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StoryPlayer vs Behat comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between StoryPlayer and Behat?

StoryPlayer

http://datasift.github.io/storyplayer/

Behat

https://docs.behat.org/en/latest/
Programming language

PHP

PHP

Category

Unit testing, Functional Testing

Functional/Acceptance Testing

General info

Storyplayer is a full-stack testing framework

Storyplayer follows a TDD testing approach and makes it possible to write end-to-end tests for an entire platform. It has support for creating and destroying test environments on demand

Behat is an open source Behavior-Driven Development framework for PHP.

Behat uses the StoryBDD subtype of behaviour-driven development (the other subtype is SpecBDD); This means the tests we write with Behat look rather like stories than code. It is inspired by Ruby's Cucumber
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

No

Client-side
Allows testing code execution on the client, such as a web browser

Yes

By running a 'user story' which is a simple statement that describes one action, and who can perform that action then record of the conversations about this action, this is how you would test front-end functionality and components

Yes

To enable Behat to test a website, you need to add Mink and a browser emulator (selenium maybe, though slow) to the mix. Mink methods are the connector between Behat and an extensive list of available drivers, and they provide a consistent testing API.
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

By writing a 'service story' which is a 'userstory' except it describes the behaviour of your back-end systems

Yes

Behat can be used for Data Integrity Testing to verify that database operations are functioning properly
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

Storyplayer has fixtures that can create and destroy test environments on demand

Yes

One can use the 'Doctrinefixturesbundle' to create the required fixture loaders and load them in our Behat scenarios when required, using the 'BeforeScenario' hook.
Group fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data for a group of tests (group-fixtures). This ensures specific environment for a given group of tests.

Yes

It supports group fixtures

Yes

Behat allows for group fixtures
Generators
Supports data generators for tests. Data generators generate input data for test. The test is then run for each input data produced in this way.

Yes

foreach(hostWithRole()) is a generator allows you to easily perform actions against all hosts in your test environment without having to hard-code the host IDs or hostnames into your story.

By use of third party libraries like moodle-behat-generators
Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

New BSD License

MIT License

Mocks
Mocks are objects that simulate the behavior of real objects. Using mocks allows testing some part of the code in isolation (with other parts mocked when needed)

By using a library like mockery which intergrates well with storyplayer

By using third party libraries like Mock and Prophecy
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

Storyplayer’s job is to execute a suite of functional tests

Yes

You can use tags to group features and scenarios together, independent of your file and directory structure
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework