Question

So I have a very simple (at least right now it is) model that returns a contact via it’s primary key ID:

class Model_Contact extends \Fuel\Core\Model
{
    public function get_by_id($contact_id)
    {
        return Entity_Contact::find_by_pk($contact_id);
    }
}

The Entity_Contact class looks like this (irrelevant array content omitted):

class Entity_Contact extends \Core\Entity_Base
{
    protected static $_table_name = 'contacts';
    protected static $_properties = array(...);
    protected static $_public_settable_properties = array(...);
    protected static $_rules = array(...);
}

Note: \Core\Entity_Base extends \Fuel\Core\Model_Crud

I might use this in a controller like so:

$model = new Model_Contact();
$contact = $model->get_by_id(4);

I know that in order to unit test this, I should mock out the actual database call (Entity_Contact::find_by_pk), but I’m not sure how to do this. Since I’m using Fuel’s Model_crud functionality (where the DB accessors are actually a part of the domain object model), I’m not sure that I can completely mock the database—or maybe I’m missing something.

So the question: how would you write a test for Model_Contact::get_by_id()?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Your test may have to create the objects so you can test your methods.

1. Create the objects that get stored to the database.
2. Test get_by_id
3. Delete your created object

It’s not the most glorious thing in the world, but it would accomplish testing your method… meh?