Rails - Mar 2006 - Strange Unit Testing error - newbie question

I''m fairly new to Rails, and I''ve been learning from AGILE WEB
DEVELOPMENT WITH RAILS.  Everything has been going smoothly until the 
chapter on Unit Testing, where I''m getting some strange errors.

I''m up to page 141 in the Agile book, and attempting to run the test 
program containing the method test_read_with_hash.  The previous tests 
work properly, but I don''t seem to be able to refer to the fixtures 
through its variable.

The file "product_test.rb" contains the line "fixtures
:products", which
says it should set up the variable @fixtures through which I can refer 
to my fixtures.  My "products.yml" fixture file is exactly as
downloaded
from the Agile Web Dev site, I''ve checked it for syntax and spelling
and
tabs-instead-of-spaces and the like.

"product_test.rb", in the method "test_read_with_hash"
contains this
line:

    vc_book = @products["version_control_book"]

When I run product_test.rb, I get a NoMethodError on this line:

NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
You might have expected an instance of Array.
The error occured while evaluating nil.[]
    test/unit/product_test.rb:71:in `test_read_with_hash''

My actual "depot" application works perfectly as far as I can tell,
and
I''d like to debug this but I''m not sure how to trace it back. 
What
could cause this error, how would I go about finding it?

Thanks in advance,
Jeff Coleman

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Just checking again to see if anyone has any ideas on this. What could 
lead the unit testing processes to be unable to form an array of 
fixtures?

Jeff Coleman wrote:
> 
> I''m fairly new to Rails, and I''ve been learning from
AGILE WEB
> DEVELOPMENT WITH RAILS.  Everything has been going smoothly until the 
> chapter on Unit Testing, where I''m getting some strange errors.
> 
> I''m up to page 141 in the Agile book, and attempting to run the
test
> program containing the method test_read_with_hash.  The previous tests 
> work properly, but I don''t seem to be able to refer to the
fixtures
> through its variable.
> 
> The file "product_test.rb" contains the line "fixtures
:products", which
> says it should set up the variable @fixtures through which I can refer 
> to my fixtures.  My "products.yml" fixture file is exactly as
downloaded
> from the Agile Web Dev site, I''ve checked it for syntax and
spelling and
> tabs-instead-of-spaces and the like.
> 
> "product_test.rb", in the method "test_read_with_hash"
contains this
> line:
> 
>     vc_book = @products["version_control_book"]
> 
> When I run product_test.rb, I get a NoMethodError on this line:
> 
> NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
> You might have expected an instance of Array.
> The error occured while evaluating nil.[]
>     test/unit/product_test.rb:71:in `test_read_with_hash''
> 
> My actual "depot" application works perfectly as far as I can
tell, and
> I''d like to debug this but I''m not sure how to trace it
back.  What
> could cause this error, how would I go about finding it?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Jeff Coleman

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

A few things have changed regarding unit testing since the first edition  
of the book.  Read this... http://clarkware.com/cgi/blosxom/2005/10/24

_Kevin

On Friday, March 10, 2006, at 3:50 AM, Jeff Coleman
wrote:
>
>Just checking again to see if anyone has any ideas on this. What could
>lead the unit testing processes to be unable to form an array of
>fixtures?
>
>Jeff Coleman wrote:
>>
>> I''m fairly new to Rails, and I''ve been learning from
AGILE WEB
>> DEVELOPMENT WITH RAILS.  Everything has been going smoothly until the
>> chapter on Unit Testing, where I''m getting some strange
errors.
>>
>> I''m up to page 141 in the Agile book, and attempting to run
the test
>> program containing the method test_read_with_hash.  The previous tests
>> work properly, but I don''t seem to be able to refer to the
fixtures
>> through its variable.
>>
>> The file "product_test.rb" contains the line "fixtures
:products", which
>> says it should set up the variable @fixtures through which I can refer
>> to my fixtures.  My "products.yml" fixture file is exactly as
downloaded
>> from the Agile Web Dev site, I''ve checked it for syntax and
spelling and
>> tabs-instead-of-spaces and the like.
>>
>> "product_test.rb", in the method
"test_read_with_hash" contains this
>> line:
>>
>>     vc_book = @products["version_control_book"]
>>
>> When I run product_test.rb, I get a NoMethodError on this line:
>>
>> NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn''t expect
it!
>> You might have expected an instance of Array.
>> The error occured while evaluating nil.[]
>>     test/unit/product_test.rb:71:in `test_read_with_hash''
>>
>> My actual "depot" application works perfectly as far as I can
tell, and
>> I''d like to debug this but I''m not sure how to trace
it back.  What
>> could cause this error, how would I go about finding it?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Jeff Coleman
>
>
>--
>Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
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>Rails mailing list
>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails




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Jeff Coleman wrote:
> 
> 
>     vc_book = @products["version_control_book"]
> 
> When I run product_test.rb, I get a NoMethodError on this line:
You''re probably running rails 1.0 and the book was pre-1.0; and 
unfortunately the way that fixtures are handled changed in 1.0.

@products is not automatically created for you like the book says. 
However, an easy method is defined for you instead, called products():

vc_book = products(:version_control_book)

This tripped me up when I upgraded to 1.0 back in December and 
unfortunately continues to be a problem for anyone who now buys the 
book.

Other than that, the book is awesome, and not too many other things are 
out of date.  You should check the errata site for the book while
you''re
at it (I don''t have the url at hand, go to www.pragmaticprogrammer.com 
and I''m sure you can find it).

Jeff
www.softiesonrails.com

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Thanks!  That''s definitely something I didn''t know.

Jeff Coleman

-- 
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