mocha developer - Jun 2007 - replacement for returning Proc

Can somebody help me understand the new syntax for replacing a return  
statement that returns a Proc? I''m having difficulty understanding  
what is meant by:

"Use explicit multiple return values and/or multiple expectations  
instead." source: http://mocha.rubyforge.org/classes/Mocha/ 
Expectation.html#M000024

Here is a simple example of what I am doing: http:// 
pastie.textmate.org/69923

Thanks,
Justin

Hi Justin,

Thanks for your question. It''s great to have an example test to talk
around.

As you''ve noticed, using Expectation#returns with an instance of a Proc
is
deprecated in version 0.5 of Mocha. There is no drop-in replacement for this
usage. Let me try and explain why...

1) Currently you can''t easily return an instance of a Proc. Once the
current
usage has been removed in the next release, we''ll be able to do the
following which seems more logical and consistent...

  proc = Proc.new
  object = mock()
  object.stubs(:method).returns(proc)
  assert_equal proc, object.method

2) The current usage encourages the use of complex logic for computing
return values which is not sensible mocking practice. Return values should
really be explicitly defined by the test. The newer version of Mocha gives
much more flexibility in doing this e.g. you can do...

  Time.stubs(:now).returns(time_1)
  Time.now # => time_1
  Time.stubs(:now).returns(time_2)
  Time.now # => time_2

  m = mock()
  m.stubs(:method).returns(1, 2,
3).then.raises(''error'').then.returns(5, 6)

Although the ideas above will solve many scenarios, they won''t directly
solve your problem.

In your example, you expect a call to the operation_with_render method, but
still want some of the side effects of the method to occur (i.e. the call to
the render method). Can you explain more about why you need this? Can you
flesh out your example a little bit more, so I understand what you are
trying to achieve. Alternatively could you move the call to the
rendermethod outside the
operation_with_render method?

Presumably your example test is a Rails controller test in real life...?

Cheers, James.
-- 
http://blog.floehopper.org

Thanks for your reply James.

As you have discovered by looking at the example, the method we are  
trying to mock is not simply returning a basic value, it is calling  
the Rails render method. When this method (the one which calls the  
render method) is mocked, then no call to render occurs and Rails  
throws an exception because every action MUST have a render of some  
kind (unless I am mistaken).

The obvious solution here is to re-factor our code to not rely on the  
render method being called from the helper method and instead have it  
return a string of text, which it will then pass to the render  
method. Unfortunately this is not the ideal solution for us at this  
time since it involves changing quite a bit of code.

For now we can deal with deprecation warnings until a time (hopefully  
in a month or so) when we can clean up this code to not be so  
dependent on the render method.

Thanks again,
justin

On Jun 13, 2007, at 11:46 AM, James Mead wrote:
> Hi Justin,
>
> Thanks for your question. It''s great to have an example test to  
> talk around.
>
> As you''ve noticed, using Expectation#returns with an instance of a
> Proc is
> deprecated in version 0.5 of Mocha. There is no drop-in replacement  
> for this
> usage. Let me try and explain why...
>
> 1) Currently you can''t easily return an instance of a Proc. Once  
> the current
> usage has been removed in the next release, we''ll be able to do
the
> following which seems more logical and consistent...
>
>   proc = Proc.new
>   object = mock()
>   object.stubs(:method).returns(proc)
>   assert_equal proc, object.method
>
> 2) The current usage encourages the use of complex logic for computing
> return values which is not sensible mocking practice. Return values  
> should
> really be explicitly defined by the test. The newer version of  
> Mocha gives
> much more flexibility in doing this e.g. you can do...
>
>   Time.stubs(:now).returns(time_1)
>   Time.now # => time_1
>   Time.stubs(:now).returns(time_2)
>   Time.now # => time_2
>
>   m = mock()
>   m.stubs(:method).returns(1, 2, 3).then.raises 
> (''error'').then.returns(5, 6)
>
> Although the ideas above will solve many scenarios, they won''t  
> directly
> solve your problem.
>
> In your example, you expect a call to the operation_with_render  
> method, but
> still want some of the side effects of the method to occur (i.e.  
> the call to
> the render method). Can you explain more about why you need this?  
> Can you
> flesh out your example a little bit more, so I understand what you are
> trying to achieve. Alternatively could you move the call to the
> rendermethod outside the
> operation_with_render method?
>
> Presumably your example test is a Rails controller test in real  
> life...?
>
> Cheers, James.
> -- 
> http://blog.floehopper.org
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> mocha-developer mailing list
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