ejpcmac
Hello everybody!
I’ve discovered property-testing with stream_data a few months ago. Since then, I’ve successfully re-written the tests of a library, and I’m willing to use property-testing everywhere I can.
I’ve tried to property-test a Phoenix context boundary, but I’m facing performance issues:
defmodule Kakte.AccountsTest
use Kakte.DataCase
alias Kakte.Accounts
alias Kakte.Repo
[...]
property "list_users/0 returns all users" do
# user_attrs/0 is a generator for valid user attributes.
check all attrs_list <- uniq_list_of(user_attrs(), length: 5) do
Repo.transaction(fn ->
users =
Enum.map(attrs_list, fn attrs ->
{:ok, user} = Accounts.register(attrs)
user
end)
users_list = Accounts.list_users()
assert length(users) == 5
Enum.each(users, fn user -> assert user in users_list end)
Repo.rollback(:done)
end)
end
end
[...]
end
Running this test takes more than 2.5 seconds on my machine. I know a property-test is expected to be longer to execute due to higher number of tests, but 2.5 seconds for one test is way too long IMO. I’ve tried to replace the test body by assert true and it runs quick, so I presume this is due to many repo transactions, but maybe I am misleading.
I have basically three questions:
- Is it a good idea to use property-testing everywhere?
- Do you property-test your Phoenix applications?
- How can I manage to speed up this test?
For information, the context source is here on GitHub.
Where Next?
Trending in Questions
Other Trending Topics
Latest Phoenix Threads
Latest on Elixir Forum
Sponsor Spotlight
Deploy Phoenix to your own VPS with PaaS ease: push-to-deploy, zero downtime, auto SSL, managed Postgres. 14-day free trial at potions.io
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Forums
Popular Tags
- #ecto
- #liveview
- #troubleshooting
- #learning-elixir
- #library
- #deployment
- #erlang
- #testing
- #genserver
- #mix
- #absinthe
- #remote-other
- #otp
- #plug
- #how-to-question
- #macros
- #postgres
- #elixirconf
- #channels
- #exunit
- #discussion
- #code-sync
- #podcasts
- #javascript
- #onsite
- #dialyzer
- #docker
- #authentication
- #umbrella
- #full-time-contract
- #podcasts-by-brainlid
- #ecto-query
- #elixirconf-us
- #blog-post
- #ai
- #elixir-ls
- #phoenix_html
- #iex
- #graphql
- #genstage
- #websockets
- #supervisor
- #advent-of-code
- #distillery
- #processes
- #api
- #forms
- #hex
- #security
- #metaprogramming
Our Sponsors
Build Elixir applications with speed and confidence.
We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Error tracking, logs, uptime, and Just Enough APM. Built for developers.
Elixir, Erlang & BEAM conferences from Code Sync - join us in 2026!
Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.
Master modern tools, write cleaner code, and tackle real-world challenges.
Producing high quality Elixir screencasts since 2017.
The team behind Membrane, Popcorn, LiveDebugger. Available for hire.
Courses that'll move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"
Showing Posts 1 to 5- Show Best Posts
- Show All (oldest first)
- Show All (newest first)
idi527
It depends on what you are testing in this case, and whether if can be accomplished with unit tests. Maybe you can separate the test above into property tests on
changesetfunctions and then a unit test on “list_users/0 returns all users”. However, if you do need to touch the database in your property tests (for example, if you use stateful property tests for state machines backed by postgres), then maybe try reducing the complexity of the tests (with:numtests,:max_sizeproper or propcheck options andsizedmacro) so that they don’t run for too long during development.It might be okay if you leave them to run overnight on some remote testing server, then you’d have a higher confidence that the code works as expected.
UPDATE: There are similar options for stream data as well.
ejpcmac
Yes, that seems to be a good idea. Thank you.
That’s what I did to get a bit more speed, but I feel less confident with fewer tests.
How would you do that? With an environment variable, like
MIX_MAX_RUNS=100 mix testand writing something like this?idi527
I’d create an additional testing mix environment (in addition to
test) which will be more similar toprodthandev, as in it would have remote (not a single local one like withdevor defaulttest) databases to test possible race conditions, higher number of test iterations, mocks replaced with real internal services etc.keathley
This is the trade off with property tests. You’re asking the computer to do a lot of work for you. But in return you’re gaining greater confidence in your overall system because your tests are working to find edge conditions in your logic. If you don’t feel like the trade-off is worth it then that’s a pretty clear indicator that your logic probably isn’t complex enough to warrant spending the time on a property test for it.
A potentially better use for property tests might be to actually drive this out from an api or webpage. Testing with more pieces in integration might help you find more edge cases. You can either generate api requests or use state machine models to drive a fake browser, etc.
Property tests provide robustness. But you pay for it in test time. I think people get hung up on tests times and I would always take robustness over test speed. That said, not every application needs that level of robustness and you still want to ensure that your spending your test time on the pieces of your system that need that level of robustness.
LostKobrakai
Most of that time is probably due to you hitting the database. You’ll get much better times for testing pure computation.