HTTP Tests

• Introduction
• Session / Authentication
• Testing File Uploads
• • Response Assertions

Laravel provides a very fluent API for making HTTP requests to your application and examining the output. For example, take a look at the test defined below:

The method makes a GET request into the application, while the assertStatus method asserts that the returned response should have the given HTTP status code. In addition to this simple assertion, Laravel also contains a variety of assertions for inspecting the response headers, content, JSON structure, and more.

You may use the withHeaders method to customize the request's headers before it is sent to the application. This allows you to add any custom headers you would like to the request:

<?php
class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    /**
     * A basic functional test example.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function testBasicExample()
    {
        $response = $this->withHeaders([
            'X-Header' => 'Value',
        ])->json('POST', '/user', ['name' => 'Sally']);
        $response
            ->assertJson([
                'created' => true,
            ]);
    }
}

Laravel provides several helpers for working with the session during HTTP testing. First, you may set the session data to a given array using the withSession method. This is useful for loading the session with data before issuing a request to your application:

<?php
class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testApplication()
    {
        $response = $this->withSession(['foo' => 'bar'])
                         ->get('/');
    }
}

Of course, one common use of the session is for maintaining state for the authenticated user. The actingAs helper method provides a simple way to authenticate a given user as the current user. For example, we may use a model factory to generate and authenticate a user:

<?php
use App\User;
class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testApplication()
    {
        $user = factory(User::class)->create();
        $response = $this->actingAs($user)
                         ->withSession(['foo' => 'bar'])
                         ->get('/');
    }
}

You may also specify which guard should be used to authenticate the given user by passing the guard name as the second argument to the actingAs method:

$this->actingAs($user, 'api')

Laravel also provides several helpers for testing JSON APIs and their responses. For example, the json, get, post, put, , and delete methods may be used to issue requests with various HTTP verbs. You may also easily pass data and headers to these methods. To get started, let's write a test to make a POST request to /user and assert that the expected data was returned:

<?php
class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    /**
     * A basic functional test example.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function testBasicExample()
    {
        $response = $this->json('POST', '/user', ['name' => 'Sally']);
        $response
            ->assertStatus(200)
            ->assertJson([
                'created' => true,
            ]);
    }
}

If you would like to verify that the given array is an exact match for the JSON returned by the application, you should use the assertExactJson method:

<?php
class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    /**
     * A basic functional test example.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function testBasicExample()
    {
        $response = $this->json('POST', '/user', ['name' => 'Sally']);
        $response
            ->assertStatus(200)
            ->assertExactJson([
                'created' => true,
            ]);
    }
}

The Illuminate\Http\UploadedFile class provides a fake method which may be used to generate dummy files or images for testing. This, combined with the Storage facade's fake method greatly simplifies the testing of file uploads. For example, you may combine these two features to easily test an avatar upload form:

<?php
namespace Tests\Feature;
use Tests\TestCase;
use Illuminate\Http\UploadedFile;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testAvatarUpload()
    {
        Storage::fake('avatars');
        $response = $this->json('POST', '/avatar', [
            'avatar' => UploadedFile::fake()->image('avatar.jpg')
        ]);
        // Assert the file was stored...
        Storage::disk('avatars')->assertExists('avatar.jpg');
        // Assert a file does not exist...
        Storage::disk('avatars')->assertMissing('missing.jpg');
    }
}

Fake File Customization

When creating files using the fake method, you may specify the width, height, and size of the image in order to better test your validation rules:

UploadedFile::fake()->image('avatar.jpg', $width, $height)->size(100);

In addition to creating images, you may create files of any other type using the create method:

UploadedFile::fake()->create('document.pdf', $sizeInKilobytes);

Laravel provides a variety of custom assertion methods for your tests. These assertions may be accessed on the response that is returned from the json, get, post, put, and delete test methods:

assertCookieassertCookieMissingassertDontSeeTextassertHeaderassertJsonassertJsonMissingassertJsonStructureassertPlainCookieassertSeeassertSessionHasassertSessionHasErrorsassertSessionMissingassertSuccessfulassertViewHasAllassertViewMissing

assertCookie

Assert that the response contains the given cookie:

$response->assertCookie($cookieName, $value = null);

assertCookieExpired

Assert that the response contains the given cookie and it is expired:

$response->assertCookieExpired($cookieName);

assertCookieMissing

$response->assertCookieMissing($cookieName);

assertDontSee

Assert that the given string is not contained within the response:

assertDontSeeText

Assert that the given string is not contained within the response text:

$response->assertDontSeeText($value);

assertExactJson

Assert that the response contains an exact match of the given JSON data:

$response->assertExactJson(array $data);

assertHeader

Assert that the given header is present on the response:

$response->assertHeader($headerName, $value = null);

assertHeaderMissing

Assert that the given header is not present on the response:

$response->assertHeaderMissing($headerName);

assertJson

Assert that the response contains the given JSON data:

$response->assertJson(array $data);

assertJsonFragment

Assert that the response contains the given JSON fragment:

$response->assertJsonFragment(array $data);

assertJsonMissing

Assert that the response does not contain the given JSON fragment:

$response->assertJsonMissing(array $data);

assertJsonMissingExact

Assert that the response does not contain the exact JSON fragment:

$response->assertJsonMissingExact(array $data);

assertJsonStructure

Assert that the response has a given JSON structure:

$response->assertJsonStructure(array $structure);

assertJsonValidationErrors

Assert that the response has the given JSON validation errors for the given keys:

$response->assertJsonValidationErrors($keys);

assertPlainCookie

Assert that the response contains the given cookie (unencrypted):

$response->assertPlainCookie($cookieName, $value = null);

assertRedirect

Assert that the response is a redirect to a given URI:

$response->assertRedirect($uri);

assertSee

Assert that the given string is contained within the response:

assertSeeText

Assert that the given string is contained within the response text:

$response->assertSeeText($value);

assertSessionHas

Assert that the session contains the given piece of data:

$response->assertSessionHas($key, $value = null);

assertSessionHasAll

Assert that the session has a given list of values:

$response->assertSessionHasAll(array $data);

assertSessionHasErrors

Assert that the session contains an error for the given field:

$response->assertSessionHasErrors(array $keys, $format = null, $errorBag = 'default');

assertSessionHasErrorsIn

Assert that the session has the given errors:

$response->assertSessionHasErrorsIn($errorBag, $keys = [], $format = null);

assertSessionMissing

Assert that the session does not contain the given key:

$response->assertSessionMissing($key);

assertStatus

Assert that the response has a given code:

$response->assertStatus($code);

assertSuccessful

Assert that the response has a successful status code:

$response->assertSuccessful();

assertViewHas

Assert that the response view was given a piece of data:

$response->assertViewHas($key, $value = null);

assertViewHasAll

Assert that the response view has a given list of data:

$response->assertViewHasAll(array $data);

assertViewIs

Assert that the given view was returned by the route:

$response->assertViewIs($value);

assertViewMissing

Assert that the response view is missing a piece of bound data:

$response->assertViewMissing($key);