Restful Controller in Zendframework 2 - how does its parameter work? - zend-framework2

Question

This is my unit test for create function :
public function testCreate() {
$this->routeMatch->setMatchedRouteName('restful');
$this->request->setMethod('POST')
->setContent('name=A');
$result = $this->controller->dispatch($this->request);
$response = $this->controller->getResponse();
$this->assertEquals(403, $response->getStatusCode());
$this->assertArrayHasKey('id', $result);
}
And this is my function :
public function create($data) {
if (empty($data)) {
$this->response->setStatusCode(400);
return;
}
for ($i = 0; $i < count(self::$ideas); $i++) {
if (self::$ideas[$i]['name'] == $data['name']) {
$this->response->setStatusCode(404);
return;
}
}
//#todo: secure the API
self::$index++;
$tmpArray = array('id'=>self::$index, 'name'=>$data['name']);
$this->response->setStatusCode(403);
}
But it seems that the $data is always blank. Am I wrong at the part writing unit test ?
When I try to use curl POST with -d, the $data has value as what I post through curl. I'm a quite confused what is wrong here ?
Thanks for reading and looking forward to your answer :)
Answer
I've came up with my successful unit test http://pastebin.com/fwFe0Mi3
For more information, I use this module to implement restful controller

Answer 1

If you take a look at \Zend\Mvc\Controller\AbstractRestfulController method processPostData you will notice that the method create in your controller is given an array of the post params from the request object.
If you look at \Zend\Http\Request the $postParams property is populated by the setPost method.
Now the child class \Zend\Http\PhpEnvironment\Request (used by ZF2 when you are requesting something) that extends \Zend\Http\Request (above) on instantiation (__contruct method) calls the setPost method (above) giving it the $_POST array.
This means that eventually ZF2 internally feeds your controller's create method with the $_POST contents and not by parsing the request body.
Now to your code.
I don't think dispatch will do anything without you having set up the event framework first. Instead you can call the controllers execute method providing it with an MvcEvent. The MvcEvent needs to have the request you instantiated set.
Secondly, as described above you need to call the request's setPost and give it an array for the create method to work properly. (On the other hand PUT reads the data from the request body)
Try doing that and if you are still having trouble I will try and give you an example soon.