Question

I have this code:

public function testFoo() {
    $this->object = newBar();
}

But later, e.g., in method testAdd(), $this->object is null. testAdd executes after testFoo.

Why does this happen, and is there any setUp-like method for whole test case?

Answer 1

Every test method is executed on a new instance of the test case class. There is indeed a setup method that is called before each test, and it’s called setUp.

public function setUp() {
    $this->object = newBar();
}

public function testFoo() {
    // use $this->object here
}

public function testBar() {
    // use $this->object here too, though it's a *different* instance of newBar
}

If you need to share state across all tests for a test case–often ill-advised–you can use the static setUpBeforeClass method.

public static function setUpBeforeClass() {
    self::$object = newBar();
}

public function testFoo() {
    // use self::$object here
}

public function testBar() {
    // use self::$object here too, same instance as above
}