Cakephp testAction() is not sending a json payload to controller - cakephp

Question

I am trying to test a controller function that accepts a json payload.
As per the documentation of testAction() this can be done via setting $options['data'] to the appropriate string. Its not working for me.
See the documentation quoted here: http://api20.cakephp.org/class/controller-test-case (Please scroll down the the testAction() section).
Here is my test case.
public function testCreate(){
//Some code here
$this->testAction('/shippingbatches/create', array('data' => '[3,6]', 'method' => 'post'));
//Some more code here
}
Here is my controller function
public function create(){
debug($this->request); //This debug shows me an empty array in $this->request->data
ob_flush();
$order_ids = json_decode($this->request->data);
//Some more code here
}
The first line of the controller function is showing me an empty array in $this->request->data. If the 'data' passed from the testAction() is an actual array it comes in nice & fine. But not when it is set to a string (unlike it says in the documentation).
Here is the output of the debug.
object(Mock_CakeRequest_ef4431a5) {
params => array(
'plugin' => null,
'controller' => 'shippingbatches',
'action' => 'create',
'named' => array(),
'pass' => array(),
'return' => (int) 1,
'bare' => (int) 1,
'requested' => (int) 1
)
data => array()
query => array(
'case' => 'Controller\ShippingBatchesController'
)
url => 'shippingbatches/create'
base => ''
webroot => '/'
here => '/shippingbatches/create'
}
Please help.
Gurpreet

Answer 1

When passing data like that, you must receive it using CakeRequest::input().
public function create() {
$json = $this->request->input('json_decode', true);
debug($json);
}
I should note that I discovered this by reading Cake's test cases for ControllerTestCase::testAction. Reading test cases can give you insight into how Cake's internals work and give you hints on writing tests.