How to specify a different .env file for phpunit in Laravel 5?

Question

I have a .env file containing my database connection details, as is normal for Laravel 5. I want to override these for testing, which I can do in phpunit.

Answer 1

Been struggling with this for a few months now and just came across this Github issue today. From the solutions proposed there, here's what you should do in your CreatesApplication.php file (to delete the cached config in order to have Laravel load the test environment):

/**
 * Creates the application.
 *
 * @return \Illuminate\Foundation\Application
 */
public function createApplication()
{
    $app = require __DIR__.'/../bootstrap/app.php';

    $app->make(Illuminate\Contracts\Console\Kernel::class)->bootstrap();

    $this->clearCache(); // NEW LINE -- Testing doesn't work properly with cached stuff.

    return $app;
}

/**
 * Clears Laravel Cache.
 */
protected function clearCache()
{
    $commands = ['clear-compiled', 'cache:clear', 'view:clear', 'config:clear', 'route:clear'];
    foreach ($commands as $command) {
        \Illuminate\Support\Facades\Artisan::call($command);
    }
}

If you're still experiencing this issue after the above modification, you can go further by rebuilding the entire application as follows:

public function createApplication()
{
    $createApp = function() {
        $app = require __DIR__.'/../bootstrap/app.php';
        $app->make(Kernel::class)->bootstrap();
        return $app;
    };

    $app = $createApp();
    if ($app->environment() !== 'testing') {
        $this->clearCache();
        $app = $createApp();
    }

    return $app;
}

This is working just fine for me.

Answer 2

Updated

For Laravel 5.8 users, you may create a .env.testing file in the root of your project.

Use a different db, like my_app_testing.

So, it will be, in .env

DB_DATABASE=clinical_managment

and in .env.testing

DB_DATABASE=clinical_managment_testing

Then, make config clear.

php artisan config:clear

Re-run the test. In my setup, it works.

Answer 3

Copy your .env to .env.testing, then edit the .env.testing file and change the APP_ENV parameter to make it like this APP_ENV=testing this way you will be able to specify your settings int this new file

In case you don't want to create a new .env.testing file you have to specify your variables in the phpunit.xml in the php section with the values you need, something like this

<php>
    <env name="APP_ENV" value="testing"/>
    <env name="CACHE_DRIVER" value="array"/>
    <env name="SESSION_DRIVER" value="array"/>
    <env name="QUEUE_DRIVER" value="sync"/>
    <env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="sqlite"/>
    <env name="DB_DATABASE" value="testing"/>
</php>

Just use the key values in the name section and the value of that key in the value section.

For this example I am specifying phpunit to use an sqlite database with the name of testing.

By the way in config/database.php I added this 'default' => env('DB_CONNECTION', 'mysql'), to use mysql by default unless I specify something diferent, as in this case.

Answer 4

I did all the steps in @Sambhu Singh answer as well as followed his link. But didn't work for me in L5.5

When migrating, adding/setting APP_ENV to 'testing' in front of the artisan command worked for me:

APP_ENV=testing php artisan migrate --database=sqlite_testing