Say you have a typical articles controller, with it's corresponding model, and it looks like this:

<?php 
class ArticlesController extends AppController { 
   var $name = 'Articles'; 
   var $helpers = array('Ajax', 'Form', 'Html'); 
   
   function index($short = null) { 
     if (!empty($this->data)) { 
       $this->Article->save($this->data); 
     } 
     if (!empty($short)) { 
       $result = $this->Article->findAll(null, array('id', 
          'title')); 
     } else { 
       $result = $this->Article->findAll(); 
     } 
 
     if (isset($this->params['requested'])) { 
       return $result; 
     } 
 
     $this->set('title', 'Articles'); 
     $this->set('articles', $result); 
   } 
} 
?>

1. <?php
2. class ArticlesController extends AppController {
3. var $name = 'Articles';
4. var $helpers = array('Ajax', 'Form', 'Html');
6. function index($short = null) {
7. if (!empty($this->data)) {
8. $this->Article->save($this->data);
9. }
10. if (!empty($short)) {
11. $result = $this->Article->findAll(null, array('id',
12. 'title'));
13. } else {
14. $result = $this->Article->findAll();
15. }
17. if (isset($this->params['requested'])) {
18. return $result;
19. }
21. $this->set('title', 'Articles');
22. $this->set('articles', $result);
23. }
24. }
25. ?>

Create a file named articles_controller.test.php in your app/tests/cases/controllers directory and put the following inside:

<?php 
class ArticlesControllerTest extends CakeTestCase { 
   function startCase() { 
     echo '<h1>Starting Test Case</h1>'; 
   } 
   function endCase() { 
     echo '<h1>Ending Test Case</h1>'; 
   } 
   function startTest($method) { 
     echo '<h3>Starting method ' . $method . '</h3>'; 
   } 
   function endTest($method) { 
     echo '<hr />'; 
   } 
   function testIndex() { 
     $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index'); 
     debug($result); 
   } 
   function testIndexShort() { 
     $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short'); 
     debug($result); 
   } 
   function testIndexShortGetRenderedHtml() { 
     $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short', 
     array('return' => 'render')); 
     debug(htmlentities($result)); 
   } 
   function testIndexShortGetViewVars() { 
     $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short', 
     array('return' => 'vars')); 
     debug($result); 
   } 
   function testIndexFixturized() { 
     $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short', 
     array('fixturize' => true)); 
     debug($result); 
   } 
   function testIndexPostFixturized() { 
     $data = array('Article' => array('user_id' => 1, 'published' 
          => 1, 'slug'=>'new-article', 'title' => 'New Article', 'body' => 'New Body')); 
     $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index', 
     array('fixturize' => true, 'data' => $data, 'method' => 'post')); 
     debug($result); 
   } 
} 
?> 

1. <?php
2. class ArticlesControllerTest extends CakeTestCase {
3. function startCase() {
4. echo '<h1>Starting Test Case</h1>';
5. }
6. function endCase() {
7. echo '<h1>Ending Test Case</h1>';
8. }
9. function startTest($method) {
10. echo '<h3>Starting method ' . $method . '</h3>';
11. }
12. function endTest($method) {
13. echo '<hr />';
14. }
15. function testIndex() {
16. $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index');
17. debug($result);
18. }
19. function testIndexShort() {
20. $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short');
21. debug($result);
22. }
23. function testIndexShortGetRenderedHtml() {
24. $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short',
25. array('return' => 'render'));
26. debug(htmlentities($result));
27. }
28. function testIndexShortGetViewVars() {
29. $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short',
30. array('return' => 'vars'));
31. debug($result);
32. }
33. function testIndexFixturized() {
34. $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index/short',
35. array('fixturize' => true));
36. debug($result);
37. }
38. function testIndexPostFixturized() {
39. $data = array('Article' => array('user_id' => 1, 'published'
40. => 1, 'slug'=>'new-article', 'title' => 'New Article', 'body' => 'New Body'));
41. $result = $this->testAction('/articles/index',
42. array('fixturize' => true, 'data' => $data, 'method' => 'post'));
43. debug($result);
44. }
45. }
46. ?>