To use database connections defined in the databases.yml configuration file, you can use the following snippet:

// initialize database manager
$databaseManager = new sfDatabaseManager();
$databaseManager->initialize();

Even though the book is quite good, the part in which unit testing is explained could use some better information. Especially the testing with a database connection (Propel in this case) needs some fixing.

Below you find an example unit test in which the database is accessed.

It tests a fictional class 'testClass' with the method 'load()'. That method accesses the database ... for which Propel needs to be running. The Symfony application that is loaded is called 'myapp';

if (!@constant('SF_APP')) { // Only load constants in not done before (group tests)
    define('SF_APP', 'myapp');
    define('SF_ENVIRONMENT', 'dev');
    define('SF_DEBUG', TRUE);
}
 
if (!@constant('SF_ROOT_DIR')) { // Only load constants in not done before (group tests)
    include(dirname(__FILE__).'/../bootstrap/unit.php');
}
 
sfCore::initSimpleAutoload(array(SF_ROOT_DIR.'/lib/model' // DB model classes
                                ,$sf_symfony_lib_dir // Symfony itself
                                ,dirname(__FILE__).'/../../lib' // Location class to be tested
                                ,dirname(__FILE__).'/../../apps/stageselect/lib' // Location myapp application
                                ,SF_ROOT_DIR.'/plugins')); // Location plugins
 
set_include_path($sf_symfony_lib_dir . '/vendor' . PATH_SEPARATOR . SF_ROOT_DIR . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());
 
/*
 * Start database connection and Symfony core
 */
sfCore::bootstrap($sf_symfony_lib_dir, $sf_symfony_data_dir);
sfContext::getInstance();
Propel::setConfiguration(sfPropelDatabase::getConfiguration());
Propel::initialize();
 
/*
 * Test
 */
// Init
$oTest = new lime_test(1, new lime_output_color());
 
// Print head
$oTest->diag('testClass');
$oTest->diag('----');
 
// Does the method load() exist in class 'testClass'
$oTest->can_ok('testClass', 'load', 'testClass has method load()');

We wanted to use a 'propel-insert-sql' in our acceptance tests suite to clear DB before every test reducing interferences. We all learned here http://www.symfony-project.com/snippets/snippet/16 how to call a Pake task from our PHP code. To get a quiet 'propel-insert-sql' task letting 'test' task be verbose and reporting test results we must add a method to the pakeTask class in pakeTask.class.php file:

public function setVerbose() 
{
  $this->verbose = false;
}

and edit sfPakePropel.php file to make 'propel-insert-sql' task quiet:

function run_propel_insert_sql($task, $args)
{
  $task->setVerbose();
  _call_phing($task, 'insert-sql');
}

This way we have a lot quiter acceptance test suite and a clean DB whenever we want.