GeezerVison

However, implementing all actions for reuse in a single actor class may lead to

breaking the [Single Responsibility Principle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_responsibility_principle).

<<<<<<< HEAD

#### Session Snapshot

=======

#### Single Login

>>>>>>> 82997221b762bc09876379f9f30906c9d364a4f5

If you need to authorize a user for each test, you can do so by submitting the login form at the beginning of every test.

Running those steps takes time, and in the case of Selenium tests (which are slow by themselves)

$I->amOnPage(\Page\Login::$URL);

$I->fillField(\Page\Login::$usernameField, 'bill evans');

$I->fillField(\Page\Login::$passwordField, 'debby');

$I->click(\Page\Login::$loginButton);

$I->see('Welcome, bill');

{% endhighlight %}

As you see, you can freely change markup of your login page, and all the tests interacting with this page

will have their locators updated according to properties of LoginPage class.

But let's move further. The PageObject concept specifies that the methods for the page interaction should also be stored in a PageObject class.

Let's define a `login` method in this class:

{% highlight php %}

$this->tester = $I;

}

public function login($name, $password)

{

$I = $this->tester;

$I->amOnPage(self::$URL);

$I->fillField(self::$usernameField, $name);

$I->fillField(self::$passwordField, $password);

$I->click(self::$loginButton);

}

}

{% endhighlight %}

If you specify which object you need for a test, Codeception will try to create it using the dependency injection container.

In the case of a PageObject you should declare a class as a parameter for a test method:

{% highlight php %}

$loginPage->login('bill evans', 'debby');

$I->amOnPage('/profile');

$I->see('Bill Evans Profile', 'h1');

}

}

{% endhighlight %}

The dependency injection container can construct any object that requires any known class type.

For instance, `Page\Login` required `AcceptanceTester`, and so it was injected into `Page\Login` constructor,

and PageObject was created and passed into method arguments. You should explicitly specify

the types of required objects for Codeception to know what objects should be created for a test.

Dependency Injection will be described in the next chapter.

=======

> Use actor classes to set common actions which can be used accross a suite.

> Use StepObjects when you have multiple areas of applications or multiple roles.

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## StepObjects

StepObjects are great if you need some common functionality for a group of tests.

Let's say you are going to test an admin area of a site. You probably won't need the same actions from the admin area

while testing the front end, so it's a good idea to move these admin-specific tests into their own class.

We call such a classes StepObjects.

Lets create an Admin StepObject with the generator:

{% highlight bash %}

php vendor/bin/codecept generate:stepobject acceptance Admin

{% endhighlight %}

You can supply optional action names. Enter one at a time, followed by a newline.

End with an empty line to continue to StepObject creation.

{% highlight bash %}

php vendor/bin/codecept generate:stepobject acceptance Admin

Add action to StepObject class (ENTER to exit): loginAsAdmin

Add action to StepObject class (ENTER to exit):

StepObject was created in /tests/acceptance/_support/Step/Acceptance/Admin.php

{% endhighlight %}

This will generate a class in `/tests/_support/Step/Acceptance/Admin.php` similar to this:

{% highlight php %}

$I->amOnPage('/admin');

$I->fillField('username', 'admin');

$I->fillField('password', '123456');

$I->click('Login');

}

}

{% endhighlight %}

StepObject can be instantiated automatically when used inside the Cest format:

{% highlight php %}

$I->loginAsAdmin();

$I->amOnPage('/admin/profile');

$I->see('Admin Profile', 'h1');

}

}

{% endhighlight %}

If you have a complex interaction scenario, you may use several step objects in one test.

If you feel like adding too many actions into your Actor class

(which is AcceptanceTester in this case) consider moving some of them into separate StepObjects.

## Conclusion