Seeding the database for all tests (5.5)

I use:

<?php

namespace Tests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\TestCase as BaseTestCase;

abstract class TestCase extends BaseTestCase
{
    use CreatesApplication, RefreshDatabase;

    protected function setUp()
    {
        parent::setUp();
        $this->artisan("db:seed");
    }
}

OK so RefreshDatabase will zero out everything and setUp() will add the seeds before each test? That's definitely better than what I had, thank you :)

I was however hoping that if RefreshDatabase is using transactions, it might as well roll back to a seeded state, rather than having to add them before each test. But if it can't do that then this is the next best thing.

Just wanted to add this for people who are using 5.8 like me, I needed to add : void to the setUp method.

    protected function setUp(): void
    {
        parent::setUp();
        $this->artisan("db:seed");
    }

This seems to seed before every single test, which is perhaps not ideal.

It was mentioned in the original answer, that we could override the refreshTestDatabase method to add in a seed. That's what I do, and it means it will seed just once, right after the first set of migrations.

Depending on the amount of seeders you have, this can be a big performance gain for your tests.

<?php

namespace Tests\Traits;

use Illuminate\Contracts\Console\Kernel;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabaseState;

trait RefreshDatabaseWithSeeds
{
    use RefreshDatabase;

    /**
     * Refresh the in-memory database.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    protected function refreshInMemoryDatabase()
    {
        $this->artisan('migrate');

        $this->artisan('db:seed');

        $this->app[Kernel::class]->setArtisan(null);
    }

    /**
     * Refresh a conventional test database.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    protected function refreshTestDatabase()
    {
        if (! RefreshDatabaseState::$migrated) {
            $this->artisan('migrate:fresh', $this->shouldDropViews() ? [
                '--drop-views' => true,
            ] : []);

            $this->artisan('db:seed');

            $this->app[Kernel::class]->setArtisan(null);

            RefreshDatabaseState::$migrated = true;
        }

        $this->beginDatabaseTransaction();
    }
}

This will allow you to use RefreshDatabaseWithSeeds; in your extended TestCase, instead of use RefreshDatabase, and will therefore run the seeders only once.

<?php

namespace Tests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\TestCase as BaseTestCase;
use Tests\Traits\RefreshDatabaseWithSeeds;

abstract class TestCase extends BaseTestCase
{
    use CreatesApplication, RefreshDatabaseWithSeeds;
}

<?php

namespace Tests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\TestCase as BaseTestCase;
use Tests\Traits\RefreshDatabaseWithSeeds;

abstract class TestCase extends BaseTestCase
{
     use RefreshDatabase;

    protected function shouldSeed()
    {
        return true;
    }
}

or even shorter, just set the $seed property:

<?php

namespace Tests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\TestCase as BaseTestCase;
use Tests\Traits\RefreshDatabaseWithSeeds;

abstract class TestCase extends BaseTestCase
{
     use RefreshDatabase;

    protected bool $seed = true;
}

it will be picked up by RefreshDatabase (CanConfigureMigrationCommands) trait.