Abstract class with protected methods in phpunit

Question

I've been trying to test with phpunit on my abstract class that holds protected methods that will be shared by it children. I've been reading about private/protected methods shouldn't be tested because that makes the code brittle. In this case, I don't want those methods to be public API (although that wouldn't hurt, Its something that doesn't feels right) nor would I want to test in every child if the same parent action is well executed.

So, as an example explains more, I'll try to post a simple one

abstract class AbstractAuthenticator { abstract function authenticate(); protected function checkUserPrivilege() { ... code } protected function checkEnvPrivileges() { ... code } } class BasicAuth extends AbstractAuthenticator { public function authenticate() { $this->checkUserPrivilege(); $this->checkEnvPrivileges(); ... code } } class AjaxAuth extends AbstractAuthenticator { public function authenticate() { $this->checkUserPrivilege(); $this->checkEnvPrivileges(); ... code } }

My questions (if may I do more than one) are:

Does this code make sense to you?
Should be protected methods changed to public
If the protected methods are public, should they be checked outside the class or still be called in authenticate()
If you see this api (will all methods marked as public) wouldn't you be confused about which methods to invoke?

Thank you all. I think this question is tricky and needs some perspective to look into, so I appretiate your comments

So far, I've tried stackoverflow.com/a/5013441/1358777 suggestion with ReflectionClass — Alwin Kesler
– Alwin Kesler, Commented Feb 7, 2014 at 0:20

gontrollez · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-07 14:00:27Z

0

Create a TestAuth class and test the protected methods in an AbstractAuthenticatorTest that uses it instead of the real *Auth objects.

answered Feb 7, 2014 at 14:00

gontrollez

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3 Comments

Alwin Kesler Over a year ago

That's a way to test the methods. The real question is: is this right way to test a class behavior other than its public api? after making three access methods, I've started to understand that the really important factor here is to make sure that the abstract authenticate method calls the implicit actions taken in checkUserPrivilege() and checkEnvPrivileges() and this can only be checked as assertions in the class' tests

gontrollez Over a year ago

You must test both that the checkUserPrivilege and checkEnvPrivileges work as expected, and they are called when expected. The former is tested in the AbstractAuthenticatorTest, and the latter, in every *Auth class test. Maybe I'm missing something though. regards

Alwin Kesler Over a year ago

Thanks @gontrollez. I've got to the same assumptions. I'll check this as the best answer

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