Can I “Mock” time in PHPUnit?

Question

... not knowing if \'mock\' is the right word.

Anyway, I have an inherited code-base that I\'m trying to write some tests for that are time-based. Trying not to be <

Answer 1

Using [runkit][1] extension:

define('MOCK_DATE', '2014-01-08');
define('MOCK_TIME', '17:30:00');
define('MOCK_DATETIME', MOCK_DATE.' '.MOCK_TIME);

private function mockDate()
{
    runkit_function_rename('date', 'date_real');
    runkit_function_add('date','$format="Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp=NULL', '$ts = $timestamp ? $timestamp : strtotime(MOCK_DATETIME); return date_real($format, $ts);');
}


private function unmockDate()
{
    runkit_function_remove('date');
    runkit_function_rename('date_real', 'date');
}

You can even test the mock like this:

public function testMockDate()
{
    $this->mockDate();
    $this->assertEquals(MOCK_DATE, date('Y-m-d'));
    $this->assertEquals(MOCK_TIME, date('H:i:s'));
    $this->assertEquals(MOCK_DATETIME, date());
    $this->unmockDate();
}