Laravel Dusk Configuration & How to use?

Use Laravel Dusk, browser automation testing

Laravel Dusk is a powerful browser automation tool for Laravel. With Dusk you can programmatically test your own applications or visit any website on the internet using a real Chrome browser.

Let’s Start:

📦 Package Install: Laravel Dusk

composer require --dev laravel/dusk
php artisan dusk:install

You will see a new browser directory under tests folder. In this folder we will create our test file and write the code.

⚙️Setup Configuration: env, database

For Dusk testing we will use new SQLite database.

First go to config/database.php , Add a new SQLite database configuration.

'dusk_testing' => [
  'driver' => 'sqlite',
  'database' => database_path('dusk_database.sqlite'),
  'prefix' => '',
  'foreign_key_constraints' => env('DB_FOREIGN_KEYS', true),
],

Create a SQLite database under database directory.

Create a custom .env file.

Then we will create a new .env file called .env.dusk.local you can name as you like, but make sure you write .env at the front.

APP_NAME=Laravel Dusk
APP_ENV=local
APP_KEY=base64:pRcfQxwaRlwRb0aN2lbJGQe1MhpCK7IHpQ6EJPSoqcQ=
APP_DEBUG=true
APP_LOG=daily
APP_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000 //make sure this should write
LOG_CHANNEL=stack
DB_CONNECTION=dusk_testing

If we want to use this .env file when we run our server then we need to use these this command to run our server:

php artisan serve --env=dusk.local

Before we go for testing we have do one more work, we need to tell dusk “hey dusk, you will use this database.” Yes, we have declare a database in our custom .env file but sometimes dusk hasn’t identify the default database.

So go to tests/CreatesApplication.php file and add this code into createApplication method.

$app['config']->set('database.dafult', 'dusk_testing');

That’s It.

🧪Create & Run our first dusk testing.