Fixtures#

To test functionality correctly, we must use consistent data. If we are testing our code with the same data each time, we can trust our tests to yield reliable results and to identify when the logic changes. Each test run in Silverstripe CMS starts with a fresh database containing no records. Fixtures provide a way to describe the initial data to load into the database. The SapphireTest class takes care of populating a test database with data from fixtures - all we have to do is define them.

To include your fixture file in your tests, you should define it as your $fixture_file:

// app/tests/MyNewTest.php
namespace App\Test;

use SilverStripe\Dev\SapphireTest;

class MyNewTest extends SapphireTest
{
    protected static $fixture_file = 'fixtures.yml';

    // ...
}

You can also use an array of fixture files, if you want to use parts of multiple other tests.

If you are using TestOnly dataobjects in your fixtures, you must declare these classes within the $extra_dataobjects variable.

// app/tests/MyNewTest.php
namespace App\Test;

use SilverStripe\Dev\SapphireTest;

class MyNewTest extends SapphireTest
{
    protected static $fixture_file = [
        'fixtures.yml',
        'otherfixtures.yml',
    ];

    protected static $extra_dataobjects = [
        Player::class,
        Team::class,
    ];

    // ...
}

Typically, you'd have a separate fixture file for each class you are testing - although overlap between tests is common.

Fixtures are defined in YAML. YAML is a markup language which is deliberately simple and easy to read, so it is ideal for fixture generation. Say we have the following two DataObjects:

namespace App\Test;

use SilverStripe\Dev\TestOnly;
use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Player extends DataObject implements TestOnly
{
    private static $db = [
        'Name' => 'Varchar(255)',
    ];

    private static $has_one = [
        'Team' => Team::class,
    ];
}

namespace App\Test;

use SilverStripe\Dev\TestOnly;
use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Team extends DataObject implements TestOnly
{
    private static $db = [
        'Name' => 'Varchar(255)',
        'Origin' => 'Varchar(255)',
    ];

    private static $has_many = [
        'Players' => Player::class,
    ];
}

We can represent multiple instances of them in YAML as follows:

# app/tests/fixtures.yml
App\Test\Team:
  hurricanes:
    Name: The Hurricanes
    Origin: Wellington
  crusaders:
    Name: The Crusaders
    Origin: Canterbury
App\Test\Player:
  john:
    Name: John
    Team: =>App\Test\Team.hurricanes
  joe:
    Name: Joe
    Team: =>App\Test\Team.crusaders
  jack:
    Name: Jack
    Team: =>App\Test\Team.crusaders

This YAML is broken up into three levels, signified by the indentation of each line. In the first level of indentation, Player and Team, represent the class names of the objects we want to be created.

The second level, john/joe/jack & hurricanes/crusaders, are identifiers. Each identifier you specify represents a new object and can be referenced in the PHP using objFromFixture

use App\Test\Player;

$player = $this->objFromFixture(Player::class, 'jack');

The third and final level represents each individual object's fields.

A field can either be provided with raw data (such as the names for our Players), or we can define a relationship, as seen by the fields prefixed with =>.

Each one of our Players has a relationship to a Team, this is shown with the Team field for each Player being set to =>App\Test\Team. followed by a team name.

Take the player John in our example YAML below, his team is the Hurricanes which is represented by =>App\Test\Team.hurricanes. This sets the has_one relationship for John with with the Team object hurricanes.

This style of relationship declaration can be used for any type of relationship (i.e. has_one, has_many, many_many).

We can also declare the relationships conversely. Another way we could write the previous example is:

App\Test\Player:
  john:
    Name: John
  joe:
    Name: Joe
  jack:
    Name: Jack
App\Test\Team:
  hurricanes:
    Name: Hurricanes
    Origin: Wellington
    Players: =>App\Test\Player.john
  crusaders:
    Name: Crusaders
    Origin: Canterbury
    Players: =>App\Test\Player.joe,=>App\Test\Player.jack

The database is populated by instantiating DataObject objects and setting the fields declared in the YAML, then calling write() on those objects. Take for instance the hurricances record in the YAML. It is equivalent to writing:

use App\Test\Team;

$team = Team::create([
    'Name' => 'Hurricanes',
    'Origin' => 'Wellington',
]);

$team->write();

$team->Players()->add($john);

Fixtures for namespaced classes#

As of Silverstripe CMS 4 you will need to use fully qualified class names in your YAML fixture files. In the above examples, they belong to the global namespace so there is nothing requires, but if you have a deeper DataObject, or it has a relationship to models that are part of the framework for example, you will need to include their namespaces:

App\Test\Player:
  john:
    Name: join
App\Test\Team:
  crusaders:
    Name: Crusaders
    Origin: Canterbury
    Players: =>App\Test\Player.john

Defining many_many_extraFields#

many_many relations can have additional database fields attached to the relationship. For example we may want to declare the role each player has in the team.

namespace App\Test;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Player extends DataObject
{
    private static $db = [
        'Name' => 'Varchar(255)',
    ];

    private static $belongs_many_many = [
        'Teams' => Team::class,
    ];
}

namespace App\Test;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Team extends DataObject
{
    private static $db = [
        'Name' => 'Varchar(255)',
    ];

    private static $many_many = [
        'Players' => Player::class,
    ];

    private static $many_many_extraFields = [
        'Players' => [
            'Role' => 'Varchar',
        ],
    ];
}

To provide the value for the many_many_extraField use the YAML list syntax.

App\Test\Player:
  john:
    Name: John
  joe:
    Name: Joe
  jack:
    Name: Jack
App\Test\Team:
  hurricanes:
    Name: The Hurricanes
    Players:
      - =>App\Test\Player.john:
         Role: Captain

  crusaders:
    Name: The Crusaders
    Players:
      - =>App\Test\Player.joe:
        Role: Captain
      - =>App\Test\Player.jack:
        Role: Winger

Fixture factories#

While manually defined fixtures provide full flexibility, they offer very little in terms of structure and convention.

Alternatively, you can use the FixtureFactory class, which allows you to set default values, callbacks on object creation, and dynamic/lazy value setting.

The idea is that rather than instantiating objects directly, we'll have a factory class for them. This factory can have blueprints defined on it, which tells the factory how to instantiate an object of a specific type. Blueprints need a name, which is usually set to the class it creates such as Member or Page.

Blueprints are auto-created for all available DataObject subclasses, you only need to instantiate a factory to start using them.

use App\Test\Team;
use SilverStripe\Core\Injector\Injector;

$factory = Injector::inst()->create('FixtureFactory');

$obj = $factory->createObject(Team::class, 'hurricanes');

In order to create an object with certain properties, just add a third argument:

use App\Test\Team;

$obj = $factory->createObject(Team::class, 'hurricanes', [
    'Name' => 'My Value',
]);

After we've created this object in the factory, getId is used to retrieve it by the identifier.

use App\Test\Team;

$databaseId = $factory->getId(Team::class, 'hurricanes');

Default properties#

Blueprints can be overwritten in order to customise their behavior. For example, if a Fixture does not provide a Team name, we can set the default to be Unknown Team.

use App\Test\Team;

$factory->define(Team::class, [
    'Name' => 'Unknown Team',
]);

Dependent properties#

Values can be set on demand through anonymous functions, which can either generate random defaults, or create composite values based on other fixture data.

use SilverStripe\Security\Member;

$factory->define(
    Member::class,
    [
        'Email' => function ($obj, $data, $fixtures) {
            if (isset($data['FirstName'])) {
                $obj->Email = strtolower($data['FirstName']) . '@example.com';
            }
        },
        'Score' => function ($obj, $data, $fixtures) {
            $obj->Score = rand(0, 10);
        },
    ]
);

Relations#

Model relations can be expressed through the same notation as in the YAML fixture format described earlier, through the => prefix on data values.

use App\Test\Team;

$obj = $factory->createObject(Team::class, 'hurricanes', [
    'MyHasManyRelation' => '=>App\Test\Player.john,=>App\Test\Player.joe',
]);

Callbacks#

Sometimes new model instances need to be modified in ways which can't be expressed in their properties, for example to publish a page, which requires a method call.

$blueprint = Injector::inst()->create('FixtureBlueprint', 'Member');

$blueprint->addCallback('afterCreate', function ($obj, $identifier, $data, $fixtures) {
    $obj->copyVersionToStage(Versioned::DRAFT, Versioned::LIVE);
});

$page = $factory->define(Page::class, $blueprint);

Available callbacks:

• beforeCreate($identifier, $data, $fixtures)
• afterCreate($obj, $identifier, $data, $fixtures)

Multiple blueprints#

Data of the same type can have variations, for example forum members vs. CMS admins could both inherit from the Member class, but have completely different properties. This is where named blueprints come in. By default, blueprint names equal the class names they manage.

use SilverStripe\Core\Injector\Injector;
use SilverStripe\Dev\FixtureBlueprint;
use SilverStripe\Security\Group;
use SilverStripe\Security\Member;

$memberBlueprint = Injector::inst()->create(FixtureBlueprint::class, 'Member', Member::class);

$adminBlueprint = Injector::inst()->create(FixtureBlueprint::class, 'AdminMember', Member::class);

$adminBlueprint->addCallback('afterCreate', function ($obj, $identifier, $data, $fixtures) {
    if (isset($fixtures['Group']['admin'])) {
        $adminGroup = Group::get()->byId($fixtures['Group']['admin']);
        $obj->Groups()->add($adminGroup);
    }
});

// not in admin group
$member = $factory->createObject('Member');

// in admin group
$admin = $factory->createObject('AdminMember');

Related documentation#

• How to use a FixtureFactory

API documentation#

• FixtureFactory
• FixtureBlueprint