Yii2 and Codeception API test with _before

Question

I'm using Yii2 as my app framework, I started with the advanced template. I have a frontend, backend and api entry point for my app. I have moved frontend, backend and api out of the root directory and into /modules to keep clutter down in the root.

I am trying to create a registration test for my API registration endpoint. Before I run the test I need to ensure that the email address i'm testing registration with has not already been registered in the test database.

I'm using the Cest _before method to see if I can find a Member model with the test email, if I find one I then delete it.

The problem is that this is causing the test to exit without any debugging information.

Is this how I should be doing my test setup? Should I be doing something else to clear any old test users.

The test will work the first time I run it if I remove the _before() setup functionality.

AuthenticationCest.php

 namespace tests\codeception\api\api;

use common\models\Member;
use tests\codeception\api\ApiTester;

class AuthenticationCest {

    public $email = "reg.test@member.com";

    //Check to see id the email is already used and delete it
    public function _before(ApiTester $I) {
        $member = Member::findOne([
            "email" => $this->email
        ]);

        if ($member) {
            $member->delete();
        }
    }

    //Test that a member can register
    public function registerTest(ApiTester $I) {
        $I->wantTo('Register a new member via the API');

        $I->haveHttpHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');

        $I->sendPOST('token', [
            'grant_type'    => 'registration',
            'client_id'     => 'testclient',
            'client_secret' => 'testpass',
            'email'         => $this->email,
            'password'      => 'Test1234',
            'given_name'    => 'Test',
            'family_name'   => 'Member'
        ]);

        $I->seeResponseCodeIs(200);
        $I->seeResponseIsJson();
    }
}

_bootstrap.php

defined('YII_DEBUG') or define('YII_DEBUG', true);
defined('YII_ENV') or define('YII_ENV', 'test');

defined('YII_APP_BASE_PATH') or define('YII_APP_BASE_PATH', dirname(dirname(dirname(__DIR__))));

require_once(YII_APP_BASE_PATH . '/vendor/autoload.php');
require_once(YII_APP_BASE_PATH . '/vendor/yiisoft/yii2/Yii.php');
require_once(YII_APP_BASE_PATH . '/common/config/bootstrap.php');
require_once(YII_APP_BASE_PATH . '/modules/api/config/bootstrap.php');

Yii::setAlias('@tests', dirname(dirname(__DIR__)));

This seems to be enough to let me create and delete models for Unit test, but not the functional API tests

api.suite.yml

class_name: ApiTester
modules:
enabled: [PhpBrowser, REST]
config:
  PhpBrowser:
      url: http://api.yii.lan/
  REST:
      url: http://api.yii.lan/v1/

EDIT output

$ ../vendor/bin/codecept run --steps --debug -vvv

Codeception PHP Testing Framework v2.0.13
Powered by PHPUnit 4.6.6 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.

[tests\codeception\common]: tests from /workspace/yii2/tests//codeception/common


Tests\codeception\api.api Tests (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modules: PhpBrowser, REST, Db
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Register via the API (tests\codeception\api\api\oauth\RegistrationCest::registerTest)
Scenario:

Answer 1

If you need clear database after each test , then you need to use Fixtures. Fixtures are an important part of testing. Their main purpose is to set up the environment in a fixed/known state so that your tests are repeatable and run in an expected way. More about them in http://www.yiiframework.com/doc-2.0/guide-test-fixtures.html

After reading the document, you found out that you already have FixtureHelper, in advanced template it should be in /tests/codeception/common/support/FixtureHelper.

You should generate the file called MemberFixture.php in tests/.../common/fixtures folder . After that you should generate data in database( a couple of members that will be etalons an tests).

In finall part you should add FixtureHelper to youre .yml file(functional.yml). For example my acceptance.yml looks like

class_name: AcceptanceTester
modules:
enabled:
  - PhpBrowser
  - REST
  - ApiHelper
  - tests\codeception\common\_support\FixtureHelper
  - Db
config:
  PhpBrowser:
      url: http://localhost:8080
  REST:
      url: http://localhost:8080/frontend/web/index-test.php
  Db:
    dsn: 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=y1db_test'
    user: 'newproject'
    password: 'newproject'
    populate: false,
    cleanup: false

Thats all, now after every test, youre member table will be cleaned and populated with etalon data from the fixtures. And test will be alwayse green.