Exception not tested with phpUnit?

Question

Hi,

I'm writing some unit test with phpUnit to test a Zend Framework application and I've got some issues with testing an exception in the changePassword function. The test doesn't fail, but in the coverage tool which generates html the "throw new Exception($tr->translate('userOldPasswordIncorrect'));" line isn't tested.

public function changePassword(array $data, $id)
{
    $user = $this->_em->find('Entities\User', (int) $id);

    $oldPassword = sha1(self::$_salt . $data['oldPassword']);
    if ($user->getPassword() !== $oldPassword) {
        $tr = PC_Translate_MySQL::getInstance();
        throw new Exception($tr->translate('userOldPasswordIncorrect'));
    }

    $user->setPassword(sha1(self::$_salt . $data['password']));

    $this->_em->persist($user);
    $this->_em->flush();
}

The unit test which should test the exception:

/**
 * @depends testFindByAuth
 * @expectedException Exception
 */
public function testChangePasswordWrongOldPassword()
{
    $this->_dummyUser = $this->_user->findByAuth($this->_dummyEmail, $this->_dummyPassword, $this->_reseller);

    // Try to change the password with a wrong oldPassword
    $data['oldPassword'] = 'wrongOldPassword';
    $data['password'] = $this->_dummyNewPassword;

    $this->_user->changePassword($data, $this->_dummyUser->getId());
}

I'll hope somebody can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Update

The problem was inside the PC_Translate_MySQL::getInstance() method. There was thrown an exception. And as I was testing on getting a general exception this ofcourse passed. Solution don't use a general Exception in the changePassword method.

Answer 1

My guess? There's an exception being thrown from PC_Translate_MySQL::getInstance()...

That's the trouble with using a single Exception. It makes it tougher to check what exception was thrown. I'd suggest changing the changePassword method to throw a different exception. Perhaps a InvalidArgumentException, or a RuntimeException. And then test for that one.

Personally, I use custom exceptions all the time for this reason.

try {
} catch (DatabaseQueryException $e) {
    // Handle database error
} catch (DatabaseConnectionException $e) {
    // We never even connected...
} catch (InvalidArgumentException $e) {
    //...
}

I, as a rule, never use catch (Exception $e) for that very reason. You never know what exception you caught. (I do have a custom exception handler defined, so I don't fatal if the application doesn't catch. Instead it shows a 500 error and logs the exception)...