📘 Feature Testing in Laravel Using PHPUnit

Feature testing in Laravel allows you to test your application's endpoints and features as a whole, simulating real user interactions. Laravel uses PHPUnit as its default testing framework.

Getting Started

1. Install Dependencies
   Make sure PHPUnit is installed (Laravel includes it by default).

2. Test Directory
   Feature tests are stored in the tests/Feature directory.

Creating a Feature Test

Generate a new feature test using Artisan:

php artisan make:test ExampleFeatureTest

This creates a file in tests/Feature.

Writing a Feature Test

Example: Testing a route returns a successful response.

public function test_homepage_displays_correctly()
{
    $response = $this->get('/');

    $response->assertStatus(200);
    $response->assertSee('Welcome');
}

Common Assertions

• assertStatus($code) – Check HTTP status code.
• assertSee($text) – Check if response contains text.
• assertJson($array) – Check if response contains JSON fragment.
• assertRedirect($url) – Check for redirects.

Testing with Authentication

Laravel provides helpers to act as users:

public function test_authenticated_user_can_access_dashboard()
{
    $user = User::factory()->create();

    $response = $this->actingAs($user)->get('/dashboard');

    $response->assertStatus(200);
}

Running Feature Tests

Run all tests:

php artisan test

Or only feature tests:

php artisan test --testsuite=Feature

Best Practices

• Use factories to create test data.
• Clean up after tests using database transactions.
• Name tests clearly to describe their purpose.

For more details, see the Laravel Testing documentation.

Project testing

In this project, we implemented over 50 feature tests to ensure the reliability of our API endpoints. The tests primarily utilized the assertStatus and assertJson assertions, as Laravel was used to build a RESTful API.

Key areas covered by the tests include:

• User authentication (login and registration)
• Following and unfollowing users
• Updating user data

These tests help guarantee that core functionalities work as expected and that the API responds correctly to various requests.