rspec users - Nov 2007 - Unexplainable failure...at least for me

I have an address model with country_id and province_id fields

There is also a full_address method that returns an address that is in a
format that the google maps api will be able to return a long-lat
coords.

Within the full_address method there is a call to obtain the
province/state and country name.
---------
def full_address
  ...
  full_address = [city, self.province.name,
self.country.name].join(",").chomp(",")
  ..
end

When I run this in the console it works fine
>> a = Address.new
=> #<Address:0x24c6420 @new_record=true,
@attributes={"city"=>nil,
"latitude"=>nil, "region_code"=>nil,
"province_id"=>nil,
"country_id"=>nil, "location_type"=>nil,
"location_id"=>nil,
"address_1"=>nil, "address_2"=>nil,
"longitude"=>nil, "address_3"=>nil,
"address_4"=>nil}>
>> a.country_id = 1
=> 1
>> a.country.name
=> "Canada"
>> a.province_id = 1
=> 1
>> a.full_address
=> ",,Alberta,Canada"


but when the specs are run I get errors saying that the country and
province object properties are null
11)
NoMethodError in ''Address additional properties should ensure spacing
between the st/ave on the address''
You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
The error occurred while evaluating nil.name
/Users/chris/Documents/Projects/Rails/MyProject/trunk/config/../app/models/address.rb:25:in
`full_address''
./spec/models/address_spec.rb:66:
script/spec:4:

Here is one of the tests that fail:
describe Address, "additional properties" do

  before(:each) do
    @address = Address.new(valid_params)
  end

  def valid_params
    {
      :country_id => 1,
      :province_id => 1,
      :region_code => "T5Z3J4",
      :address_1 => "13245-56 st",
      :address_2 => "NW",
      :city => "Edmonton"
    }
  end

  it "should return the full address format" do
    @address.country_id.should == 1  #this passes
    @address.province_id.should == 1 #this passes
    @address.province.name.should == "Alberta"  #this fails
    @address.country.name.should == "Canada"   #this fails
    @address.full_address.should == "13245-56 st
NW,Edmonton,Alberta,Canada"  #and this fails if you remove the ones
above
  end



class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :province
  belongs_to :country

class Country < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :address

If I wasn''t able to make it happen in the console, it would make more
sense, but seeing as I can I am totally lost.

Thanks for the help
-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On Wed, 2007-11-07 at 06:39 +0100, Chris Olsen wrote:
> but when the specs are run I get errors saying that the country and
> province object properties are null
> 11)
> NoMethodError in ''Address additional properties should ensure
spacing
> between the st/ave on the address''
> You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
> The error occurred while evaluating nil.name
>
/Users/chris/Documents/Projects/Rails/MyProject/trunk/config/../app/models/address.rb:25:in
> `full_address''
> ./spec/models/address_spec.rb:66:
> script/spec:4:
> 
> Here is one of the tests that fail:
> describe Address, "additional properties" do
> 
>   before(:each) do
>     @address = Address.new(valid_params)
>   end
> 
>   def valid_params
>     {
>       :country_id => 1,
>       :province_id => 1,
>       :region_code => "T5Z3J4",
>       :address_1 => "13245-56 st",
>       :address_2 => "NW",
>       :city => "Edmonton"
>     }
>   end
The question is where this country and province with id 1 are defined. I
don''t see anything in your spec to indicate that they are ever created.
If you are using fixtures then you''ll need to explicitly include them.
Otherwise they may or may not still be loaded in the test database and
at best you''ll get a clear failure and at worst inconsistent results.

describe Address do
  fixtures :provinces, countries

  before ... etc

Kind regards,

Hans
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That is the problem, which is clear now that I tested it with the 
script/console in test mode rather than development.

So now the question is, why does the data not exist in the test 
database.  The country and province data inserts exist within the 
migration files, ex for countries:

class CreateCountries < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :countries do |t|
      t.column :country_id, :integer
      t.column :name2, :string, :limit => 2
      t.column :name3, :string, :limit => 3
      t.column :name, :string
      t.column :district_name, :string
      t.column :code_name, :string
      t.column :strength, :integer
    end

    country_data = [
      [124, ''CA'', ''CAN'',
''Canada'', ''Province'', ''Postal
Code'', 100],
      [840, ''US'', ''USA'', ''United
States'', ''State'', ''ZipCode'', 50],
      #along with many other countries
     ].each do |c|

      insert_params = {
        :country_id => c[0],
        :name2 => c[1],
        :name3 => c[2],
        :name => c[3],
        :district_name => c[4],
        :code_name => c[5],
        :strength => c[6]
      }

      Country.create(insert_params)
  end
end

Thanks for the help.

> The question is where this country and province with id 1 are defined. I
> don''t see anything in your spec to indicate that they are ever
created.
> If you are using fixtures then you''ll need to explicitly include
them.
> Otherwise they may or may not still be loaded in the test database and
> at best you''ll get a clear failure and at worst inconsistent
results.
> 
> describe Address do
>   fixtures :provinces, countries
> 
>   before ... etc
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Hans
-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Chris Olsen wrote:
> That is the problem, which is clear now that I tested it with the 
> script/console in test mode rather than development.
> 
> So now the question is, why does the data not exist in the test 
> database.  The country and province data inserts exist within the 
> migration files, ex for countries:
> 
> class CreateCountries < ActiveRecord::Migration
>   def self.up
>     create_table :countries do |t|
>       t.column :country_id, :integer
>       t.column :name2, :string, :limit => 2
>       t.column :name3, :string, :limit => 3
>       t.column :name, :string
>       t.column :district_name, :string
>       t.column :code_name, :string
>       t.column :strength, :integer
>     end
> 
>     country_data = [
>       [124, ''CA'', ''CAN'',
''Canada'', ''Province'', ''Postal
Code'', 100],
>       [840, ''US'', ''USA'',
''United States'', ''State'',
''ZipCode'', 50],
>       #along with many other countries
>      ].each do |c|
> 
>       insert_params = {
>         :country_id => c[0],
>         :name2 => c[1],
>         :name3 => c[2],
>         :name => c[3],
>         :district_name => c[4],
>         :code_name => c[5],
>         :strength => c[6]
>       }
> 
>       Country.create(insert_params)
>   end
> end
> 
> Thanks for the help.
I should mention that the test database is cloned properly with the 
script:
task :reset_databases do
  system "mysqladmin -u root drop MyDB_development"
  system "mysqladmin -u root drop MyDB_test"
  system "mysqladmin -u root create MyDB_development"
  system "mysqladmin -u root create MyDB_test"
  system "rake db:migrate"
  system "rake db:test:clone_structure"
end


script/console test
>> Country.find(:all)
=> []


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

On 7 Nov 2007, at 14:49, Chris Olsen wrote:
> So now the question is, why does the data not exist in the test
> database.  The country and province data inserts exist within the
> migration files, ex for countries:
As someone who knows literally nothing about how this all works, I  
still feel confident enough to guess that RSpec doesn''t actually run  
any migrations, but rather just clones the schema of the existing  
development database -- so you get something that looks the same but  
contains no data.

As the previous poster mentioned, you need to put the data into  
fixtures and include them; see
http://rspec.rubyforge.org/documentation/rails/writing/models.html
  for examples.

Cheers,
-Tom

That would make sense.

Thanks for the help.

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