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

SimpleTest

https://github.com/simpletest/simpletest

Behat

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

PHP

PHP

Category

Unit Testing, Web Testing

Functional/Acceptance Testing

General info

SimpleTest is a unit test and web test framework for PHP

It has JWebUnit style functionality and support for SSL, forms, frames, proxies and basic authentication

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

With SimpleTest common but fiddly PHP tasks, such as logging into a site, can be tested easily

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

Server-side behaviour can be tested by writing simple unit tests to test functionality and behaviour of single components.

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

It can import fixtures using a mixin like 'given()' method

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 allows grouping of 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

Simpletest has support for generators

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

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

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)

Yes

It allows for one to build Mock objects.To create a mock version of a class we need to include the mock object library and run the generator. This will create a clone class which we use to create new instances(objects) in our test cases.

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

Yes

There are several ways of grouping tests; one is to simply place multiple test cases into a single file, another is to mark any base test cases that should not be run as abstract, Simpletest gives you a couple of options

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