Laravel 5.2: Setup APP_ENV for testing

Question

For testing I need to use another database than in a local environment.

I use homestead and Laravel 5.2 + Behat3 + Mink in my development flow.

When I run behat from host machine than it's OK - variable is setting up to APP_ENV=testing.

But I have a trouble with setting testing environment when do the same inside homestead machine: the APP_ENV is always local.

1. For testing environment (APP_ENV) I modified standard welcome.blade.php next way:

   - <div class="title">Laravel 5</div>
   + <div class="title">Laravel 5 ({!! app()->environment() !!})</div>
   

2. I've configured behat.yml:

   default:
       extensions:
           Laracasts\Behat:
               env_path: .env.behat
           Behat\MinkExtension:
               default_session: laravel
               laravel: ~
   

3. My testing environment variables in .env.behat:

   APP_ENV=testing
   APP_DEBUG=true
   DB_CONNECTION=sqlite
   

4. I made my home.feature:

   Feature: Check home page
     In order to verify home page
     As a user
     I need to see text Laravel and an environment name
   
     @home
     Scenario: Home Page
       Given I am on the homepage
       Then I should see "Laravel 5 (testing)"
   

So when I run behat I see Laravel 5 (local) but not a Laravel 5 (testing) text:

    Feature: Check home page
      In order to verify home page
      As a user
      I need to see Laravel text

      @home
      Scenario: Home Page                       # features/home.feature:7
        Given I am on the homepage              # FeatureContext::iAmOnHomepage()
        Then I should see "Laravel 5 (testing)" # FeatureContext::assertPageContainsText()
          The text "Laravel 5 (testing)" was not found anywhere in the text of the current page. (Behat\Mink\Exception\ResponseTextException)

    --- Failed scenarios:

        features/home.feature:7

    1 scenario (1 failed)

What I missed in configuration or what I should know about custom setup Laravel configuration?

Answer 1

I don't know if it's the case, but make sure in your Homestead.yaml you don't have:

variables:
    - key: APP_ENV
      value: local

If you do, remove it and then you can try provision your VM, but it's quite possible you will need to destroy it (you should first backup everything for example database etc.) and create again after removing this from file.