November 11, 2023

Testing Read-Only External Database Connections in Phoenix

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Testing Read-Only External Database Connections in Phoenix

Source: peterullrich.com

Peter Ullrich discusses the challenges of testing a Phoenix application that connects to an external, read-only database. The author points out the drawback of using mocks for testing, advocating for a better approach of replicating only necessary parts of the database locally for test environments. The process involves creating a new `Ecto.Repo` with `read_only` flags set to true in non-test environments, configuring the test environment to add this new Repo, and defining the migration paths. The article explains how to set up sandbox mode for the test database, making use of the SQL sandbox for consistent test data handling. Furthermore, Peter introduces ExMachina library for data setup in tests but also highlights the problem of using the same `insert` functions for multiple factories. To resolve the conflict, he proposes a Factory Delegator (Factogator) pattern that delegates the `insert` calls to the correct factory, allowing smooth test writing with clear factory associations. In conclusion, Ullrich encourages readers to consider his methodology for more reliable testing of database interactions in Phoenix apps and mentions his other resources for further learning.

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