The attributes of the <phpunit> element can be used to configure PHPUnit's core functionality.

<phpunit backupGlobals="true"
         backupStaticAttributes="false"
         <!--bootstrap="/path/to/bootstrap.php"-->
         cacheTokens="false"
         colors="false"
         convertErrorsToExceptions="true"
         convertNoticesToExceptions="true"
         convertWarningsToExceptions="true"
         forceCoversAnnotation="false"
         mapTestClassNameToCoveredClassName="false"
         printerClass="PHPUnit_TextUI_ResultPrinter"
         <!--printerFile="/path/to/ResultPrinter.php"-->
         processIsolation="false"
         stopOnError="false"
         stopOnFailure="false"
         stopOnIncomplete="false"
         stopOnSkipped="false"
         testSuiteLoaderClass="PHPUnit_Runner_StandardTestSuiteLoader"
         <!--testSuiteLoaderFile="/path/to/StandardTestSuiteLoader.php"-->
         strict="false"
         verbose="false">
  <!-- ... -->
</phpunit>

The XML configuration above corresponds to the default behaviour of the TextUI test runner documented in the section called “Command-Line switches”.

Additional options that are not available as command-line switches are:

The <testsuites> element and its one or more <testsuite> children can be used to compose a test suite out of test suites and test cases.

<testsuites>
  <testsuite name="My Test Suite">
    <directory>/path/to/*Test.php files</directory>
    <file>/path/to/MyTest.php</file>
    <exclude>/path/to/exclude</exclude>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>

Using the phpVersion and phpVersionOperator attributes, a required PHP version can be specified. The example below will only add the /path/to/*Test.php files and /path/to/MyTest.php file if the PHP version is at least 5.3.0.

  <testsuites>
    <testsuite name="My Test Suite">
      <directory suffix="Test.php" phpVersion="5.3.0" phpVersionOperator=">=">/path/to/files</directory>
      <file phpVersion="5.3.0" phpVersionOperator=">=">/path/to/MyTest.php</file>
    </testsuite>
  </testsuites>

The phpVersionOperator attribute is optional and defaults to >=.

The <groups> element and its <include>, <exclude>, and <group> children can be used to select groups of tests from a suite of tests that should (not) be run.

<groups>
  <include>
    <group>name</group>
  </include>
  <exclude>
    <group>name</group>
  </exclude>
</groups>

The XML configuration above corresponds to invoking the TextUI test runner with the following switches:

The <filter> element and its children can be used to configure the blacklist and whitelist for the code coverage reporting.

<filter>
  <blacklist>
    <directory suffix=".php">/path/to/files</directory>
    <file>/path/to/file</file>
    <exclude>
      <directory suffix=".php">/path/to/files</directory>
      <file>/path/to/file</file>
    </exclude>
  </blacklist>
  <whitelist processUncoveredFilesFromWhitelist="true">
    <directory suffix=".php">/path/to/files</directory>
    <file>/path/to/file</file>
    <exclude>
      <directory suffix=".php">/path/to/files</directory>
      <file>/path/to/file</file>
    </exclude>
  </whitelist>
</filter>

The <logging> element and its <log> children can be used to configure the logging of the test execution.

<logging>
  <log type="coverage-html" target="/tmp/report" charset="UTF-8"
       highlight="false" lowUpperBound="35" highLowerBound="70"/>
  <log type="coverage-clover" target="/tmp/coverage.xml"/>
  <log type="coverage-php" target="/tmp/coverage.serialized"/>
  <log type="coverage-text" target="php://stdout" showUncoveredFiles="false"/>
  <log type="json" target="/tmp/logfile.json"/>
  <log type="tap" target="/tmp/logfile.tap"/>
  <log type="junit" target="/tmp/logfile.xml" logIncompleteSkipped="false"/>
  <log type="testdox-html" target="/tmp/testdox.html"/>
  <log type="testdox-text" target="/tmp/testdox.txt"/>
</logging>

The XML configuration above corresponds to invoking the TextUI test runner with the following switches:

The charset, highlight, lowUpperBound, highLowerBound, logIncompleteSkipped and showUncoveredFiles attributes have no equivalent TextUI test runner switch.

The <listeners> element and its <listener> children can be used to attach additional test listeners to the test execution.

<listeners>
  <listener class="MyListener" file="/optional/path/to/MyListener.php">
    <arguments>
      <array>
        <element key="0">
          <string>Sebastian</string>
        </element>
      </array>
      <integer>22</integer>
      <string>April</string>
      <double>19.78</double>
      <null/>
      <object class="stdClass"/>
    </arguments>
  </listener>
</listeners>

The XML configuration above corresponds to attaching the $listener object (see below) to the test execution:

$listener = new MyListener(
  array('Sebastian'),
  22,
  'April',
  19.78,
  NULL,
  new stdClass
);

The <php> element and its children can be used to configure PHP settings, constants, and global variables. It can also be used to prepend the include_path.

<php>
  <includePath>.</includePath>
  <ini name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <const name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <var name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <env name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <post name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <get name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <cookie name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <server name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <files name="foo" value="bar"/>
  <request name="foo" value="bar"/>
</php>

The XML configuration above corresponds to the following PHP code:

ini_set('foo', 'bar');
define('foo', 'bar');
$GLOBALS['foo'] = 'bar';
$_ENV['foo'] = 'bar';
$_POST['foo'] = 'bar';
$_GET['foo'] = 'bar';
$_COOKIE['foo'] = 'bar';
$_SERVER['foo'] = 'bar';
$_FILES['foo'] = 'bar';
$_REQUEST['foo'] = 'bar';

The <selenium> element and its <browser> children can be used to configure a list of Selenium RC servers.

<selenium>
  <browser name="Firefox on Linux"
           browser="*firefox /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin"
           host="my.linux.box"
           port="4444"
           timeout="30000"/>
</selenium>

The XML configuration above corresponds to the following PHP code:

class WebTest extends PHPUnit_Extensions_SeleniumTestCase
{
    public static $browsers = array(
      array(
        'name'    => 'Firefox on Linux',
        'browser' => '*firefox /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin',
        'host'    => 'my.linux.box',
        'port'    => 4444,
        'timeout' => 30000
      )
    );

    // ...
}