Behat is a testing framework for behaviour-driven development. Because it primarily interacts with your website through a browser, you don't need any specific integration tools to get it going with a basic Silverstripe website, simply follow the standard Behat usage instructions.
This extension comes in handy if you want to go beyond interacting with an existing website and database, for example make changes to your database content which would need to be rolled back to a "clean slate" later on.
It provides the following helpers:
- Provide access to Silverstripe classes in your Behat contexts
- Set up a temporary database automatically
- Reset the database content on every scenario
- Prebuilt Contexts for SilverStripe's login forms and other common tasks
- Creating of member fixtures with predefined permissions
- YML fixture definitions inside your Behat scenarios
- Waiting for jQuery Ajax responses (rather than fixed wait timers)
- Captures JavaScript errors and logs them through Selenium
- Saves screenshots to filesystem whenever an assertion error is detected
In order to achieve this, the extension makes one basic assumption: Your Behat tests are run from the same application as the tested Silverstripe codebase, on a locally hosted website from the same codebase. This is important because we need access to the underlying SilverStripe PHP classes. You can of course use a remote browser to do the actual testing.
Note: The extension has only been tested with the selenium2
Mink driver.
In a Silverstripe CMS project (see getting started docs) add the Silverstripe Behat extension via Composer.
composer require --dev silverstripe/behat-extension
Download the standalone Google Chrome WebDriver
Unless you have SS_BASE_URL
set up,
you also need to specify the URL for your webroot. Either add it to the existing behat.yml
configuration file
in your project root, or set is as an environment variable in your terminal session:
export BEHAT_PARAMS="extensions[SilverStripe\BehatExtension\MinkExtension][base_url]=http://localhost/"
You can run the server locally in a separate Terminal session:
chromedriver
Now you can run the tests (for example for the framework
module):
vendor/bin/behat @framework
Or even run a single scenario by it's name (supports regular expressions):
vendor/bin/behat --name 'My scenario title' @framework
This will start a Chrome browser by default. Other browsers and profiles can be configured in behat.yml
.
If running with silverstripe/serve
and chromedriver
, you can also use the following command
which will automatically start and stop these services for individual tests.
vendor/bin/behat-ss @framework
This automates:
- starting server
- starting chromedriver
- running behat
- shutting down chromedriver
- shutting down server
Make sure you set SS_BASE_URL
to http://localhost:8080
in .env
- Tutorial: Testing Form Submissions
- Tutorial: Webservice Mocking with Phockito and TestSession
- Tutorial: Setting up Behat on CircleCI
The Silverstripe installer already comes with a YML configuration
which is ready to run tests on the standalone ChromeDriver server,
located in the project root as behat.yml
.
You should ensure that you have configured SS_BASE_URL
in your .env
file.
Generic Mink configuration settings are placed in SilverStripe\BehatExtension\MinkExtension
,
which is a subclass of Behat\MinkExtension\Extension
.
Overview of settings (all in the extensions.SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Extension
path):
ajax_steps
: Because Silverstripe uses AJAX requests quite extensively, we had to invent a way to deal with them more efficiently and less verbose than just Optionalajax_steps
is used to match steps defined there so they can be "caught" by special AJAX handlers that tweak the delays. You can either use a pipe delimited string or a list of substrings that match step definition.ajax_timeout
: Milliseconds after which an Ajax request is regarded as timed out, and the script continues with its assertions to avoid a deadlock (Default: 5000).screenshot_path
: Absolute path used to store screenshot of a last known state of a failed step. Screenshot names within that directory consist of feature file filename and line number that failed.
Example: behat.yml
default:
suites:
framework:
paths:
- '%paths.modules.framework%/tests/behat/features'
contexts:
- SilverStripe\Framework\Tests\Behaviour\FeatureContext
- SilverStripe\Framework\Tests\Behaviour\CmsFormsContext
- SilverStripe\Framework\Tests\Behaviour\CmsUiContext
- SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Context\BasicContext
- SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Context\EmailContext
- SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Context\LoginContext
-
SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Context\FixtureContext:
- '%paths.modules.framework%/tests/behat/features/files/'
extensions:
SilverStripe\BehatExtension\MinkExtension:
default_session: facebook_web_driver
javascript_session: facebook_web_driver
facebook_web_driver:
browser: chrome
wd_host: "http://127.0.0.1:9515" #chromedriver port
SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Extension:
screenshot_path: '%paths.base%/artifacts/screenshots'
You're all set to start writing features now! Simply create *.feature
files
anywhere in your codebase, and run them as shown above. We recommend the folder
structure of tests/behat/features
, since its consistent with the common location
of SilverStripe's PHPUnit tests.
Behat tests rely on a FeatureContext
class which contains step definitions,
and can be composed of other subcontexts, e.g. for SilverStripe-specific CMS steps
(details on behat.org).
Since step definitions are quite domain specific, its likely that you'll need your own context.
The Silverstripe Behat extension provides an initializer script which generates a template
in the recommended folder structure:
vendor/bin/behat --init @mymodule --namespace="MyVendor\MyModule"
Note: namespace is mandatory
You'll now have a class located in mymodule/tests/behat/src/FeatureContext.php
,
which will have a psr-4 class mapping added to composer.json by default.
Also a folder for your features with mymodule/tests/behat/features
will be created.
A mymodule/behat.yml
is built, with a default suite named after the module.
The extension comes with several BehatContext
subclasses come with some extra step defintions.
Some of them are just helpful in general website testing, other's are specific to SilverStripe.
To find out all available steps (and the files they are defined in), run the following:
vendor/bin/behat @mymodule --definitions=i
Note: There are more specific step definitions in the Silverstripe framework
module
for interacting with the CMS interfaces (see framework/tests/behat/features/bootstrap
).
In addition to the dynamic list, a cheatsheet of available steps can be found at the end of this guide.
Since each test run creates a new database, you can't rely on existing state unless you explicitly define it.
The easiest way to get default data is through DataObject->requireDefaultRecords()
.
Many modules already have this method defined, e.g. the blog
module automatically
creates a default BlogHolder
entry in the page tree. Sometimes these defaults can
be counterproductive though, so you need to "opt-in" to them, via the @database-defaults
tag placed at the top of your feature definition. The defaults are reset after each
scenario automatically.
If you need more flexibility and transparency about which records are being created, use the inline definition syntax. The following example shows some syntax variations:
Feature: Do something with pages
As an site owner
I want to manage pages
Background:
# Creates a new page without data. Can be accessed later under this identifier
Given a "page" "Page 1"
# Uses a custom RegistrationPage type
And an "error page" "Register"
# Creates a page with inline properties
And a "page" "Page 2" with "URLSegment"="page-1" and "Content"="my page 1"
# Field names can be tabular, and based on DataObject::$field_labels
And the "page" "Page 3" has the following data
| Content | <blink> |
| My Property | foo |
| My Boolean | bar |
# Pages are published by default, can be explicitly unpublished
And the "page" "Page 1" is not published
# Create a hierarchy, and reference a record created earlier
And the "page" "Page 1.1" is a child of a "page" "Page 1"
# Specific page type step
And a "page" "My Redirect" which redirects to a "page" "Page 1"
And a "member" "Website User" with "FavouritePage"="=>Page.Page 1"
@javascript
Scenario: View a page in the tree
Given I am logged in with "ADMIN" permissions
And I go to "/admin/pages"
Then I should see "Page 1"
- Fixtures are created where you defined them. If you want the fixtures to be created before every scenario, define them in Background. If you want them to be created only when a particular scenario runs, define them there.
- Fixtures are cleared between scenarios.
- The basic syntax works for all
DataObject
subclasses, but some specific notations like "is not published" requires extensions likeHierarchy
to be applied to the class - Record types, identifiers, property names and property values need to be quoted
- Record types (class names) can use more natural notation ("registration page" instead of "Registration Page")
- Record types support the
$singular_name
notation which is also used to reference the types throughout the CMS. Record property names support the$field_labels
notation in the same fashion. - Property values may also use a
=>
symbol to indicate relationships between records. The notation is=><classname>.<identifier>
. Forhas_many
ormany_many
relationships, multiple relationships can be separated by a comma.
As a convention, Silverstripe Behat tests live in a tests/behat
subfolder
of your module. You can create it with the following commands:
mkdir -p mymodule/tests/behat/features/
mkdir -p mymodule/tests/behat/src/
The generic Behat usage instructions apply
here as well. The only major difference is the base class from which
to extend your own FeatureContext
: It should be SilverStripeContext
rather than BehatContext
.
Example: mymodule/tests/behat/src/FeatureContext.php
namespace MyModule\Test\Behaviour;
use SilverStripe\BehatExtension\Context\SilverStripeContext;
class FeatureContext extends SilverStripeContext
{
}
In some Selenium drivers you can
define the desired browser window size through a capabilities
definition.
By default, Selenium doesn't support this though, so we've added a workaround
through an environment variable:
BEHAT_SCREEN_SIZE=320x600 vendor/bin/behat
Behat is executed from CLI, which in turn triggers web requests in a browser.
This browser session is associated PHP session information such as the logged-in user.
After every request, the session information is persisted on disk as part
of the TestSessionEnvironment
, in order to share it with Behat CLI.
Example: Retrieve the currently logged-in member
use SilverStripe\TestSession\TestsessionEnvironment;
$env = Injector::inst()->get(TestSessionEnvironment::class);
$state = $env->getState();
if (isset($state->session['loggedInAs'])) {
$member = \Member::get()->byID($state->session['loggedInAs']);
} else {
$member = null;
}
This is most likely a problem with Composer's autoloading generator.
Check that you have "SilverStripe" mentioned in the vendor/composer/autoload_classmap.php
file,
and call composer dump-autoload
if not.
Sometimes you want to wait for an AJAX request or CSS animation to complete before
calling the next step/assertion. Mink provides a wait() method
for this purpose - just let the execution wait until a JavaScript expression satisfies your criteria.
It's pretty common to make this expression a CSS selector.
The Behat tests come with built-in support to wait for any pending jQuery.ajax()
requests,
check BasicContext->handleAjaxBeforeStep()
and the ajax_steps
configuration option.
Sometimes Silverstripe needs to know the URL of your site. When you're visiting your site in a web browser this is easy to work out, but if you're executing scripts on the command-line, it has no way of knowing.
The module creates temporary database on init and is switching to the alternative
database session before every scenario by using /dev/tests/setdb
TestRunner
endpoint.
It also populates this temporary database with the default records if necessary.
It is possible to include your own fixtures, it is explained further.
Because we're testing the interface directly, any changes to the viewed elements have the potential to disrupt testing. By building a test database from scratch, we're trying to minimize this impact. Some examples where things can go wrong nevertheless:
- Thirdparty Silverstripe modules which install default data
- Changes to the default interface language
- Configurations which remove admin areas or specific fields
Currently there's no way to exclude offending modules from a test run. You either have to adjust the tests to work around these changes, or run tests on a "sandbox" projects without these modules.
First, read the console output. Behat will tell you which steps have failed.
Silverstripe Behaviour Testing Framework also notifies you about some events. It tries to catch some JavaScript errors and AJAX errors as well although it is limited to errors that occur after the page is loaded.
Screenshot will be taken by the module every time the step is marked as failed. Refer to configuration section above to know how to set up the screenshot path.
If you are unable to debug using the information collected with the above methods, it is possible to delay the step execution by adding the following step:
And I put a breakpoint
This will stop the execution of the tests until you press the return key in the terminal. This is very useful when you want to look at the error or developer console inside the browser or if you want to interact with the session page manually.
If you have XDebug set up, breakpoints are your friend. The problem is that you can only connect the debugger to the PHP execution in the CLI, or in the browser, not both at the same time.
First of all, ensure that xdebug.remote_autostart
is set to Off
,
otherwise you'll always have an active debugging session in CLI, never in the browser.
Then you can choose to enable XDebug for the current CLI run:
XDEBUG_CONFIG="idekey=macgdbp" vendor/bin/behat
Or you can use the TESTSESSION_PARAMS
environment variable to pass additional
parameters to dev/testsession/start
, and debug in the browser instead.
TESTSESSION_PARAMS="XDEBUG_SESSION_START=macgdbp" vendor/bin/behat @app
The macgdbp
IDE key needs to match your xdebug.idekey
php.ini setting.
Check out the travis.yml
in silverstripe/framework
for a good example on how to set up Behat tests through
travis-ci.org.
This is a manually categorized list of available commands
when both the cms
and framework
modules are installed.
It's based on the vendor/bin/behat -di @cms
output.
Then /^(?:|I )should see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that page contains specified text.
Then /^(?:|I )should not see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that page doesn't contain specified text.
Then /^(?:|I )should see text matching (?P<pattern>"(?:[^"]|\\")*")$/
- Checks, that page contains text matching specified pattern.
Then /^(?:|I )should not see text matching (?P<pattern>"(?:[^"]|\\")*")$/
- Checks, that page doesn't contain text matching specified pattern.
Then /^the response should contain "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that HTML response contains specified string.
Then /^the response should not contain "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that HTML response doesn't contain specified string.
Then /^(?:|I )should see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" in the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
- Checks, that element with specified CSS contains specified text.
Then /^(?:|I )should not see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" in the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
- Checks, that element with specified CSS doesn't contain specified text.
Then /^the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element should contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that element with specified CSS contains specified HTML.
Then /^(?:|I )should see an? "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
- Checks, that element with specified CSS exists on page.
Then /^(?:|I )should not see an? "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
- Checks, that element with specified CSS doesn't exist on page.
Then /^(?:|I )should be on "(?P<page>[^"]+)"$/
- Checks, that current page PATH is equal to specified.
Then /^the (?i)url(?-i) should match (?P<pattern>"([^"]|\\")*")$/
- Checks, that current page PATH matches regular expression.
Then /^the response status code should be (?P<code>\d+)$/
- Checks, that current page response status is equal to specified.
Then /^the response status code should not be (?P<code>\d+)$/
- Checks, that current page response status is not equal to specified.
Then /^(?:|I )should see (?P<num>\d+) "(?P<element>[^"]*)" elements?$/
- Checks, that (?P<num>\d+) CSS elements exist on the page
Then /^print last response$/
- Prints last response to console.
Then /^show last response$/
- Opens last response content in browser.
Then /^I should be redirected to "([^"]+)"/
Given /^I wait (?:for )?([\d\.]+) second(?:s?)$/
Then /^the "([^"]*)" table should contain "([^"]*)"$/
Then /^the "([^"]*)" table should not contain "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^I click on "([^"]*)" in the "([^"]*)" table$/
Given /^(?:|I )am on homepage$/
- Opens homepage.
When /^(?:|I )go to homepage$/
- Opens homepage.
Given /^(?:|I )am on "(?P<page>[^"]+)"$/
- Opens specified page.
When /^(?:|I )go to "(?P<page>[^"]+)"$/
- Opens specified page.
When /^(?:|I )reload the page$/
- Reloads current page.
When /^(?:|I )move backward one page$/
- Moves backward one page in history.
When /^(?:|I )move forward one page$/
- Moves forward one page in history
When /^(?:|I )press "(?P<button>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Presses button with specified id|name|title|alt|value.
When /^(?:|I )follow "(?P<link>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Clicks link with specified id|title|alt|text.
When /^(?:|I )fill in "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" with "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Fills in form field with specified id|name|label|value.
When /^(?:|I )fill in "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" for "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Fills in form field with specified id|name|label|value.
When /^(?:|I )fill in the following:$/
- Fills in form fields with provided table.
When /^(?:|I )select "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" from "(?P<select>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Selects option in select field with specified id|name|label|value.
When /^(?:|I )additionally select "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" from "(?P<select>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Selects additional option in select field with specified id|name|label|value.
When /^I select the "([^"]*)" radio button$/
- Selects a radio button with the given id|name|label|value
When /^(?:|I )check "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks checkbox with specified id|name|label|value.
When /^(?:|I )uncheck "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Unchecks checkbox with specified id|name|label|value.
When /^(?:|I )attach the file "(?P[^"]*)" to "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Attaches file to field with specified id|name|label|value.
Then /^the "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" field should contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that form field with specified id|name|label|value has specified value.
Then /^the "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" field should not contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Checks, that form field with specified id|name|label|value doesn't have specified value.
Then /^the "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" checkbox should be checked$/
- Checks, that checkbox with specified in|name|label|value is checked.
Then /^the "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" checkbox should not be checked$/
- Checks, that checkbox with specified in|name|label|value is unchecked.
When /^I fill in the "(?P<field>([^"]*))" HTML field with "(?P<value>([^"]*))"$/
When /^I fill in "(?P<value>([^"]*))" for the "(?P<field>([^"]*))" HTML field$/
When /^I append "(?P<value>([^"]*))" to the "(?P<field>([^"]*))" HTML field$/
Then /^the "(?P<locator>([^"]*))" HTML field should contain "(?P<html>([^"]*))"$/
When /^(?:|I )fill in the "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" dropdown with "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
- Workaround for chosen.js dropdowns or tree dropdowns which hide the original dropdown field.
When /^(?:|I )fill in "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" for "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" dropdown$/
- Workaround for chosen.js dropdowns or tree dropdowns which hide the original dropdown field.
Given /^I select "([^"]*)" from "([^"]*)" input group$/
- Check an individual input button from a group of inputs
- Example: I select "Admins" from "Groups" input group
(where "Groups" is the title of the CheckboxSetField or OptionsetField form field)
Given /^I press the "([^"]*)" button$/
Given /^I (click|double click) "([^"]*)" in the "([^"]*)" element$/
Given /^I type "([^"]*)" into the dialog$/
Given /^I (?:press|follow) the "([^"]*)" (?:button|link), confirming the dialog$/
Given /^I (?:press|follow) the "([^"]*)" (?:button|link), dismissing the dialog$/
Given /^I (click|double click) "([^"]*)" in the "([^"]*)" element, confirming the dialog$/
Given /^I (click|double click) "([^"]*)" in the "([^"]*)" element, dismissing the dialog$/
Given /^I confirm the dialog$/
Given /^I dismiss the dialog$/
Given /^I am logged in with "([^"]*)" permissions$/
- Creates a member in a group with the correct permissions.
Given /^I am not logged in$/
When /^I log in with "(?<username>[^"]*)" and "(?<password>[^"]*)"$/
Given /^I should see a log-in form$/
Then /^I will see a "bad" log-in message$/
Then /^I should see an edit page form$/
Then /^I should see the CMS$/
Then /^I should see a "([^"]*)" message$/
Given /^I should see a "([^"]*)" button in CMS Content Toolbar$/
When /^I should see "([^"]*)" in CMS Tree$/
When /^I should not see "([^"]*)" in CMS Tree$/
When /^I expand the "([^"]*)" CMS Panel$/
When /^I click the "([^"]*)" CMS tab$/
Then /^I can see the preview panel$/
Given /^the preview contains "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^the preview does not contain "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<id>[^"]+)" (:?which )?redirects to (?:(an|a|the) )"(?<targetType>[^"]+)" "(?<targetId>[^"]+)"$/
- Find or create a redirector page and link to another existing page.
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<id>[^"]+)"$/
- Example: Given a "page" "Page 1"
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<id>[^"]+)" with (?<data>.*)$/
- Example: Given a "page" "Page 1" with "URLSegment"="page-1" and "Content"="my page 1"
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<id>[^"]+)" has the following data$/
- Example: And the "page" "Page 2" has the following data
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<id>[^"]+)" is a (?<relation>[^\s]*) of (?:(an|a|the) )"(?<relationType>[^"]+)" "(?<relationId>[^"]+)"/
- Example: Given the "page" "Page 1.1" is a child of the "page" "Page1"
Note that this change is not published by default
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<id>[^"]+)" is (?<state>[^"]*)$/
- Example: Given the "page" "Page 1" is not published
- Example: Given the "page" "Page 1" is published
- Example: Given the "page" "Page 1" is deleted
Given /^there are the following ([^\s]*) records$/
- Accepts YAML fixture definitions similar to the ones used in Silverstripe unit testing.
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"member" "(?<id>[^"]+)" belonging to "(?<groupId>[^"]+)"$/
- Example: Given a "member" "Admin" belonging to "Admin Group"
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"member" "(?<id>[^"]+)" belonging to "(?<groupId>[^"]+)" with (?<data>.*)$/
Given /^(?:(an|a|the) )"group" "(?<id>[^"]+)" (?:(with|has)) permissions (?<permissionStr>.*)$/
- Example: Given a "group" "Admin" with permissions "Access to 'Pages' section" and "Access to 'Files' section"
Given /^I assign (?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<value>[^"]+)" to (?:(an|a|the) )"(?<relationType>[^"]+)" "(?<relationId>[^"]+)"$/
- Example: I assign the "TaxonomyTerm" "For customers" to the "Page" "Page1"
Given /^I assign (?:(an|a|the) )"(?<type>[^"]+)" "(?<value>[^"]+)" to (?:(an|a|the) )"(?<relationType>[^"]+)" "(?<relationId>[^"]+)" in the "(?<relationName>[^"]+)" relation$
- Example: I assign the "TaxonomyTerm" "For customers" to the "Page" "Page1" in the "Terms" relation
Given /^the CMS settings have the following data$/
- Example: Given the CMS settings has the following data
- Note: It only works with the Silverstripe CMS module installed
Given /^the current date is "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^the current time is "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^there should (not |)be an email (to|from) "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^there should (not |)be an email (to|from) "([^"]*)" titled "([^"]*)"$/
Given /^the email should (not |)contain "([^"]*)"$/
- Example: Given the email should contain "Thank you for registering!"
When /^I click on the "([^"]*)" link in the email (to|from) "([^"]*)"$/
When /^I click on the "([^"]*)" link in the email (to|from) "([^"]*)" titled "([^"]*)"$/
When /^I click on the "([^"]*)" link in the email"$/
Given /^I clear all emails$/
Then /^the email should (not |)contain the following data:$/
Example: Then the email should contain the following data:
Then /^there should (not |)be an email titled "([^"]*)"$/
Then /^the email should (not |)be sent from "([^"]*)"$/
Then /^the email should (not |)be sent to "([^"]*)"$/
When /^I click on the http link "([^"]*)" in the email$/
- Example: When I click on the http link "http://localhost/changepassword" in the email
Behat transformations
have the ability to change step arguments based on their original value,
for example to cast any argument matching the \d
regex into an actual PHP integer.
/^(?:(the|a)) time of (?<val>.*)$/
: Transforms relative time statements compatible with strtotime(). Example: "the time of 1 hour ago" might return "22:00:00" if its currently "23:00:00"./^(?:(the|a)) date of (?<val>.*)$/
: Transforms relative date statements compatible with strtotime(). Example: "the date of 2 days ago" might return "2013-10-10" if its currently the 12th of October 2013./^(?:(the|a)) datetime of (?<val>.*)$/
: Transforms relative date and time statements compatible with strtotime(). Example: "the datetime of 2 days ago" might return "2013-10-10 23:00:00" if its currently the 12th of October 2013.