diff --git a/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/environment.conf b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/environment.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a5e17cf24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/environment.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Use the 'sample' env data provider (in this fixture)
+environment_data_provider=sample
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/manifests/site.pp b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/manifests/site.pp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f60634bde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/manifests/site.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+class test($param_a = 1, $param_b = 2, $param_c = 3) {
+  notify { "$param_a, $param_b, $param_c": }
+}
+
+include test
+#include dataprovider::test
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet/bindings/dataprovider/default.rb b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet/bindings/dataprovider/default.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..55cb0121f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet/bindings/dataprovider/default.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# This registers the default bindings for this module.
+# These bidnings are loaded at the start of a Puppet
+# catalog production.
+# 
+# The registrations makes 'sample' available as both a
+# data provider for an environment, and individually
+# selectable in modules.
+#
+# Note that there are two different implementation classes
+# registered, one for environment, and one for modules.
+#
+# Also note that all data are strings including the names
+# of the classes that implement the provider logic. This
+# is to not cause loading of those classes until they
+# are needed.
+#
+Puppet::Bindings.newbindings('dataprovider::default') do
+
+  # Make the SampleEnvData provider available for use in environments
+  # as 'sample'.
+  #
+  bind {
+    name 'sample'
+    in_multibind 'puppet::environment_data_providers'
+    to_instance 'PuppetX::Helindbe::SampleEnvData'
+  }
+
+  # Make the SampleModuleData provider available for use in environments
+  # as 'sample'.
+  #
+  bind {
+    name 'sample'
+    in_multibind 'puppet::module_data_providers'
+    to_instance 'PuppetX::Helindbe::SampleModuleData'
+  }
+
+  # This is what users of the 'sample' module data provider should
+  # use in its default.rb bindings. The module providing the implementation
+  # of this data provider typically does not have any puppet logic, so it
+  # would not have this binding. This example module has this however since
+  # it would otherwise require an additional module with just some puppet code
+  # and this binding to demonstrate the functionality.
+  #
+  # This binding declares that this module wants to use the 'sample' data provider
+  # for this module. (Thus ending up using the SampleModuleData implementation
+  # bound above in this example).
+  # 
+  bind {
+    name 'dataprovider'
+    to 'sample'
+    in_multibind 'puppet::module_data'
+  }
+end
+
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet_x/helindbe/sample_env_data.rb b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet_x/helindbe/sample_env_data.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3ceea9af0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet_x/helindbe/sample_env_data.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# The module is named after the author, to ensure that names under PuppetX namespace
+# does not clash.
+#
+require 'puppetx'
+module PuppetX::Helindbe
+
+  # An env data provider that is hardcoded and provides data for
+  # the two names 'test::param_a' and 'test::param_b'.
+  #
+  # A real implementation would read the data from somewhere or invoke some
+  # other service to obtain the data. When doing so caching may be performance
+  # critical, and it is important that a cache is associated with the apropriate
+  # object to not cause memory leaks. See more details in the documentation
+  # for how to write a data provider and use adapters.
+  #
+  class SampleEnvData < Puppet::Plugins::DataProviders::EnvironmentDataProvider
+    def initialize()
+      @data = { 
+        'test::param_a' => 'env data param_a is 10',
+        'test::param_b' => 'env data param_b is 20',
+        # demo: this overrides a parameter for a class in the dataprovider module
+        'dataprovider::test::param_c' => 'env data param_c is 300',
+      }
+    end
+
+    def lookup(name, scope)
+      @data[name]
+    end
+  end
+end
+
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet_x/helindbe/sample_module_data.rb b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet_x/helindbe/sample_module_data.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..483ca147c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/lib/puppet_x/helindbe/sample_module_data.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# The module is named after the author, to ensure that names under PuppetX namespace
+# does not clash.
+#
+require 'puppetx'
+module PuppetX::Helindbe
+
+  # A module data provider that is hardcoded and provides data for
+  # the three names 'test::param_a', 'test::param_b', and 'test::param_c'
+  #
+  # A real implementation would read the data from somewhere or invoke some
+  # other service to obtain the data. When doing so caching may be performance
+  # critical, and it is important that a cache is associated with the apropriate
+  # object to not cause memory leaks. See more details in the documentation
+  # for how to write a data provider and use adapters.
+  #
+  class SampleModuleData < Puppet::Plugins::DataProviders::ModuleDataProvider
+    def initialize()
+      @data = { 
+        'dataprovider::test::param_a' => 'module data param_a is 100',
+        'dataprovider::test::param_b' => 'module data param_b is 200',
+
+        # demo: uncomment the entry below to make it override the environment provided data
+        #'dataprovider::test::param_c' => 'env data param_c is 300',
+      }
+    end
+
+    def lookup(name, scope)
+      @data[name]
+    end
+  end
+end
+
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/manifests/init.pp b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/manifests/init.pp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b3f85da8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/unit/data_providers/environments/sample/modules/dataprovider/manifests/init.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class dataprovider {
+  class test($param_a = 1, $param_b = 2, $param_c = 3) {
+    notice "param_a = $param_a, param_b = $param_b, param_c = $param_c"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/spec/unit/data_providers/sample_data_provider_spec.rb b/spec/unit/data_providers/sample_data_provider_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e8e60ae27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/unit/data_providers/sample_data_provider_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env ruby
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'puppet_spec/compiler'
+
+describe "when using a sample data provider from an external module" do
+  include PuppetSpec::Compiler
+
+  # There is a fully configured 'sample' environment in fixtures at this location
+  let(:environmentpath) { parent_fixture('environments') }
+
+  around(:each) do |example|
+    # Initialize settings to get a full compile as close as possible to a real
+    # environment load
+    Puppet.settings.initialize_global_settings
+    # Initialize loaders based on the environmentpath. It does not work to
+    # just set the setting environmentpath for some reason - this achieves the same:
+    # - first a loader is created, loading directory environments from the fixture (there is
+    # one environment, 'sample', which will be loaded since the node references this
+    # environment by name).
+    # - secondly, the created env loader is set as 'environments' in the puppet context.
+    #
+    loader = Puppet::Environments::Directories.new(environmentpath, [])
+    Puppet.override(:environments => loader) do
+      example.run
+    end
+  end
+
+  it 'the environment data loader is used to set parameters' do
+#    Puppet[:code] = 'include test'
+    node = Puppet::Node.new("testnode", :facts => Puppet::Node::Facts.new("facts", {}), :environment => 'sample')
+    compiler = Puppet::Parser::Compiler.new(node)
+    catalog = compiler.compile()
+    resources_created_in_fixture = ["Notify[env data param_a is 10, env data param_b is 20, 3]"]
+    expect(resources_in(catalog)).to include(*resources_created_in_fixture)
+  end
+
+
+  def parent_fixture(dir_name)
+    File.absolute_path(File.join(my_fixture_dir(), "../#{dir_name}"))
+  end
+
+  def resources_in(catalog)
+    catalog.resources.map(&:ref)
+  end
+
+end