NetTuts.com has posted a new article for the Laravel users out there - a tutorial showing how to test Laravel controllers via PHPUnit tests.

Testing controllers isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Well, let me rephrase that: testing them is a cinch; what’s difficult, at least at first, is determining what to test. Should a controller test verify text on the page? Should it touch the database? Should it ensure that variables exist in the view? If this is your first hay-ride, these things can be confusing! Let me help.

They break up the testing process into three main chunks - isolation of the tests (mocking where need be), calling the controller method and running the checks (assertions) to be sure the result is valid. They start with a basic controller test that runs a GET request on the "posts" method. They also mention the assertion helper methods included with Laravel controller testing, things like "assertRedirectedTo" and "assertSessionHas". The article then gets into moreo practical examples showing a TDD approach to testing some simple controller calls, mocking data connections, handling redirects and repositories.