Fabricator class

system/Test/Fabricator.php

@@ -517,7 +517,8 @@ protected function createMock(int $count = null)
 			case 'date':
 				$datetime = date('Y-m-d');
 			default:
-				$datetime = time();                        }
+				$datetime = time();
+		}
 
 		// Determine which fields we will need
 		$fields = [];
@@ -530,7 +531,15 @@ protected function createMock(int $count = null)
 
 		if ($this->model->useSoftDeletes)
 		{
-			$fields[$this->model->deletedField] = $datetime;
+			// Make a 20% chance of returning a deleted item
+			if (rand(1, 5) === 3)
+			{
+				$fields[$this->model->deletedField] = $datetime;
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				$fields[$this->model->deletedField] = null;
+			}
 		}
 
 		// Iterate over new entities and add the necessary fields

tests/system/Test/FabricatorTest.php

@@ -382,6 +382,8 @@ public function testCreateMockSetsDatabaseFields()
 
 		$this->assertIsInt($result->id);
 		$this->assertIsInt($result->created_at);
-		$this->assertIsInt($result->deleted_at);
+		$this->assertIsInt($result->updated_at);
+
+		$this->assertObjectHasAttribute('deleted_at', $result);
 	}
 }

user_guide_src/source/testing/fabricator.rst

@@ -143,3 +143,56 @@ the object with extra database fields above without actually touching the databa
 
     $this->assertIsNumeric($user->id);
     $this->dontSeeInDatabase('user', ['id' => $user->id]);
+
+Specifying Test Data
+====================
+
+Generated data is great, but sometimes you may want to supply a specific field for a test without
+compromising your formatters configuration. Rather then creating a new fabricator for each variant
+you can use ``setOverrides()`` to specify the value for any fields::
+
+    $fabricator->setOverrides(['first' => 'Bobby']);
+    $bobbyUser = $fabricator->make();
+
+Now any data generated with ``make()`` or ``create()`` will always use "Bobby" for the ``first`` field:
+
+    array(
+        'first'  => "Bobby",
+        'email'  => "[email protected]",
+        'phone'  => "251-806-2169",
+        'avatar' => "http://lorempixel.com/800/400/",
+        'login'  => null,
+    )
+
+    array(
+        'first'  => "Bobby",
+        'email'  => "[email protected]",
+        'phone'  => "525-214-2656 x23546",
+        'avatar' => "http://lorempixel.com/800/400/",
+        'login'  => null,
+    )
+
+``setOverrides()`` can take a second parameter to indicate whether this should be a persistent
+override (default) or only for a single action::
+
+    $fabricator->setOverrides(['first' => 'Bobby'], false);
+    $bobbyUser = $fabricator->make();
+    $bobbyUser = $fabricator->make();
+
+Notice after the first return the fabricator stops using the overrides::
+
+    array(
+        'first'  => "Bobby",
+        'email'  => "[email protected]",
+        'phone'  => "741-857-1933 x1351",
+        'avatar' => "http://lorempixel.com/800/400/",
+        'login'  => null,
+    )
+
+    array(
+        'first'  => "Hans",
+        'email'  => "[email protected]",
+        'phone'  => "487-235-7006",
+        'avatar' => "http://lorempixel.com/800/400/",
+        'login'  => null,
+    )