rspec users - Sep 2008 - Running RSpec from within my Ruby application

Hi all

(I tried to send this question to the list a few hours ago, but it
seems to have not got through. If it did sorry for the duplication.)

Does anyone have any tips or examples of how to run RSpec example
groups programmatically from within a Ruby application?

Essentially I would like to be able to:
  1. load example groups from a set of files I know about
  2. run them
  3. get back an object that contains information about successes and failures
  4. reload the example groups

I think I i can accomplish (3) with a custom formatter, (4) by
reflecting on and undefining the classes Example::Subclass_1 etc as
required.

But I''m having real trouble with the first two steps. Here''s
what I have so far:

  require ''rubygems''
  require ''spec''

  $spec_runner_at_exit_hook_registered = true
  require ''some_specs''

  err = StringIO.new
  out = StringIO.new
  options = Spec::Runner::Options.new(err, out)

  options.add_example_group(Spec::Example::ExampleGroup::Subclass_1)
  runner = Spec::Runner::ExampleGroupRunner.new(options)

  runner.run
  puts "results:"
  puts out.string
  puts "\n\n[script end]"

But the results string here claims that there were 0 examples run. By
looking at the output I know that my example is being run however.

Can someone help me put these pieces together?

thanks,
Dan

Well, after some time fiddling, I''ve come up with this:

  require ''rubygems''

  # make sure nothing gets added to ruby''s at_exit hook:
  $spec_runner_at_exit_hook_registered = true

  # load RSpec
  require ''spec''
  require ''spec/runner/formatter/base_formatter''

  # helper to find all defined example groups
  def lookup_example_groups
    cs = []
    Spec::Example::ExampleGroup.constants.each do |c|
      if c =~ /Subclass_/
        cs << Spec::Example::ExampleGroup.const_get(c)
      end
    end
    cs
  end

  # helper to undefine example groups
  def clean_example_groups(groups)
    groups.each do |c|
      puts "cleaning #{c.to_s}"
      Spec::Example::ExampleGroup.send(:remove_const,
c.to_s.split("::").last.intern)
    end
  end

  # my custom formatter, mainly just a stub for now, but will be used
  # to pass information about failing specs back to the gui.
  class RubyFormatter < Spec::Runner::Formatter::BaseFormatter
    def initialize
      super(rspec_options, StringIO.new)
      @pass_count = 0
      @fail_count = 0
    end
  
    def start(example_count)
      @example_count = example_count
    end
  
    def example_passed(*args)
      @pass_count += 1
    end
  
    def example_failed(*args)
      @fail_count += 1
    end
  
    def inspect
      "<RubyFormatter total:#{@example_count}, passed:#{@pass_count},
failed:#{@fail_count}>"
    end
  end
  
  # stub out options to use my own formatter
  def rspec_options.formatters
    @o ||= RubyFormatter.new
    [@o]
  end
  
  # load the actual specs
  load ''some_specs.rb''
  
  # run the example groups
  lookup_example_groups.each do |eg|
    eg.run
  end
   
  # examine the results
  p rspec_options.formatters.first
  
  # undefine example groups
  clean_example_groups(lookup_example_groups)

  # clear up formatter
  rspec_options.instance_variable_set(:@o, nil)

  # system is now clean (?), and ready to reload specs etc

As you can probably tell, I''m coding without really understanding. This
works well enough for my
needs right now, but please let me know how these things can be done better.

thanks,
Dan


--- Daniel Lucraft <dan.lucraft at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> (I tried to send this question to the list a few hours ago, but it
> seems to have not got through. If it did sorry for the duplication.)
> 
> Does anyone have any tips or examples of how to run RSpec example
> groups programmatically from within a Ruby application?
> 
> Essentially I would like to be able to:
>   1. load example groups from a set of files I know about
>   2. run them
>   3. get back an object that contains information about successes and
failures
>   4. reload the example groups
> 
> I think I i can accomplish (3) with a custom formatter, (4) by
> reflecting on and undefining the classes Example::Subclass_1 etc as
> required.
> 
> But I''m having real trouble with the first two steps.
Here''s what I have so far:
> 
>   require ''rubygems''
>   require ''spec''
> 
>   $spec_runner_at_exit_hook_registered = true
>   require ''some_specs''
> 
>   err = StringIO.new
>   out = StringIO.new
>   options = Spec::Runner::Options.new(err, out)
> 
>   options.add_example_group(Spec::Example::ExampleGroup::Subclass_1)
>   runner = Spec::Runner::ExampleGroupRunner.new(options)
> 
>   runner.run
>   puts "results:"
>   puts out.string
>   puts "\n\n[script end]"
> 
> But the results string here claims that there were 0 examples run. By
> looking at the output I know that my example is being run however.
> 
> Can someone help me put these pieces together?
> 
> thanks,
> Dan
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>

On Sep 27, 2008, at 8:02 AM, Daniel Lucraft wrote:
> Hi all
>
> (I tried to send this question to the list a few hours ago, but it
> seems to have not got through. If it did sorry for the duplication.)
>
> Does anyone have any tips or examples of how to run RSpec example
> groups programmatically from within a Ruby application?
>
> Essentially I would like to be able to:
>  1. load example groups from a set of files I know about
>  2. run them
>  3. get back an object that contains information about successes and  
> failures
>  4. reload the example groups
>
I''m missing the why.  What is the higher-level objective that
you''re
trying to accomplish?  Seems like you want something like autotest + a  
custom formatter?

Scott

--- Scott Taylor <mailing_lists at railsnewbie.com> wrote:
 
> I''m missing the why.  What is the higher-level objective that
you''re
> trying to accomplish?  Seems like you want something like autotest + a  
> custom formatter?
The app (www.redcaride.com) has a plugin system with reloading, which lets you
work on your plugin
without restarting the application. Now I can reload and rerun the specs too, so
you really do
never have to leave the app.

I know that this is a slightly dangerous way of running specs - but it is
convenient. And I plan
to make it almost as quick to load another app instance and run your specs in a
clean fashion as
well.

best,
Dan