Phactory is an alternative to database fixtures for defining test data in PHP unit tests. It allows developers to define database objects in code and dynamically create them, rather than loading static datasets. Phactory provides a lightweight ORM and works with MySQL, SQLite, and MongoDB. It supports defining object blueprints, creating objects with associations, retrieving objects, and integrating with PHPUnit for testing database code.

1. A Database Factory for PHP
http://phactory.org
Chris Kite
Sr. Web Engineer at Offers.com
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential @chriskite

2. Phactory: What is it?
Alternative to database fixtures for unit
tests
Define and create objects in code
Provides a lightweight ORM
Works with MySQL, SQLite, and
MongoDB
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

3. Phactory is developed and used at
Offers.com

4. Databases in Unit Testing
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

5. Database Fixtures
A fixture is a statically defined set of data
Each test can have its own dataset
PHPUnit provides support for loading
fixtures:
class DatabaseTest extends PHPUnit_Extensions_Database_TestCase
{
protected function getConnection()
{
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=testdb', 'root', '');
return $this->createDefaultDBConnection($pdo, 'testdb');
}
protected function getDataSet()
{
return $this->createFlatXMLDataSet(dirname(__FILE__).'/_files/bank-account-seed.xml');
}
}
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

6. Database Fixtures
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dataset>
<post
post_id="1"
title="My First Post"
date_created="2008-12-01 12:30:29"
contents="This is my first post" rating="5"
/>
<post
post_id="2"
title="My Second Post"
date_created="2008-12-04 15:35:25"
contents="This is my second post"
/>
</dataset> Vertive, Inc.
© 2009
Proprietary and Confidential Example from http://www.phpunit.de/manual/current/en/database.html

7. Database Fixtures
Drawbacks:
» Typically in an unfriendly format like XML
» You are left to your own devices to retrieve
and manipulate data in your test
» Can’t dynamically create objects
» No concept of associations
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

8. Database Factories
Define database test data in code, not flat
files
Create objects dynamically, rather than
loading them all at once
Define associations between objects
Can integrate with or provide ORM
functionality
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

9. Database Factories
Phactory Example
<?
Phactory::setConnection(new PDO('sqlite:test.db'));
Phactory::define('user', array('name' => 'Test User',
'email' => 'user@example.com'));
$user = Phactory::create('user'); // creates a row in the 'users' table
print("Hello, {$user->name}!"); // prints "Hello, Test User!"
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

10. Using Phactory
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

11. Connecting to the Database
Phactory supports MySQL, SQLite, and
MongoDB
Uses PDO for SQL databases
<?
require_once 'Phactory/lib/Phactory.php';
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=127.0.0.1; dbname=testdb', 'user', 'password');
Phactory::setConnection($pdo);
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

12. Defining Table Blueprints
A blueprint defines default values for
objects created in a particular table
<?
Phactory::define('user', array('name' => 'test_user',
'age' => 20));
Phactory::define('post', array('text' => 'This is a post',
'created_at' => 1296663323));
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

13. Creating Objects
When creating an object with Phactory,
you can:
» Specify values for fields that weren’t in the
blueprint definition
» Override any of the default values
» Associate with other objects
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

14. Creating Objects
Phactory::define('user', array('name' => 'test_user', 'age' => 20));
$john = Phactory::create('user', array('name' => 'John Doe'));
$joe = Phactory::create('user', array('name' => 'Joe Smith', 'activated' => 1));
$anon = Phactory::create('user');
// $john looks like this:
$john->id == 1;
$john->name == 'John Doe';
$john->activated == 0;
// $joe looks like this:
$joe->id == 2;
$joe->name == 'Joe Smith';
$joe->activated == 1;
// $anon looks like this:
$anon->id == 3;
$anon->name == 'test_user';
$anon->activated == 0;
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

15. Retrieving Objects
Basic ORM functionality allows you to
retrieve Phactory objects from the
database
Uses a simple get() method which takes
an array of columns to match
$joe = Phactory::get('user', array('id' => 2));
$joe = Phactory::get('user', array('age' => 20, 'activated' => 1));
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

16. Associations
For SQL databases, Phactory provides
many-to-one and many-to-many
associations
Foreign key columns and join tables are
filled in automatically when creating an
object with associations
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

17. Associations
Phactory::define('author');
Phactory::define('book',
array('name' => 'Test Book'),
array('primary_author' => Phactory::manyToOne('author')));
$twain = Phactory::create('author', array('name' => 'Mark Twain'));
$book = Phactory::createWithAssociations('book', array('primary_author'
=> $twain));
$book->author_id == $twain->getId();
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

18. Sequences
Define blueprints with automatically
incrementing values
» Include ‘$n’ in the definition
» Sequence starts at 0, and is incremented
each time an object is created
Phactory::define('user', array('name' => 'user$n', 'age' => '$n'));
$user0 = Phactory::create('user'); // name == 'user0', age == '0'
$user1 = Phactory::create('user'); // name == 'user1', age == '1'
$user2 = Phactory::create('user'); // name == 'user2', age == '2'
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

19. Phactory and PHPUnit
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

20. Basic Test Setup
require_once 'Phactory/lib/Phactory.php';
class ExampleTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
public static function setUpBeforeClass()
{
// create a db connection and tell Phactory to use it
$pdo = new PDO("sqlite:test.db");
Phactory::setConnection($pdo);
// reset any existing blueprints and empty any tables Phactory has used
Phactory::reset();
// define default values for each user we will create
Phactory::define('user', array('name' => 'Test User $n', 'age' => 18));
}
public static function tearDownAfterClass()
{
Phactory::reset();
}
public function tearDown()
{
// delete all objects from defined tables, but do not erase blueprints
Phactory::recall();
}
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

21. Structuring Shared Definitions
Usually many of the test classes in your
suite will need to use the same tables
Define blueprints in one place, share them
among many tests
» Can include() a file of definitions, put
definitions in a static class, etc.
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

22. Structuring Shared Definitions
SharedDefinitions.php
<?
Phactory::define('tag', array('name' => 'Tag $n'));
Phactory::define('post',
array('name' => 'Test Blog Post', 'content' => 'Test Content'),
array('tag' => Phactory::manyToMany('tag', 'posts_tags')));
ExampleTest.php
class ExampleTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
public static function setUpBeforeClass()
{
$pdo = new PDO("sqlite:test.db");
Phactory::setConnection($pdo);
Phactory::reset();
// include definitions common to several tests
include('SharedDefinitions.php');
}
}
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

23. Dynamic Objects
Recall that with fixtures, your test data is
all loaded at the start of the test
With Phactory, you can create or change
test data during a test
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

24. Dynamic Objects
class MyPostClass {
public static function countTagsForPost($post_id) {
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT COUNT(*) AS num_tags
FROM `posts_tags` WHERE `post_id` = ?");
$stmt->execute(array($post_id));
$result = $stmt->fetch();
return $result['num_tags'];
}
}
Phactory::define('tag',
array('name' => 'Tag $n'),
array('post' => Phactory::manyToMany('post', 'posts_tags')));
Phactory::define('post',
array('name' => 'Test Blog Post', 'content' => 'Test Content'),
array('tag' => Phactory::manyToMany('tag', 'posts_tags')));
$post = Phactory::create('post');
$this->assertEquals(0, MyPostClass::countTagsForPost($post->getId()));
$tag = Phactory::createWithAssociations('tag', array('post' => $post));
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
$this->assertEquals(1, MyPostClass::countTagsForPost($post->getId()));
Proprietary and Confidential

25. Using Phactory with MongoDB
 require_once 'Phactory/lib/PhactoryMongo.php';
 Uses the Mongo PHP driver
 Almost exactly the same as regular SQL
Phactory, except:
» Documents returned as arrays rather than
Phactory_Row objects
» Phactory::get() supports all Mongo queries
» Associations: embedsOne and embedsMany
 http://phactory.org/mongodb-guide/
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

26. QUESTIONS
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential

27. Thank You!
These slides are online at
http://bit.ly/PhactoryWebinar
Contact me on Twitter: @chriskite
Visit http://phactory.org to download and
for more information
© 2009 Vertive, Inc.
Proprietary and Confidential