Rails - Nov 2005 - find, instantiated fixtures, and testing

I''m trying to abstract out as much as possible in my tests (see  
[Keeping Tests Flexible]). Testing has changed a bit since the third  
printing of "Agile Web Development With Rails Errata" (see point  
#1344 in [AWDwR errata] and [Mike Clark''s explanation] of the  
changes). I''ve found both AWDwR very useful. I have a question about  
style that I''d like comments on.

Here''s an example

db/ddl.sql:
     CREATE TABLE foo (
       id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY
       , foo_name TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE
     );

test/fixtures/foos.yml:
     first_foo:
       id: 1
       foo_name: ur-foo

test/unit/foo_test.rb:
     class FooTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       fixtures :foos

       def test_create_first_foo
         first_foo_hash = @foos["first_foo"] # not necessary, just  
included for completeness
         @first_foo = foos(:first_foo) # instantiate fixture
         @found_foo = Foo.find(1) # Method 1: instantiate object to test

         # alternatives to instantiating object to test
         @found_first_foo = Foo.find(@first_foo.id) # Method 2: from  
instantiated fixture
         @found_first_foo_directly = Foo.find(foos(:first_foo).id) #  
Method 3

         assert_equal @first_foo.id, @found_foo.id # actually test  
something
         assert_equal @first_foo.id, @found_first_foo.id # testing  
with Method 2 test object
       end
     end

I lean strongly towards Method 2, as this keeps repetition to a  
minimum and guarantees that the fixture and test object are  
instantiated from the same data.

I can''t see any problem with this method, but being new to Ruby,  
Rails, and testing, I very well may be missing something. Also, I  
haven''t seen examples where this method is used, which makes me  
suspect there''s a reason for *not* instantiating the test object this  
way. Any ideas for a better way to doing this?

Thanks for any and all comments and feedback.

Michael Glaesemann
grzm myrealbox com

[Keeping Tests Flexible]: Agile Web Development With Rails, p141 (pdf  
p150)
[AWDwR errata](http://books.pragprog.com/titles/rails/errata)
[Mike Clark''s explanation](http://www.clarkware.com/cgi/blosxom/ 
2005/10/24#Rails10FastTesting
)