Unit testing of forms with collections - symfony

Question

I have almost no experience in terms of unit tests. I read this symfony cookbook chapter to test a form type.
http://symfony.com/doc/current/cookbook/form/unit_testing.html
My form look like this:
public function __construct(SecurityContext $securityContext, \Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager $em)
{
$this->securityContext = $securityContext;
$this->entityManager = $em;
}
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder->add('title', 'text', array('label' => 'title', 'translation_domain' => 'messages', 'attr' => array('maxlength' => 255)))
->add('comments', 'collection', array(
'type' => new CommentType() ,
'allow_add' => false,
'allow_delete' => false,
'label' => false,
'options' => array(
'label' => false,
)
)
)
->add('translations', 'a2lix_translations', array(
'fields' => array(
'coverLetter' => array(
'label' => 'msg.coverLetter',
'field_type' => 'textarea',
'attr' => array('class' => 'rte')
)
)
));
}
Now i write a class to test my form.
class QuestionnaireControllerTest extends TypeTestCase
{
public function testAddQuestionnaire()
{
$kernel = new \AppKernel('dev', true);
$kernel->boot();
$container = $kernel->getContainer();
$securityContext = $container->get('security.context');
$entityManager = $container->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager');
$formData = array('title' => 'Exp. title');
$type = new QuestionnaireType($securityContext, $entityManager);
$form = $this->factory->create($type);
$form->submit($formData);
$this->assertTrue($form->isSynchronized());
$view = $form->createView();
$children = $view->children;
foreach (array_keys($formData) as $key) {
$this->assertArrayHasKey($key, $children);
}
}
}
But I have some questions for my test class.
Is this the correct way to get the kernel?
How can i test the form item "comments (collection)", "translations (a2lix_translations)"?
Unfortunately i do'nt find useful tutorials for these issues.

Answer 1

When it comes to TypeTest's it can become a little weird actually as it seems out of the loop. I faced some similar problems and actually did the following:
1) Regarding the Kernel: Extend the KernelTestCase and include TypeTestCase (and super) logic in your test (or create yourself an abstract). That way you will have a more consistent Kernel init way and TypeTestCase is not that big besides the form initialization. To have that customizable actually might be helpful later on.
2) To get especially the A2lix stuff loaded as extensions to your test forms you have to override
protected function getExtensions()
and return an array
return array(
new PreloadedExtension(..., array())
);
For A2lix ... might look like
$gedmoTranslationsType = new GedmoTranslationsType($this->container->get('a2lix_translation_form.gedmo.listener.translations'), $this->container->get('a2lix_translation_form.gedmo.service.translation'), $this->getLocales(), false);
$gedmoTranslationsLocalesType = new GedmoTranslationsLocalesType();
$translationsFields = new TranslationsFieldsType();
return array(
$gedmoTranslationsType->getName() => $gedmoTranslationsType,
$gedmoTranslationsLocalesType->getName() => $gedmoTranslationsLocalesType,
$translationsFields->getName() => $translationsFields,
);
I already got myself the container and locales in convenient members and functions. You should do so to.
In general the extensions will also become important with e.g. testing Entity types. Therefore, generalizing these things might be helpful.
There is a lot more stuff to Type testing actually that you will figure out over time. I hope this helps anyway.
Best