README

Traits for invoking private/protected methods and reading or changing private/protected properties in tests.

Requirements and installation

Version 2 requires PHP ^8.1 (PHP 8.1 or later in the PHP 8 series).

After the 2.0.0 release is published:

composer require --dev i3bepb/reflection-for-test:^2.0

Usage

Use AccessToMethod and AccessToProperty in your test class. All three helpers are protected instance methods.

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use I3bepb\ReflectionForTest\AccessToMethod;
use I3bepb\ReflectionForTest\AccessToProperty;
use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;

final class Counter
{
    private int $count = 1;

    protected function add(int $amount): int
    {
        return $this->count + $amount;
    }
}

final class CounterTest extends TestCase
{
    use AccessToMethod;
    use AccessToProperty;

    public function testNonPublicMembers(): void
    {
        $counter = new Counter();

        // Invoke a private or protected method.
        self::assertSame(3, $this->invokeNonPublicMethod($counter, 'add', [2]));

        // Read a private or protected property.
        self::assertSame(1, $this->getNonPublicProperty($counter, 'count'));

        // Change a private or protected property.
        $this->setNonPublicProperty($counter, 'count', 10);

        self::assertSame(10, $this->getNonPublicProperty($counter, 'count'));
        self::assertSame(12, $this->invokeNonPublicMethod($counter, 'add', [2]));
    }
}

Invoke non-public methods

invokeNonPublicMethod(object $object, string $methodName, array $parameters = []): mixed

Omit the third argument for methods without arguments. Pass a list for positional arguments or an associative array for named arguments, following PHP's argument ordering rules. The helper returns the method's result, including null for a void method. Exceptions thrown by the method propagate to the caller.

Read and change non-public properties

getNonPublicProperty(object $object, string $propertyName): mixed

setNonPublicProperty(object $object, string $propertyName, mixed $value): void

The getter returns the property value. The setter changes the property on the supplied object and returns nothing.

All helpers use native Reflection behavior. A missing method or property throws ReflectionException; the setter does not create missing properties. PHP's property type, initialization, and readonly rules still apply. The helpers do not search ancestor classes for private properties.

Migration from 1.x

Version 2.0.0 is a breaking release, with no aliases for the old API:

1.x	2.x
`privateMethodWithParameters()`	`invokeNonPublicMethod()`
`getProtectedOrPrivatePropertyValue()`	`getNonPublicProperty()`
—	`setNonPublicProperty()`

The namespace I3bepb\ReflectionForTest and trait names remain unchanged. Helpers require an object; class-name strings are not accepted. PHP 7.x and PHP 8.0 remain on the 1.x branch.

Run tests

From a checkout, with PHP 8.1+ and Composer installed:

composer install
composer test

To run a specific test class:

composer test -- --filter AccessToPropertyTest

The test suite uses PHPUnit 10.5, the latest PHPUnit series compatible with PHP 8.1. GitHub Actions runs it on PHP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, and 8.5.

i3bepb / reflection-for-test

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