PHPSpec

This dialog is available only when the PHP and PHPSpec plugins are installed and enabled. The plugins are not bundled with IntelliJ IDEA, but they can be installed on the Settings/Preferences | Plugins page as described in Installing plugins from JetBrains repository. Once enabled, the plugins are available at the IDE level, that is, you can use them in all your IntelliJ IDEA projects.

Use this dialog to create a configuration to be used for running and debugging unit tests on PHP applications using the PHPSpec toolset.

Before you start

To run PHPSpec tests:

Install and configure the PHPSpec toolset on your computer as described in PHPSpec.
Make sure the PHP and PHPSpec plugins are installed and enabled.
The plugins are not bundled with IntelliJ IDEA, but they can be installed on the Settings/Preferences | Plugins page as described in Installing plugins from JetBrains repository. Once enabled, the plugins are available at the IDE level, that is, you can use them in all your IntelliJ IDEA projects.

Test Runner area

In this area, appoint the specifications to launch and the command line switches to be passed to PHPSpec.

Item	Description
Test scope	In this area, specify the location of specifications or the configuration file where they are listed. Directory: select this option to have all the specifications in a directory launched. In the Directory field, appoint the directory to search for Spec.php files with specifications in. Type the path to the directory manually or click Browse and select the desired directory in the Choose Test Directory dialog, that opens. File: select this option to have all the specifications in a particular Spec.php file launched. In the File field, specify the Spec.php file to search the specifications in. Type the path to the file manually or click Browse and select the desired directory in the dialog, that opens. In the Class field, specify the desired class. Type the class name manually or click Browse and select the desired class in the tree view, that opens. Specification: select this option to have a particular specification launched. In the File field, specify the Spec.php file to search for the specification in. Type the filename manually or click Browse and select the desired file in the tree view, that opens. In the specification field, type the desired specification. Defined in the configuration file: select this option to have PHPSpec execute the tests from a dedicated .yml configuration file. By default, PHPSpec uses the configuration file appointed in the Test Runner area of the Test Frameworks page. In its turn, this can be either the native configuration file (phpspec.yml or phpspec.yml.dist) or any other YML configuration file, which you specified as Default during the initial configuration of PHPSpec in IntelliJ IDEA. To have the default for all PHPSpec run configurations file used, clear the Use alternative configuration file checkbox. To launch specifications from a custom configuration file, select the Use alternative configuration file checkbox and specify the location of the desired YML file in the field next to it. To open the PHPSpec page and specify another default configuration file to use, click the button.

Item

Description

Test scope

In this area, specify the location of specifications or the configuration file where they are listed.

Directory: select this option to have all the specifications in a directory launched.
In the Directory field, appoint the directory to search for *Spec.php files with specifications in. Type the path to the directory manually or click Browse and select the desired directory in the Choose Test Directory dialog, that opens.
File: select this option to have all the specifications in a particular *Spec.php file launched.
1. In the File field, specify the *Spec.php file to search the specifications in. Type the path to the file manually or click Browse and select the desired directory in the dialog, that opens.
2. In the Class field, specify the desired class. Type the class name manually or click Browse and select the desired class in the tree view, that opens.
Specification: select this option to have a particular specification launched.
1. In the File field, specify the *Spec.php file to search for the specification in. Type the filename manually or click Browse and select the desired file in the tree view, that opens.
2. In the specification field, type the desired specification.
Defined in the configuration file: select this option to have PHPSpec execute the tests from a dedicated .yml configuration file.
By default, PHPSpec uses the configuration file appointed in the Test Runner area of the Test Frameworks page. In its turn, this can be either the native configuration file (phpspec.yml or phpspec.yml.dist) or any other YML configuration file, which you specified as Default during the initial configuration of PHPSpec in IntelliJ IDEA.
- To have the default for all PHPSpec run configurations file used, clear the Use alternative configuration file checkbox.
- To launch specifications from a custom configuration file, select the Use alternative configuration file checkbox and specify the location of the desired YML file in the field next to it.
- To open the PHPSpec page and specify another default configuration file to use, click the button.

Command Line area

In this area, choose a PHP interpreter and customize its behavior by specifying the options and arguments to be passed to the PHP executable file.

Item	Description
Interpreter	The list contains all the currently configured local and remote PHP interpreters. Choose one of the configured PHP interpreters from the list, or click and define a new interpreter as described in Configuring Local PHP Interpreters and Configuring Remote PHP Interpreters.
Interpreter options	In this field, specify the options to be passed to the PHP executable file. They override the default behavior of the PHP interpreter or ensure that additional activities are performed. If necessary, click and type the desired options in the Command Line Options dialog. Type each option on a new line. When you close the dialog, they are all displayed in the Command line options field with spaces as separators.
Custom working directory	In this field, specify the location of the files that are outside the folder with tests and are referenced in your tests through relative paths. This setting does not block the test execution because the location of tests is always specified through a full path to the corresponding files and/or directories. By default, the field is empty, and the working directory is the root of the project.
Environment variables	In this field, specify the environment variables be passed to the built-in server. See Environment Variables in Apache for details.

Common settings

When you edit a run configuration (but not a run configuration template), you can specify the following options:


Name	Specify a name for the run configuration to quickly identify it among others when editing or running.
Allow parallel run	Allow running multiple instances of this run configuration in parallel. By default, it is disabled, and when you start this configuration while another instance is still running, IntelliJ IDEA suggests stopping the running instance and starting another one. This is helpful when a run configuration consumes a lot of resources and there is no good reason to run multiple instances.
Store as project file	Save the file with the run configuration settings to share it with other team members. The default location is .idea/runConfigurations. However, if you do not want to share the .idea directory, you can save the configuration to any other directory within the project. By default, it is disabled, and IntelliJ IDEA stores run configuration settings in .idea/workspace.xml.

Name

Specify a name for the run configuration to quickly identify it among others when editing or running.

Allow parallel run

Allow running multiple instances of this run configuration in parallel.

By default, it is disabled, and when you start this configuration while another instance is still running, IntelliJ IDEA suggests stopping the running instance and starting another one. This is helpful when a run configuration consumes a lot of resources and there is no good reason to run multiple instances.

Store as project file

Save the file with the run configuration settings to share it with other team members. The default location is .idea/runConfigurations. However, if you do not want to share the .idea directory, you can save the configuration to any other directory within the project.

By default, it is disabled, and IntelliJ IDEA stores run configuration settings in .idea/workspace.xml.

The tree view of run/debug configurations has a toolbar that helps you manage configurations available in your project as well as adjust default configurations templates.

Item	Shortcut	Description
	`Alt+Insert`	Create a run/debug configuration.
	`Alt+Delete`	Delete the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you cannot delete default configurations.
	`Ctrl+D`	Create a copy of the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you create copies of default configurations.
		The button is displayed only when you select a temporary configuration. Click this button to save a temporary configuration as permanent.
		Move into new folder / Create new folder. You can group run/debug configurations by placing them into folders. To create a folder, select the configurations within a category, click , and specify the folder name. If only a category is in focus, an empty folder is created. Then, to move a configuration into a folder, between the folders or out of a folder, use drag or and buttons. To remove grouping, select a folder and click .
		Click this button to sort configurations in the alphabetical order.

Before launch

In this area, you can specify tasks to be performed before starting the selected run/debug configuration. The tasks are performed in the order they appear in the list.

Item	Shortcut	Description
	`Alt+Insert`	Click this icon to add one of the following available tasks: Run External tool: select to run an external application. In the dialog that opens, select one or multiple applications you want to run. If it is not defined in IntelliJ IDEA yet, add its definition. For more information, see External tools and External Tools. Run Another Configuration: select to execute another run/debug configuration and wait until it finishes before starting the current configuration. If you want to run several configurations in parallel, use a compound run/debug configuration. Build: select to compile the specified module. The Build Module command will be executed. If an error occurs during compilation, IntelliJ IDEA won't attempt to start the run/debug configuration. Build Project: select to compile the entire project. The Build Project command will be executed. If an error occurs during compilation, IntelliJ IDEA won't attempt to start the run/debug configuration. Build, no error check: the same as the Build option, but IntelliJ IDEA will try to start the run/debug configuration irrespective of the compilation results. Build Artifacts: select this option to build an artifact or artifacts. In the dialog that opens, select the artifact or artifacts that should be built. Launch Web Browser: select this option to have a browser started. In the dialog that opens, select the type of the browser and provide the start URL. Also, specify if you want the browser be launched with JavaScript debugger. Run Ant target: select this option to run an Ant target. In the dialog that opens, select the target to be run. Run Grunt task: select this option to run a Grunt task. In the Grunt task dialog that opens, specify the Gruntfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Grunt tool. Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the grunt-cli package. Run gulp task: select this option to run a Gulp task. In the Gulp task dialog that opens, specify the Gulpfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Gulp tool. Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the gulp package. Run Maven Goal: select this option to run a Maven goal. In the dialog that opens, select the goal to be run. Run npm script: select this option to execute an npm script. In the NPM Script dialog that opens, specify the npm run/debug configuration settings. Compile TypeScript: select to run the built-in TypeScript compiler and thus make sure that all the changes you made to your TypeScript code are reflected in the generated JavaScript files. In the TypeScript Compile Settings dialog that opens, select or clear the Check errors checkbox to configure the behaviour of the compiler in case any errors are detected: If the Check errors checkbox is selected, the compiler will show all the errors and the run configuration will not start. If the Check errors checkbox is cleared, the compiler will show all the detected errors but the run configuration still will be launched. Upload files to Remote Host: select this option to have the application files automatically uploaded to the server according to the default server access configuration. Run Remote External Tool: adds a remote SSH external tool. Disconnect Data Source: select this option if you want to disrupt the connection to a data source before the run/debug configuration is run.
	`Alt+Delete`	Click this icon to remove the selected task from the list.
	`Enter`	Click this icon to edit the selected task. Make the necessary changes in the dialog that opens.
/	`Alt+Up`/`Alt+Down`	Click these icons to move the selected task one line up or down in the list. The tasks are performed in the order that they appear in the list.
Show this page		Select this checkbox to show the run/debug configuration settings prior to actually starting the run/debug configuration.
Activate tool window		By default this checkbox is selected and the Run or the Debug tool window opens when you start the run/debug configuration. Otherwise, if the checkbox is cleared, the tool window is hidden. However, when the configuration is running, you can open the corresponding tool window for it yourself by pressing `Alt+4` or `Alt+5`.

Last modified: 29 November 2022