diff --git a/tests/cases/Db/BaseUpdate.php b/tests/cases/Db/BaseUpdate.php
index c2a7cc18..5b645721 100644
--- a/tests/cases/Db/BaseUpdate.php
+++ b/tests/cases/Db/BaseUpdate.php
@@ -158,34 +158,47 @@ class BaseUpdate extends \JKingWeb\Arsse\Test\AbstractTest {
 QUERY_TEXT
         );
         $this->drv->schemaUpdate(7);
-        $users = [
-            ['id' => "a", 'password' => "xyz", 'num' => 1],
-            ['id' => "b", 'password' => "abc", 'num' => 2],
+        $exp = [
+            'arsse_users' => [
+                'columns' => ["id", "password", "num"],
+                'rows'    => [
+                    ["a", "xyz", 1],
+                    ["b", "abc", 2],
+                ]
+            ],
+            'arsse_folders' => [
+                'columns' => ["owner", "name"],
+                'rows'    => [
+                    ["a", "1"],
+                    ["b", "2"],
+                ]
+            ],
+            'arsse_icons' => [
+                'columns' => ["id", "url"],
+                'rows'    => [
+                    [1, "http://example.com/icon"],
+                    [2, "http://example.org/icon"],
+                ]
+            ],
+            'arsse_feeds' => [
+                'columns' => ["url", "icon"],
+                'rows'    => [
+                    ["http://example.com/", 1],
+                    ["http://example.org/", 2],
+                    ["https://example.com/", 1],
+                    ["http://example.net/", null],
+                ]
+            ],
+            'arsse_subscriptions' => [
+                'columns' => ["id", "scrape"],
+                'rows'    => [
+                    [1,1],
+                    [2,1],
+                    [3,0],
+                    [4,0],
+                ]
+            ]
         ];
-        $folders = [
-            ['owner' => "a", 'name' => "1"],
-            ['owner' => "b", 'name' => "2"],
-        ];
-        $icons = [
-            ['id' => 1, 'url' => "http://example.com/icon"],
-            ['id' => 2, 'url' => "http://example.org/icon"],
-        ];
-        $feeds = [
-            ['url' => 'http://example.com/', 'icon' => 1],
-            ['url' => 'http://example.org/', 'icon' => 2],
-            ['url' => 'https://example.com/', 'icon' => 1],
-            ['url' => 'http://example.net/', 'icon' => null],
-        ];
-        $subs = [
-            ['id' => 1, 'scrape' => 1],
-            ['id' => 2, 'scrape' => 1],
-            ['id' => 3, 'scrape' => 0],
-            ['id' => 4, 'scrape' => 0],
-        ];
-        $this->assertEquals($users, $this->drv->query("SELECT id, password, num from arsse_users order by id")->getAll());
-        $this->assertEquals($folders, $this->drv->query("SELECT owner, name from arsse_folders order by owner")->getAll());
-        $this->assertEquals($icons, $this->drv->query("SELECT id, url from arsse_icons order by id")->getAll());
-        $this->assertEquals($feeds, $this->drv->query("SELECT url, icon from arsse_feeds order by id")->getAll());
-        $this->assertEquals($subs, $this->drv->query("SELECT id, scrape from arsse_subscriptions order by id")->getAll());
+        $this->compareExpectations($this->drv, $exp);
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php b/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php
index 56e8a59c..7efb0d4a 100644
--- a/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php
+++ b/tests/lib/AbstractTest.php
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ abstract class AbstractTest extends \PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase {
                 $row = [];
                 foreach ($r as $c => $v) {
                     // store any date values for later comparison
-                    if (self::COL_DEFS[$table][$info['columns'][$c]] === "datetime") {
+                    if (is_string($v) && preg_match("/^\d{4}-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d$/", $v)) {
                         $dates[] = $v;
                     }
                     // serialize to CSV, null being represented by no value
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ abstract class AbstractTest extends \PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase {
                 $row = [];
                 foreach ($r as $c => $v) {
                     // account for dates which might be off by one second
-                    if (self::COL_DEFS[$table][$c] === "datetime") {
+                    if (is_string($v) && preg_match("/^\d{4}-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d$/", $v)) {
                         if (array_search($v, $dates, true) === false) {
                             $v = Date::transform(Date::sub("PT1S", $v), "sql");
                             if (array_search($v, $dates, true) === false) {
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ abstract class AbstractTest extends \PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase {
                 $extra[] = $row;
             }
             // add any unfound rows to the end of the actual array
-            $base = sizeof($exp) + 1;
+            $base = sizeof($exp);
             foreach ($extra as $k => $v) {
                 $act[$base + $k] = $v;
             }