Resolving PEST issues when registering users in Filament 4 with Laravel 12.

The development of applications in Laravel has become increasingly accessible thanks to tools like Filament and PEST. However, there can be complications during the integration and testing process. One of the issues encountered when using PEST 4 with Filament 4 in Laravel 12 was user registration through browser tests. Below is a detailed account of the experience and solutions applied.

Initial Problems When Using PEST 4 with Filament 4

When trying to implement browser tests with PEST 4 to register users in Filament 4, issues arose that seemed unsolvable, despite several online resources claiming the process should work without any problems.

An initial attempt to complete user registration was made with the following code:

$page->type('name', 'Test User')
     ->type('email', 'testuser1@example.com')
     ->type('password', 'password');

However, this approach was unsuccessful. It was due to the default examples not considering that forms in Filament use a specific namespace for fields, which manifests in the use of form.X.

Adjusting the Input Selector

One of the subsequent approaches involved adjusting the code to reflect the correct structure of the field identifiers. This time, the following syntax was attempted:

$page->type('form.name', 'Test User')
     ->type('form.email', 'testuser1@example.com')
     ->type('form.password', 'password');

Despite this adjustment, the results were not positive. Later, using CSS selectors was tried, adding the “#” character to identify the inputs in this manner:

$page->type('#form.name', 'Test User')
     ->type('#form.email', 'testuser1@example.com')
     ->type('#form.password', 'password');

Again, this alternative did not provide the required solution either.

The Effective Solution

Ultimately, the solution involved using a more specific selector that could correctly recognize the fields within the form in Filament. The correct implementation was:

$page->type('input[id="form.name"]', 'Test User')
     ->type('input[id="form.email"]', 'testuser1@example.com')
     ->type('input[id="form.password"]', 'password')
     ->type('input[id="form.passwordConfirmation"]', 'password');

With this configuration, the PEST 4 test worked correctly, allowing the information to be inserted into the Filament form fields without any issues.

Conclusions and Learnings

The process of registering users in Filament 4 through browser tests in PEST 4 within Laravel 12 revealed the importance of understanding the structure of forms and the identifiers used. Correctly identifying the fields is crucial for the effectiveness of automated tests.

While the initial process generated confusion, this experience highlights the significance of selectors in interacting with dynamic and complex forms. Developers and testers should pay attention to these details to optimize their workflows.

For more information and resources on development with Laravel and Filament, feel free to check out other articles on this blog.