I’m working on a project where I need to fill my database tables with fake data for testing purposes. I was wondering if there’s already a PHP solution out there that can automatically read the structure of a MySQL table and generate random sample data based on the column types.
For example, if I have a table with varchar fields, integer columns, and date fields, the tool would create realistic test data that matches each field type. I want to be able to specify how many rows to generate.
Has anyone come across a library or PHP class that does this kind of automatic test data generation? I’d rather use something that already exists instead of building it from scratch if possible.
I built something similar and used MySQL’s INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables to inspect column definitions programmatically. Just query INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS to grab data types, constraints, and field lengths, then write PHP functions that generate test data based on those specs. For VARCHAR fields, I generate random strings within the character limit. For INT columns, I create numbers in the valid range. For DATE fields, I produce random dates within reasonable bounds. Building from scratch takes some work upfront, but you get complete control over the data generation logic and can customize it exactly how you want. Works great once you handle the common MySQL data types properly.
hey! I’ve used Faker too, it’s pretty cool. u can define the structure and it generates random data. really helps for testing without any hassle. just make sure you have the right mappings for your columns!