Transport\BaseTestCase : Improve and Stabilize tests

[ritoban23]

Pull Request Type

• [x] I have checked there is no other PR open for the same change.

This is a:

• [ ] Bug fix
• [ ] New feature
• [ ] Documentation improvement
• [x] Code quality improvement

Context

This PR improves the stability and debugging capabilities of tests in BaseTestCase.php by implementing comprehensive assertions with descriptive error messages. Problem Solved:

• Tests using patterns like $this->assertSame($expected, $result['key']['subkey']->property) were prone to failures when intermediate keys didn't exist or had wrong data types
• Assertion failures provided unclear error messages, making debugging difficult
• Missing validation of data types before accessing properties/array keys

Detailed Description

Changes Made:

1. Enhanced Assertion Patterns:

   • Replaced unstable direct property access with step-by-step validation
   • Added checks for array types before accessing indices
   • Added checks for object types before accessing properties
   • Verified array keys exist before accessing them

2. Descriptive Error Messages:

   • Every assertion now includes a clear, descriptive error message
   • Error messages explain what should happen and why
   • Makes debugging failed tests significantly easier

3. Improved Documentation:

   • Added comprehensive class-level PHPDoc documentation
   • Added @covers tags to key test methods for better code coverage tracking
   • Enhanced method documentation explaining test purposes

Testing Notes

• ✅ All BaseTestCase improvements work correctly
• ⚠️ 2 pre-existing test failures are unrelated to these changes:
  • CurlTest::testBadIP - Environment-specific DNS/timeout issue
  • FsockopenTest::testHTTPVersionHeader - WSL locale configuration issue

Quality assurance

• [x] This change does NOT contain a breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change).
• [x] I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas.
• [x] I have added unit tests to accompany this PR.
• [x] The (new/existing) tests cover this PR 100%.
• [x] I have (manually) tested this code to the best of my abilities.
• [x] My code follows the style guidelines of this project.

Documentation

For new features:

• [ ] I have added a code example showing how to use this feature to the examples directory.
• [ ] I have added documentation about this feature to the docs directory. If the documentation is in a new markdown file, I have added a link to this new file to the Docs folder README.md file.

Related to https://github.com/WordPress/Requests/issues/497

[jrfnl]

@ritoban23 Quick question: did you use AI to generate this PR ?

[ritoban23]

@jrfnl yes , to help with optimization and documentation. Reviewed, tested, and validated all suggestions before submitting.

[jrfnl]

@jrfnl yes , to help with optimization and documentation. Reviewed, tested, and validated all suggestions before submitting.

Do you know on what code the AI was trained ? What license was that code released under ? And how will that impact the license of this repo ?

[ritoban23]

Used copilot for phrasing and idea checks. The changes themselves like error messages and assertions are standard that any developer would implement. No license impact as per my understanding, open to making changes if required.

@jrfnl yes , to help with optimization and documentation. Reviewed, tested, and validated all suggestions before submitting.

Do you know on what code the AI was trained ? What license was that code released under ? And how will that impact the license of this repo ?

[jrfnl]

No license impact as per my understanding, open to making changes if required.

Please think this over a little more carefully if you really want to contribute to open source....

[ritoban23]

thanks for the note , please let me know which aspects would you like me to revise

[jrfnl]

thanks for the note , please let me know which aspects would you like me to revise

That doesn't show you've thought this over any more than before... Please consider the potential legal ramifications of using AI to contribute to open source code. Also consider how much maintainer time gets wasted via low quality AI PRs and what the impact of this will be on open source.