Docs · Testing

Pest setup

Pest harness for OPC UA-aware Laravel tests. Disabling the daemon for unit tests, the standard fixtures, and the three test layers most apps converge on.

The package ships first-class Pest support. The conventions here mirror Laravel's first-party testing patterns — nothing exotic.

Disable the daemon

The single most important rule: don't hit the daemon in unit or feature tests. Set this in tests/Pest.php:

php tests/Pest.php

uses(Tests\TestCase::class)->in('Feature', 'Unit');

beforeEach(function () {
    config([
        'opcua.session_manager.enabled' => false,
    ]);
});

With managed mode off, the package falls through to direct connections — and you'll mock those out per test.

Three test layers

Most Laravel apps with OPC UA settle on three test layers:

Layer	Tests	Touches OPC UA?
Unit	Your business logic	No (mock everything)
Feature	HTTP endpoints, jobs, listeners	No (mock the facade)
Integration	End-to-end against a real test server / fake daemon	Yes

Unit and Feature run on every push. Integration runs nightly or on PR-merge.

Unit tests — mock everything

php unit test

use PhpOpcua\Client\Testing\MockClient;
use PhpOpcua\Client\Types\DataValue;

it('persists a good reading', function () {
    $client = MockClient::create();
    $client->onRead('ns=2;s=Speed', fn() => DataValue::ofDouble(75.0));

    $service = new TagReadingService($client);
    $service->capture('ns=2;s=Speed');

    expect(PlcReading::count())->toBe(1);
    expect(PlcReading::first()->value)->toBe(75.0);
});

MockClient implements the same OpcUaClientInterface as the real package — see Using MockClient.

Feature tests — mock the facade

php feature test

use PhpOpcua\LaravelOpcua\Facades\Opcua;
use PhpOpcua\Client\Types\DataValue;

it('returns the current speed', function () {
    Opcua::shouldReceive('read')
        ->with('ns=2;s=Speed')
        ->andReturn(DataValue::ofDouble(75.0));

    $response = $this->get('/tags/ns=2;s=Speed/latest');

    $response->assertOk();
    $response->assertJson(['value' => 75.0]);
});

Mockery-based mocking, just like any other facade. See Mocking the facade.

Integration tests — real daemon, real server

php integration test

use PhpOpcua\LaravelOpcua\Facades\Opcua;

uses(Tests\IntegrationTestCase::class)->in('Integration');

beforeEach(function () {
    // The IntegrationTestCase boots a daemon + opens a connection to
    // a known test OPC UA server.
});

it('reads from the test server', function () {
    $dv = Opcua::read('i=2256');     // Server_ServerStatus_State

    expect($dv->statusCode)->toBe(0);
    expect($dv->value)->toBe(0);       // 0 = Running
});

IntegrationTestCase is yours to define — it boots the daemon as a fixture and points the test app at it. See Integration tests.

Useful Pest hooks

Disable the OPC UA cache in tests

php cache reset

beforeEach(function () {
    Cache::flush();    // clear OPC UA's metadata cache
});

Fix the time

For tests that assert on timestamps:

php freeze time

beforeEach(function () {
    $this->travelTo('2026-05-15 10:00:00');
});

Avoid the event leak

Listeners on DataChangeReceived will fire in tests if the event is dispatched. To avoid side-effects:

php fake events

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event;
use PhpOpcua\Client\Event\DataChangeReceived;

beforeEach(function () {
    Event::fake([DataChangeReceived::class]);
});

…then assert dispatches without running listeners:

php assert dispatched

it('dispatches a data change event on subscribe', function () {
    // ... trigger the code under test
    Event::assertDispatched(DataChangeReceived::class);
});

Queue side-effects

php fake queue

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Queue;

beforeEach(function () {
    Queue::fake();
});

it('dispatches a job', function () {
    // ...
    Queue::assertPushed(SamplePlc::class);
});

Composing the three layers — `tests/Pest.php`

A realistic Pest.php:

php tests/Pest.php — full

<?php

uses(Tests\TestCase::class)->in('Feature', 'Unit');
uses(Tests\IntegrationTestCase::class)->in('Integration');

beforeEach(function () {
    if (! $this instanceof Tests\IntegrationTestCase) {
        // Unit / Feature — fully mock
        config([
            'opcua.session_manager.enabled' => false,
        ]);
    }
});

tests/TestCase.php extends Tests\CreatesApplication; IntegrationTestCase adds daemon-startup logic.

Test data factories

For tests that need DataValue instances, a helper:

php DataValue factory

function dv(mixed $value, int $status = 0): DataValue
{
    return new DataValue(
        value: $value,
        statusCode: $status,
        sourceTimestamp: new DateTimeImmutable(),
    );
}

In a test:

php using factory

$client->onRead('ns=2;s=Speed', fn() => dv(75.0));
$client->onRead('ns=2;s=Bad',   fn() => dv(0.0, status: 0x80000000));

Running

bash terminal

# All except integration
vendor/bin/pest --exclude=Integration

# Integration only
vendor/bin/pest tests/Integration

# Single test
vendor/bin/pest --filter="returns the current speed"

CI matrix

text .github/workflows/test.yml

jobs:
  unit-and-feature:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with: { php-version: 8.4 }
      - run: composer install
      - run: vendor/bin/pest --exclude=Integration

  integration:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      opcua:
        image: ghcr.io/php-opcua/uanetstandard-test-suite:latest
        ports: ['4840:4840']
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with: { php-version: 8.4 }
      - run: composer install
      - run: vendor/bin/pest tests/Integration

Unit / Feature on every push; Integration on a separate matrix leg with the test server as a sidecar.

Test coverage targets

The package aims for 99.5% coverage. For your application:

Test target	Reasonable coverage
OPC UA-touching services (read/write logic)	High — 90%+
Event listeners	High — 90%+
OPC UA-touching controllers	Medium — 80%+
Trust-store / cert rotation tooling	Medium — manual rotation works too

Don't aim for 100% — there are always cases that are disproportionate to test (real-cert handshake failures, in particular).

Where to read next

Mocking the facade — Mockery-based facade mocks.
Using MockClient — opcua-client's testing fake.
Integration tests — real-server testing.

Last updated · 2026-05-28

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