Symfony/BDD example 01: Hello, world!

##1. Background

The assumptions are following:

I want to create the “Hello, world!” application
working with latest stable release of Symfony
using Vagrant and symfony-v0.4.4 Vagrant box

I assume that the command:

# Host OS
$ vagrant box list

outputs (among the others):

symfony-v0.4.4

If it is not the case, you have to start with generating the box. The complete procedure is available in a separate post titled: Generating symfony-v0.4.4 box.

In this post I am working in two different operating system. One of them is Host OS, the other is Guest OS. Host OS is the OS that runs natively on my machine. Guest OS is the OS that I boot with $ vagrant up command. You can switch from Host OS to Guest OS with: $ vagrant ssh command. To get back to Host OS from Guest OS use $ logout or just press Ctrl+D to close SSH session

##2. Introductory step

###2.1. Start the project

Create a new directory and clone the Symfony Standard repository:

# Host OS
$ mkdir symfony-bdd-example-01-hello-world
$ cd symfony-bdd-example-01-hello-world
$ git clone git@github.com:by-examples/symfony-standard.git .

My repository:

git@github.com:by-examples/symfony-standard.git

contains a Symfony Standard distribution together with many branches that include various bundles, tools and extensions.

This is the way I work on new examples to avoid repeating the same actions again and again.

###2.2. Create a starting point for the project

Create a new orphan branch (i.e. the branch, that has no parent revision). The branch should start with Symfony Standard v2.6.1:

# Host OS
$ git checkout --orphan 2.6.1/bdd-example-01-hello-world v2.6.1

Commit your change:

# Host OS
$ git add -A
$ git commit -m "Symfony Standard 2.6.1"

###2.3. Install Vagrant and Behat

To avoid repeating the same actions again and again every time I start a new project, I use branches. I find them useful in almost all my projects.

The branch:

origin/2.6.1/Gitignore

contains some modifications to .gitignore file. Here is the list of changes introduced in origin/2.6.1/Github branch

The branch:

origin/2.6.1/Cleanup

removes some unnecessary files. Here is the list of changes introduced in origin/2.6.1/Cleanup branch

Next branch:

origin/2.6.1/Vagrant

includes Vagrant configuration. Here is the list of changes introduced in origin/2.6.1/Vagrant branch

Another branch:

origin/2.6.1/Speedup

contains improvements that result in substantial speedup of Symfony application run in Windows/Vagrant environment. Here is the list of changes introduced in origin/2.6.1/Speedup branch

The last branch:

origin/2.6.1/Behat

contains Behat installation. Here is the list of changes introduced in origin/2.6.1/Behat branch

To introduce all this changes in your project, you can cherry pick them:

# Host OS
$ git cherry-pick origin/2.6.1/Gitignore
$ git cherry-pick origin/2.6.1/Cleanup
$ git cherry-pick origin/2.6.1/Vagrant
$ git cherry-pick origin/2.6.1/Speedup
$ git cherry-pick origin/2.6.1/Behat

##2.4. Install the dependencies

Boot the VM with:

# Host OS
$ vagrant up
$ vagrant ssh

and run:

# Guest OS
$ composer install -o

When this is done, commit you changes with:

# Host OS
$ git add -A
$ git commit -m "Updated dependencies"

##3. Initialize Behat

Run the commands:

# Guest OS
$ bin/behat  --init

and then change the base class in file features/bootstrap/Context/FeatureContex.php to MinkContext. Do not forget to add use instruction.

Here is the fragment of the file after the change:

// Filename: features/bootstrap/Context/FeatureContex.php
[...]
use Behat\MinkExtension\Context\MinkContext;

[...]
class FeatureContext extends MinkContext implements Context, SnippetAcceptingContext
[...]

Commit your change:

# Host OS
$ git add -A
$ git commit -m "[BEHAT] Initialized and changed base context"

##3. Run Behat - project is GREEN

Now, try to run:

# Guest OS
$ bin/behat

You will get the output similar to:

No scenarios
No steps
0m0.03s (7.53Mb)

The project is GREEN.

GREEN

You can print all available step definitions with:

# Guest OS
$ bin/behat -dl

##4. The first test - red

Create the file features/hello-world.feature with the following contents:

Feature: I would like to...

  Scenario: Hello, world page
    Given I am on homepage
     Then I should see "This is my amazing greeting message!"

Run Behat:

# Guest OS
$ bin/behat

The project is RED.

RED

Commit the test:

# Host OS
$ git add -A
$ git commit -m "[BDD:RED] homepage test"

##5. Modified view - green

Finish the project by changing the contents of app/Resources/views/default/index.html.twig. Add the following message inside body:

<h1>This is my amazing greeting message!</h1>

Clear the cache:

# Guest OS
$ php app/console cache:clear --env=prod

and run the test:

# Guest OS
$ bin/behat

The project is GREEN.

GREEN

Commit your changes with:

# Host OS
$ git add -A
$ git commit -m "[BDD:GREEN] homepage test"

##5. Visit app with your browser

Run web browser and visit:

http://localhost:8880/
http://localhost:8880/app_dev.php/

You can also view your app in guest using lynx:

# Guest OS
$ lynx http://localhost/
$ lynx http://localhost/app_dev.php/

##6. Test the efficiency

You can test the efficiency of the app with:

# Guest OS
$ ab -n 100 http://localhost/

Here are the results I get on my OS X machine:

Concurrency Level:      1
Time taken for tests:   1.602 seconds
Complete requests:      100
Failed requests:        0
Total transferred:      54700 bytes
HTML transferred:       28400 bytes
Requests per second:    62.43 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       16.017 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       16.017 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          33.35 [Kbytes/sec] received

My results from Windows machine…

Server Software:        Apache/2.4.10
Server Hostname:        localhost
Server Port:            80

Document Path:          /
Document Length:        284 bytes

Concurrency Level:      1
Time taken for tests:   4.179 seconds
Complete requests:      100
Failed requests:        0
Total transferred:      54700 bytes
HTML transferred:       28400 bytes
Requests per second:    23.93 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       41.791 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       41.791 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          12.78 [Kbytes/sec] received

##7. Remove unnecessary commits

The history of your project is a linear and contains 10 commits. The command

$ git log --graph --oneline --decorate

prints the output similar to:

* c6073c2 (HEAD, 2.6.1/bdd-example-01-hello-world) [BDD:GREEN] homepage test
* 67c06c0 [BDD:RED] homepage test
* f0d347e [BEHAT] Initialized and changed base context
* ffe367d Updated dependencies
* cc46987 [STARTUP] Behat installation
* d5879db [STARTUP] Vendor, cache and log in /tmp/symfony2app/
* 7eccdc0 [STARTUP] Vagrant
* c314d4e [STARTUP] Remove unnecessary files
* 00cd6d4 [STARTUP] Gitignore and gitattributes
* 5e16218 Symfony Standard 2.6.1

If you use --all switch for $ git log, you will see a lot of other commits (the original commits from Symfony Standard). To remove them, use:

$ git remote rm origin
$ git branch -D 2.7
$ git tag | xargs git tag -d
$ git reflog expire --all --expire=now
$ git prune
$ git gc

##8. The Example

You will find the source code of the example on github.

For the instruction how to run the example refer to README.md file.

Symfony/BDD example 01: Hello, world!

24 December 2014