Running Tests

MODX comes with a set of unit tests (when installed from Git), which verify the code works as it should. They are run automatically on every push to modxcms/revolution including in pull requests.

The tests are written to be run by PHPUnit 6.

To run the tests locally, you need to set them up first.

Prepare the configuration¶

Copy the file _build/test/properties.sample.inc.php to _build/test/properties.inc.php and open it in an editor.

Around line 23, change $properties['config_key'] to use your actual MODX configuration key. That can be found in your config.core.php in the root.

Around line 27, change $properties['mysql_string_dsn_test'] to match your actual database connection details. Find this in your core/config./config.inc.php file. (Note: leave the the other two mysql_string_dsn_* definitions alone)

Around line 30 and 31, enter your database credentials in $properties['mysql_string_username'] and $properties['mysql_string_password']

Run the tests¶

From the root of the project, execute the following command to run the tests:

composer run phpunit

To limit the tests to a specific subset of tests (which will speed it up a lot), add the proper path to the command. For example to only run Model related tests:

composer run phpunit _build/test/Tests/Model

When to write tests¶

As much as possible. If it's possible to use unit tests to verify a change or feature works as expected, then tests should be added.

The more tests we have, the less likely it is for bugs to make it into a release. More tests also make it easier to make bigger changes to the core, as we'll have tests to make sure things still work as expected.