How Testing Benefits You

Notes

Before we can really dive into testing, I think any conversation about integration testing into workflow has to start with “how it benefits you.” Testing requires more work from you upfront, but saves you time and money later. The benefits are huge to your company, clients, and you.

Let’s talk about why and what you get.

In this episode, I’ll show you the benefits of testing by showing you a real world framework that had a bug in it. As I was writing tests for it, I found a bug, one that had been in this framework for over 6 years. This function was supposed to:

Remove the action remove_action from WordPress
And then add it back in with the new hook, i.e. do a add_action.

It’s expected behavior was to “replace” the hook for the given action.

It did the add action, but did not remove the original. That’s a bug. I’ll show you how testing found it and then how I fixed it.

We’ll talk in depth about the benefits to you and why it’s imperative that you learn testing and integrate it into your workflow. Here are the benefits:

Gives you confidence in your work and code.
Saves you time.
Helps you to isolate behaviors and potential issues.
Gives you a baseline for measuring future enhancements and/or changes.
Required if you want to:
- Contribute to an open source project
- Start your career at a larger agency or company

Transcript

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Code

Click here for the code and test

The original functions in Beans v1.4.0, which had the bug:

 <?php
 function beans_replace_action( $id, $hook = null, $callback = null, $priority = null, $args = null ) {
 	$action = array(
 		'hook'     => $hook,
 		'callback' => $callback,
 		'priority' => $priority,
 		'args'     => $args,
 	);
 	// Set and get the latest replaced.
 	$action = _beans_merge_action( $id, array_filter( $action ), 'replaced' );
 	// Set and get the latest added.
 	$action = _beans_merge_action( $id, $action, 'added' );
 	return beans_modify_action( $id, $hook, $callback, $priority, $args );
 }
 function beans_replace_action_hook( $id, $hook ) {
 	return beans_replace_action( $id, $hook );
 }

view raw

beans-replace-action.php

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The revised functions in Beans v.1.5.0:

 <?php
 function beans_replace_action( $id, $hook = null, $callback = null, $priority = null, $args = null ) {
 	$action = _beans_build_action_array( $hook, $callback, $priority, $args );
 	// If no changes were passed in, there's nothing to modify. Bail out.
 	if ( empty( $action ) ) {
 		return false;
 	}
 	// Set and get the latest "replaced" action.
 	$action = _beans_merge_action( $id, $action, 'replaced' );
 	// Modify the action.
 	$is_modified = beans_modify_action( $id, $hook, $callback, $priority, $args );
 	// Now merge the current action with the replaced one.
 	_beans_merge_action( $id, $action, 'added' );
 	return $is_modified;
 }
 function beans_replace_action_hook( $id, $hook ) {
 	if ( empty( $hook ) || ! is_string( $hook ) ) {
 		return false;
 	}
 	return beans_replace_action( $id, $hook );
 }

view raw

beans-replace-action.php

hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Here’s the test:

	<?php

	// code left out for brevity

	/**
	* Test beans_replace_action_hook() should replace the registered action's hook.
	*/
	public function test_should_replace_the_action_hook() {
	// Set up what will get stored in Beans.
	$replaced_action = array(
	'hook' => 'beans_foo',
	);

	$this->go_to_post();

	foreach ( static::$test_actions as $beans_id => $action_config ) {
	$original_action = _beans_get_action( $beans_id, 'added' );

	// Make sure the callback is what we think before we get rolling.
	$this->assertEquals( $action_config['hook'], $original_action['hook'] );

	// Test that the original action is registered in WordPress.
	$this->assertTrue( has_action( $original_action['hook'], $original_action['callback'], $original_action['priority'] ) !== false );

	// Run the replace.
	$this->assertTrue( beans_replace_action_hook( $beans_id, $replaced_action['hook'] ) );

	// Check that the original action's hook is no longer registered in WordPress.
	$this->assertFalse( has_action( $original_action['hook'], $original_action['callback'], $original_action['priority'] ) );

	// Check if it replaced only the hook.
	$new_action = _beans_get_action( $beans_id, 'added' );
	$this->assertEquals( $replaced_action['hook'], $new_action['hook'] );
	$this->assertEquals( $original_action['callback'], $new_action['callback'] );
	$this->assertEquals( $original_action['priority'], $new_action['priority'] );
	$this->assertEquals( $original_action['args'], $new_action['args'] );

	// Check that the "replaced" action has been stored in Beans and WordPress.
	$this->check_stored_in_beans( $beans_id, $replaced_action );
	$this->check_registered_in_wp( $new_action['hook'], $new_action );
	}
	}