phpunit mock web service(not WSDL) - unit-testing

Question

I have a small problem which I think is quite simple to solve for experienced PHPUnit users.
I'm working with ZF2.
I'm working with a web service that returns plain text(CSV). I'd like to unit test the service that I've created.
I currently have a working configuration which is not the right way to do it I think.. I'm using mocks now when I'm unit testing my models and I have seen that PHPUnit has a special mock for web services, but that only supports WSDL.
Beneath you'll find my code and I hope someone can help me out with some explanation about the best practice for this situation.
The docs and the topics out here did not help me out (yet).
Thanks in advance!
The test itself:
public function testCanSearchSteeringWheels()
{
// Create the entry and fill it with the data that should be retrieved from the web service
$steeringWheelEntity = new SteeringWheelEntity();
$steeringWheelEntity->setId('170633')
->setName('Nice steering wheel one')
->setGrossPrice(100)
->setNetPrice(75);
// Setup the http client which whill make the final call to the web service
$httpClient = new Client();
$httpClient->setOptions(array(
'maxredirects' => 5,
'timeout' => 60,
))
->setAuth($this->config['supplier_name']['api']['username'], $this->config['supplier_name']['api']['password'])
;
$steeringWheelService = new SteeringWheelService($httpClient, new Request(), $this->config['supplier_name']);
// Search for a steering wheel by id code
$searchResult = $steeringWheelService->search('ID=5221552658987');
$this->assertEquals($steeringWheelEntity, $searchResult[0]);
}
The SteeringWheelEntity
namespace SupplierName\Entity;
class SteeringWheelEntity
{
// vars
// exchange array method
// getters methods
// setters methods
}
The SteeringWheelService
namespace SupplierName\Service;
use SupplierName\Entity\SteeringWheelEntity;
class SteeringWheelService extends AbstractWebService
{
/**
* search()
*
* #param string $param
* #return array
*/
public function search($param)
{
$this->appendUrl('ww0800?3,' . $param);
$response = $this->dispatch();
$parsedBody = $this->parse($response->getBody());
$entities = array();
foreach ($parsedBody as $data)
{
$steeringWheel = new SteeringWheelEntity();
// Fill SteeringWheelEntity with data
$entities[] = $steeringWheel;
}
return $entities;
}
}
The AbstractWebService
use \Zend\Http\Client;
use \Zend\Http\Request;
class AbstractWebService
{
private $httpClient;
private $request;
private $response;
protected $config;
private $url;
public function __construct(Client $httpClient, Request $request, Array $config)
{
$this->url = $config['api']['url'];
$this->httpClient = $httpClient;
$this->request = $request;
$this->config = $config;
}
protected function setUrl($url)
{
$this->url = $url;
return $this->url;
}
protected function appendUrl($string)
{
$this->url .= $string;
}
protected function getUrl()
{
return $this->url;
}
public function dispatch()
{
$this->request->setUri($this->getUrl());
$this->response = $this->httpClient->dispatch($this->request);
if (!$this->response->isSuccess()) {
throw new \Exception('HTTP error #' . $this->response->getStatusCode() . ' when connecting to ' . $this->getUrl() . '.');
}
return $this->response;
}
public function parse()
{
// Parse the content
}
}

Answer 1

Rather than using a mock for a web service. Could you just mock the \Zend\Http\Request and \Zend\Http\Client objects as they are doing the work for you? This way you have control over what the Zend objects return to you versus having to try to mock the web service.
That would be how I would go about testing the services.