Rails - Apr 2009 - Custom Validation on Many-To-Many Association breaks Unit-Tests

Hi, I have the following situation. I have two models Item and Genre.
A Item has a name and a description. The genres-table contains a list
of possible genres wich can be associated to items. So a Item could be
associated with many genres and a genre could be associated with many
items. A typically n:m-relationship. I use the :has_many-:through
association, because i want do to a kind of on-delete-cascade in
Rails.
My models look as follows:


class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
  # n:m relationship between items and genres
  has_many :items_genres, :dependent => :destroy
  has_many :genres, :through => :items_genres

  validates_presence_of :name

  validate :must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre

  protected
  # valdation to ensure, that a item has at least one associated genre
  def must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre
    # add an error message to the default error messages
    errors.add(:genres, "must_be_choosen") if
      # if no genre is associated with this item
      genres.size <= 0
  end

end

I put two validations to the Item. The statement at line 6 make the
name arrtibute mandatory. In addition I would to ensure that a item
has at least one associated genre. So I decided to write a own
validation-method (line 10-17).

class ItemsGenre < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :item
  belongs_to :genre
end

class Genre < ActiveRecord::Base
  # n:m relationship between genres and items
  has_many :items_genres, :dependent => :destroy
  has_many :items, :through => :items_genres
end



I added some unit-tests to ensure that the validation works as
aspected. I wrote the following unit-test-methods.

require ''test_helper''

class ItemTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase

  def test_should_create_an_item
    item = Item.new(
      :name => "Item-Name",
      :description => "Item-Description"
    )

    # Assert, that the item is not valid and cannot be saved,
    # because there are no genres associated with it
    assert !item.valid?
    assert !item.save

    # Associate two genres with this item
    item.genres = Genre.find_all_by_id([genres(:club).id, genres
(:commedy).id])

    # Assert, that the item is now valid and can be saved
    assert item.valid?
    assert item.save

    # Check if there are two genres associated with this item
    assert_equal 2, item.genres.size
  end

  def test_should_require_name
    # Create an item-object, but set name nil
    item = Item.new(
      :name => nil,
      :description => "Item-Description"
    )
    # Assert, that the item is not valid and cannot be saved,
    # because the name is nil
    assert !item.valid?
    assert !item.save
  end

  def test_should_require_description
    # Create an item-object, but set name to nil
    item = Item.new(
      :name => "Item-Name",
      :description => nil
    )
    # Assert, that the item is not valid and cannot be saved,
    # because the description is nil
    assert !item.valid?
    assert !item.save
  end

end

The amazing thing is that all tree test-methods pass. But I only have
a validation for the name and the asscociated genres. I do not have a
validation of the description, but the test method for the description
passes.

I found out another thing. If I remove the validate-call in line 8 of
the Item-model, then all test-methods work as aspected.
In this case the test_should_create_an_item- and the
test_should_require_description-method both fail and the
test_should_require_name-method passes.

If I run the application and try to add a new item by the new-form,
all validation works as exspected. So it seems that only the unit-test
are faulty.

I am at a loss. I don´t know what I am doing wrong. Can anyone
reproduce this behavior? Or can anyone tell me how to write a
validation-method to ensure that at least one genre is associated with
an item. Maybe my test-method is wrong.

I hope someone can help me out.

On Apr 28, 9:25 am, zeto <z...-aLjoz+b64r16lmGzAMPh1A@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
>   def test_should_require_description
>     # Create an item-object, but set name to nil
>     item = Item.new(
>       :name => "Item-Name",
>       :description => nil
>     )
>     # Assert, that the item is not valid and cannot be saved,
>     # because the description is nil
>     assert !item.valid?
>     assert !item.save
>   end
>
> end
>
> The amazing thing is that all tree test-methods pass. But I only have
> a validation for the name and the asscociated genres. I do not have a
> validation of the description, but the test method for the description
> passes.
In your test that description should be required you haven''t created
any genres, so even though you have no validation for description the
validation on genres being present makes the item fail to save.

Fred
>
> I found out another thing. If I remove the validate-call in line 8 of
> the Item-model, then all test-methods work as aspected.
> In this case the test_should_create_an_item- and the
> test_should_require_description-method both fail and the
> test_should_require_name-method passes.
>
> If I run the application and try to add a new item by the new-form,
> all validation works as exspected. So it seems that only the unit-test
> are faulty.
>
> I am at a loss. I don´t know what I am doing wrong. Can anyone
> reproduce this behavior? Or can anyone tell me how to write a
> validation-method to ensure that at least one genre is associated with
> an item. Maybe my test-method is wrong.
>
> I hope someone can help me out.

At first, thank you for your advise. I forgot to associate genres in
the description_should_be_required-test-method. And you are right.
This test method should fail, but it surprisingly passes.

zeto

You can always go into must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre with the
debugger and find out why it is not failing.

2009/4/28 zeto <zeck-aLjoz+b64r16lmGzAMPh1A@public.gmane.org>
>
> At first, thank you for your advise. I forgot to associate genres in
> the description_should_be_required-test-method. And you are right.
> This test method should fail, but it surprisingly passes.
>
> zeto
> >
>
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It is not the must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre-test-method. The
test_should_require_description-test-method passes the test, but that
method should fail.

If I understand correctly you are saying that
test_should_require_description is passing when it should fail.  The fact
that it passes appears to mean that the item is not valid.  The question is
why is it not valid?  It may be that must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre
is failing.  I would check that first.  You could just remove this
validation to eliminate it.


2009/4/28 zeto <zeck-aLjoz+b64r16lmGzAMPh1A@public.gmane.org>
>
> It is not the must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre-test-method. The
> test_should_require_description-test-method passes the test, but that
> method should fail.
> >
>
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If I comment out the validation
"validate :must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre" in line 8 of my
Item-model all test methods work correctly. That means only the
test_should_require_name -test-method passes the test.

test_should_create_an_item      -->  fails, because the validation in
line 8 of my Item-model is commented out
test_should_require_description -->  fails, because there is no
validation for description yet

Of course the failure is somewhere in the
must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre-method in the Item-model, but
I cannot figure out where the failure is.

Go in with the debugger and have a look at the objects.

2009/4/28 zeto <zeck-aLjoz+b64r16lmGzAMPh1A@public.gmane.org>
>
> If I comment out the validation
> "validate :must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre" in line 8 of
my
> Item-model all test methods work correctly. That means only the
> test_should_require_name -test-method passes the test.
>
> test_should_create_an_item      -->  fails, because the validation in
> line 8 of my Item-model is commented out
> test_should_require_description -->  fails, because there is no
> validation for description yet
>
> Of course the failure is somewhere in the
> must_have_at_least_one_associated_genre-method in the Item-model, but
> I cannot figure out where the failure is.
> >
>
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