Arcanist or Phabricator module:

  - Create a `__tests__/` directory in the module if it doesn't exist yet.
  - Add classes to the `__tests__/` directory which extend from
    @{class:PhabricatorTestCase} (in Phabricator) or
    @{class@arcanist:PhutilTestCase} (elsewhere).
  - Run `arc liberate` on the library root so your classes are loadable.

= Running Tests =

Once you've added test classes, you can run them with:

  - `arc unit path/to/module/`, to explicitly run module tests.
  - `arc unit`, to run tests for all modules affected by changes in the
    working copy.
  - `arc diff` will also run `arc unit` for you.

= Example Test Case =

Here's a simple example test:

  lang=php
  class PhabricatorTrivialTestCase extends PhabricatorTestCase {

    private $two;

    public function willRunOneTest($test_name) {
      // You can execute setup steps which will run before each test in this
      // method.
      $this->two = 2;
    }

    public function testAllIsRightWithTheWorld() {
      $this->assertEqual(4, $this->two + $this->two, '2 + 2 = 4');
    }

  }

You can see this class at @{class:PhabricatorTrivialTestCase} and run it with:

  phabricator/ $ arc unit src/infrastructure/testing/testcase/
   PASS   <1ms*  testAllIsRightWithTheWorld

For more information on writing tests, see
@{class@arcanist:PhutilTestCase} and @{class:PhabricatorTestCase}.

= Database Isolation =

By default, Phabricator isolates unit tests from the database. It makes a crude
effort to simulate some side effects (principally, ID assignment on insert), but
any queries which read data will fail to select any rows and throw an exception
about isolation. In general, isolation is good, but this can make certain types
of tests difficult to write. When you encounter issues, you can deal with them
in a number of ways. From best to worst:

  - Encounter no issues; your tests are fast and isolated.
  - Add more simulated side effects if you encounter minor issues and simulation
    is reasonable.
  - Build a real database simulation layer (fairly complex).
  - Disable isolation for a single test by using
    `LiskDAO::endIsolateAllLiskEffectsToCurrentProcess();` before your test
    and `LiskDAO::beginIsolateAllLiskEffectsToCurrentProcess();` after your
    test. This will disable isolation for one test. NOT RECOMMENDED.
  - Disable isolation for your entire test case by overriding
    `getPhabricatorTestCaseConfiguration()` and providing
    `self::PHABRICATOR_TESTCONFIG_ISOLATE_LISK => false` in the configuration
    dictionary you return. This will disable isolation entirely. STRONGLY NOT
    RECOMMENDED.