<h1 style='font-size:26px;color:#6aa84f;'>Symfony3: create a console command and test it</h1>

Sometimes you need an easy way to create a console command to add some automation and some admintools to your application. With Symfony3 it is rediculous simple

Install symfony3

Open a console and execute:
$ composer require symfony/symfony

Create a project

Create a project "consoletest" by executing following command on the terminal
$ symfony new consoletest.

Now you have a new project created.

Add your command

Create a file "CreateUserCommand.php" on folder "src/AppBundle/Command" and add following Code

	<?php
	// src/AppBundle/Command/CreateUserCommand.php
	namespace AppBundle\Command;
	use Symfony\Component\Console\Command\Command;
	use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;
	use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;
	class CreateUserCommand extends Command
	{
	/**
	* Configures your command
	*/
	protected function configure()
	{
	$this->setName('app:create-user');
	$this->setDescription('creates a description');
	$this->setHelp('This creates a user');
	}
	/**
	* @param InputInterface $input
	* @param OutputInterface $output
	* @return bool
	*/
	protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
	{
	$output->writeln(
	[
	'User Creator',
	'============',
	''
	]);
	$output->writeLn('Whoah!');
	$output->writeLn(['You are about to fuckup all users','Now you are at the botton of all']);
	return true;
	}
	}

view raw CreateUserCommand hosted with ❤ by GitHub

As you can see, this simple command extends from Class Command and implements only 2 methods.
The configure command sets up the command, setup name, description and , prints out helptexts if you want

The execute method does the final work and runs your commandcode. You can manipulate databases, filesystems, get a servicereponse or configure your application with it.

Run your command

At next you can test your command by typing :
$ bin/console app:create-user

You should see your helptext,

Awsome. Isn´t it?

Create a unittest for your command

With symfony it´s very easy to test your new command. Here is a simple test for it:
- Create a folder and a file "test/Appbundle/CreateUserCommandTest.php" with following content in it

	<?php
	use Symfony\Component\Console\Tester\CommandTester;
	use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Console\Application;
	use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Test\KernelTestCase;
	use AppBundle\Command\CreateUserCommand;
	class CreateUserCommandTest extends KernelTestCase
	{
	public function testExecute()
	{
	$kernel = $this->createKernel();
	$kernel->boot();
	$application = new Application($kernel);
	$application->add(new CreateUserCommand());
	$command = $application->find('app:create-user');
	$commandTester = new CommandTester($command);
	$commandTester->execute(array(
	'command' => $command->getName(),
	'username' => 'Wouter',
	));
	$output = $commandTester->getDisplay();
	$this->assertContains('Username: Wouter', $output);
	// ...
	}
	}

view raw CreateUserCommandTest hosted with ❤ by GitHub

And now you can run
$ phpunit symfony