TDD how do you test backend and frontend

When it comes to the frontend I only test that certain things are present or not present.

Something like this

   /**
     * @test
     */
    public function user_can_create_authors()
    {
        $this->signIn();

        $response = $this->get('/authors/create');

        $response->assertSee('name="first_name"', false);
        $response->assertSee('name="last_name"', false);
        $response->assertSee('name="_token"', false);
        $response->assertSee('input type="submit" value="Save"', false);
    }

and something like this

/**
     * @test
     */
    public function after_creating_an_author_the_user_is_redirected_to_the_authors_index_view_and_success_message_is_shown()
    {
        $this->signIn();
        $author = factory(Author::class)->make();

        $response = $this->post('/authors', $author->toArray());

        $response->assertStatus(302);
        $response->assertLocation('/authors');

        $response = $this->get('/authors');
        $response->assertSee($author->name . ' successfully added.');
    }

To test the functionality I suggest using Cypress

https://www.cypress.io/

Great information, and do you create separate tests for user roles?

For example if you have 3 different users with different permissions using policies, do you write 3 tests for the same feature?

Thank you.

@charrua I’m not sure what difference “backend” and “frontend” makes; tests just perform actions and then assertions. Doesn’t matter if you’re testing a “front” end route or a “back” end route.

Yes I would most likely write tests like

• an_admin_can_update_blog_post
• an_editor_can_update_blog_post
• a_user_cant_update_a_blog_post

If all user type can update the post I would write one test that asserts that they can

• any_user_can_update_a_blog_post

@martinbean you are right, my differentiation on using the words “backend” and “frontend” has nothing to do here, it was a mental map I have from the app. I was thinking on user roles when referring to those.

Thank you @martinbean and @tray2 for the answers and help on this issue!

@charrua Yeah, feel free to organise your tests like that, but the approach doesn’t really change between testing the “front” and “back” of your application :)

Just write feature tests that make requests and either test for a success or error response:

$this
    ->actingAs($admin);
    ->post('/admin/products', $validData)
    ->assertSessionHasNoErrors()
    ->assertRedirect();

$this
    ->actingAs($admin);
    ->post('/admin/products', $invalidData)
    ->assertSessionHasErrors(['fields', 'that', 'should', 'fail', 'validation']);