rspec users - Oct 2008 - Specifying a specific error is re-raised

Hi

I''ve got code I want to intercept all errors (to report them) but re- 
raise them immediately.  Currently the raise_error matcher doesn''t  
support matching against instances of exception classes, so I''ve done  
this to prove that the actual exception was re-raised:

         describe "when the update is unsuccessful" do
           class WeirdError < StandardError; end

           before(:each) do
             @error = WeirdError.new("Error")
             @server.stub!(:check_feeds).and_raise(@error)
           end

           it "should re-raise the exception" do
             lambda { @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n") }.
               should raise_error(WeirdError)
           end
         end

Few questions:

Is this an appropriate behaviour to spec?

If so, is this currently  the best way to do it?

If so, would exception instance matching be useful?

Thanks
Ashley

-- 
http://www.patchspace.co.uk/
http://aviewfromafar.net/

On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 8:57 AM, Ashley Moran
<ashley.moran at patchspace.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi
>
> I''ve got code I want to intercept all errors (to report them) but
re-raise
> them immediately.  Currently the raise_error matcher doesn''t
support
> matching against instances of exception classes, so I''ve done this
to prove
> that the actual exception was re-raised:
>
>        describe "when the update is unsuccessful" do
>          class WeirdError < StandardError; end
>
>          before(:each) do
>            @error = WeirdError.new("Error")
>            @server.stub!(:check_feeds).and_raise(@error)
>          end
>
>          it "should re-raise the exception" do
>            lambda { @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n") }.
>              should raise_error(WeirdError)
>          end
>        end
>
> Few questions:
>
> Is this an appropriate behaviour to spec?
Hmmm, should inappropriate behaviour be spec''d? :)

Code examples are not politically correct. If you want your app to
behave some way, there should be a way to spec it.
> If so, is this currently  the best way to do it?
>
> If so, would exception instance matching be useful?
Check out http://rspec.info/rdoc/classes/Spec/Matchers.html#M000434

I see that it is incomplete, because you can use just a string or
regexp if you want (w/o the error itself). I''ll adjust for the next
release.

Regardless, if you really care about the specific instance you can do this:

lambda {
  @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n")
}.should raise_error {|error| error.should equal(@error)}

If what you care about is the message, you can expect specific
messages using strings or regexps:

lambda {
    @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n")
}.should raise_error("with this message")

lambda {
    @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n")
}.should raise_error(/with a message containing this/)

lambda {
    @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n")
}.should raise_error(OfThisErrorType, "with this message")

lambda {
    @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n")
}.should raise_error(OfThisErrorType, with a message containing this/)

Cheers,
David
>
> Thanks
> Ashley

On 7 Oct 2008, at 15:33, David Chelimsky wrote:
> Regardless, if you really care about the specific instance you can  
> do this:
>
> lambda {
>  @connection.receive_data("UPDATE\n")
> }.should raise_error {|error| error.should equal(@error)}
>
> If what you care about is the message, you can expect specific
> messages using strings or regexps:
Thanks - that snippet does exactly what I want.  Basically I want tee  
pipe-fitting for errors - the code now looks like this:

     class Connection < EventMachine::Connection
       attr_accessor :server

       def receive_data(data)
         if data.chomp == "UPDATE"
           handle_update
         else
           send_data("ERROR: Unknown command\n")
         end
       end

       def unbind
         raise @error if @error
       end

       private

       def handle_update
         server.check_feeds
       rescue StandardError => @error
         send_data("ERROR: #{@error.to_s}\n")
         close_connection_after_writing
       else
         send_data("OK\n")
       end
     end

So I don''t care about the exception beyond extracting enough data to  
feed back through the socket.

Cheers
Ashley

-- 
http://www.patchspace.co.uk/
http://aviewfromafar.net/