rspec users - Sep 2007 - using @variables in an ''it'' block

Hi folks,

I''m somewhat new to the current RSpec release - at work we are still
using 0.8.something, with "context ''blah'' do ... specify
''should
thing'' ..."

We have some helper code to automatically mix-in selenium:
module SeleniumHelper
  include SpecHelper
...
  def initialize(arg)
    @selenium = SeleniumHelper.selenium
  end
(selenium.rb also adds some method-missing magic so we don''t need to
say ''@selenium.open(foo)'' we can just say
''open(foo)'', but that''s not
particularly relevant to my question)

My problem is, at home in rspec 1.0.8, including this module doesn''t
work:

describe ThingController do
  include SeleniumHelper

  it "should list all known things" do
    @selenium.open "/thing/list"          #   ==> fails with
"nil.open" error
    SeleniumHelper.selenium.open "/thing/list"  #  ==> succeeds!
    open "/thing/list"   # ==>fails with "nil.open" error
  end
end

The first line fails - @selenium seems to be nil, I get an exception.
The second line passes.
The third line fails also, for the same reason as the first.

Any thoughts?  Any hints on getting @selenium initialised?  It seems
that the method-missing magic is (probably) working, as the third line
fails in the same way as the first line - but I''d like to know how to
get @selenium to exist.

(addendum - if I add to my startup code:
  config.before(:all) { @selenium = SeleniumHelper.selenium }
  it seems to work! But I''m still interested in why it doesn''t
get set
in "initialize"...)

- Korny

-- 
Kornelis Sietsma  korny at my surname dot com

Have you tried just turning @selenium into a method for lazy 
initialization?  So, you could have:

def selenium
    @selenium ||= SeleniumHelper.selenium  
end

The in your spec just use the method call as opposed to the instance 
variable.

That is probably what I would do.  I have never used initialize in a 
module so I don''t have any ideas along those lines.

-Ben


Korny Sietsma wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I''m somewhat new to the current RSpec release - at work we are
still
> using 0.8.something, with "context ''blah'' do ...
specify ''should
> thing'' ..."
>
> We have some helper code to automatically mix-in selenium:
> module SeleniumHelper
>   include SpecHelper
> ...
>   def initialize(arg)
>     @selenium = SeleniumHelper.selenium
>   end
> (selenium.rb also adds some method-missing magic so we don''t need
to
> say ''@selenium.open(foo)'' we can just say
''open(foo)'', but that''s not
> particularly relevant to my question)
>
> My problem is, at home in rspec 1.0.8, including this module
doesn''t work:
>
> describe ThingController do
>   include SeleniumHelper
>
>   it "should list all known things" do
>     @selenium.open "/thing/list"          #   ==> fails with
"nil.open" error
>     SeleniumHelper.selenium.open "/thing/list"  #  ==>
succeeds!
>     open "/thing/list"   # ==>fails with "nil.open"
error
>   end
> end
>
> The first line fails - @selenium seems to be nil, I get an exception.
> The second line passes.
> The third line fails also, for the same reason as the first.
>
> Any thoughts?  Any hints on getting @selenium initialised?  It seems
> that the method-missing magic is (probably) working, as the third line
> fails in the same way as the first line - but I''d like to know how
to
> get @selenium to exist.
>
> (addendum - if I add to my startup code:
>   config.before(:all) { @selenium = SeleniumHelper.selenium }
>   it seems to work! But I''m still interested in why it
doesn''t get set
> in "initialize"...)
>
> - Korny
>
>