Testing a module which uses CiviCRM php api

Question

I have written a drupal module that uses the CiviCRM api. I want to build tests for my module. Drupal 7 includes the simpletest module in core, so I'm using that. I have created the following test:

class ExampleCiviCRMTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {

public static function getInfo(){
    return array(
        'name' => 'Example CiviCRM Test',
        'description' => 'Check that CiviCRM API can be used in tests',
        'group' => "CiviCRM",
    );
}

public function setUp() {
    parent::setUp(array('civicrm'));
}

public function testCivicrmWorks(){
    civicrm_initialize();
    try {
        $result = civicrm_api3('Contact', 'get', array(
            'sequential' => 1,
        ));
    } catch (CiviCRM_API3_Exception $e) {
        $error = $e->getMessage();
        $this->fail($error);
    }
    $this->assertFalse(empty($result['count']));
}
}

This test fails. The error page states that the civicrm module was successfully enabled, but then this error occured: Access to undeclared static property: Database::$ignoreTargets. The error occured in database.inc on line 1473. Does anyone have any experience using simpletest with civicrm?

Answer 1

I'm not an expert of testing but i'm pretty sure that SimpleTest creates a new instance of Drupal with a new database each time the testing process is ran.

CiviCRM is not a standard Drupal module and cannot just be enabled. In your SetUp function, You need to install CiviCRM to create the corresponding tables in the database. It could be a rather complex task but it's possible to do so. There is a drush script to do it so it might be a good inspiration.

You might want to check drush_civicrm_install in https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-drupal/blob/7.x-master/drush/civicrm.drush.inc

Otherwise, you might find easier to use CiviCRM testing way (phpUnit) : https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Testing

And an example : https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-core/blob/master/tests/phpunit/api/v3/ActivityTest.php