rspec users - Oct 2008 - Accessing the model class from within an rspec-rails spec

Hi everybody,

New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but  
I didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of useful
rspec
macros for rails development, eg. things like:

it_should_return_success
it_should_redirect_to { some_url }

I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done, as well  
as a few others.

One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model class in a
rails model spec, so I can do something like:

describe User do
    it_should_validate_presence_of :name
end

I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:

describe User do
    it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
end

but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself  
that I''m missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is  
controller_class_name, but that needs to be set with the  
controller_name method. I could go for something like that if  
required, but somehow it seems like it would be overkill.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

Cameron

Hi everybody,

New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but I
didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of useful
rspec macros for
rails development, eg. things like:

it_should_return_success
it_should_redirect_to { some_url }

I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done, as well as
a
few others.

One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model class in a
rails
model spec, so I can do something like:

describe User do
  it_should_validate_presence_of :name
end

I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:

describe User do
  it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
end

but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself that
I''m
missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is controller_class_name,
but that needs to be set with the controller_name method. I could go for
something like that if required, but somehow it seems like it would be
overkill.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

Cameron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/rspec-users/attachments/20081028/7b231568/attachment.html>

Hi again,

I think I may have partly found my own answer.

Looking at this gist http://gist.github.com/14050 by Andy Freeman, it seems
to do much of what I''m looking for right now (thanks, awesome!!).

But playing around with it a bit, calling self.described_type which I
thought would return the class, it''s not, it seems to be looking only
for a
module?

      def described_type
        description_parts.find {|part| part.is_a?(Module)}
      end

Is there something I''m missing?

Cameron



On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 8:09 AM, Cameron Booth <cameron.booth at
gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but I
> didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of useful
rspec macros for
> rails development, eg. things like:
>
> it_should_return_success
> it_should_redirect_to { some_url }
>
> I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done, as
well as a
> few others.
>
> One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model class
in a
> rails model spec, so I can do something like:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
> end
>
> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
> end
>
> but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself that
> I''m missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is
> controller_class_name, but that needs to be set with the controller_name
> method. I could go for something like that if required, but somehow it
seems
> like it would be overkill.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!
>
> Cameron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/rspec-users/attachments/20081028/a8db880e/attachment.html>

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 8:09 AM, Cameron Booth <cameron.booth at
gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but I
> didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of useful
rspec macros for
> rails development, eg. things like:
>
> it_should_return_success
> it_should_redirect_to { some_url }
>
> I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done, as
well as a
> few others.
>
> One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model class
in a rails
> model spec, so I can do something like:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
> end
>
> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
> end
>
> but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself that
I''m
> missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is controller_class_name,
> but that needs to be set with the controller_name method. I could go for
> something like that if required, but somehow it seems like it would be
> overkill.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!
You''re looking for example_group.described_type, which you can get to
like this:

describe Foo do
  described_type # =>Foo

  it "should be Foo" do
    self.class.described_type # => Foo
  end
end

Cheers,
David

>
> Cameron
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>

"Cameron Booth" <cameron.booth at gmail.com> writes:
> Is there a way to access the class itself that I''m missing?
described_type

Pat

On Oct 28, 2008, at 9:09 AM, Cameron Booth wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere,  
> but I didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of
useful
> rspec macros for rails development, eg. things like:
>
> it_should_return_success
> it_should_redirect_to { some_url }
>
> I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done, as
well
> as a few others.
>
> One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model class
in
> a rails model spec, so I can do something like:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
> end
>
> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
> end
>
> but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself  
> that I''m missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is  
> controller_class_name, but that needs to be set with the  
> controller_name method. I could go for something like that if  
> required, but somehow it seems like it would be overkill.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!
Why not something like this:

before(:each) { @user = User.new }

it { @user.validate_presence_of(:name) }

Scott

Part of the testing harness on one of our projects:

module Spec::Example::ExampleGroupMethods
   def model
     self.described_type.to_s.underscore
   end

   def should_require(*attrs)
     raise "should require needs at least one attribute" if
attrs.empty?
     model = model()
     attrs.each do |attribute|
       it "should require :#{attribute}" do
         m = Factory.build(model.to_sym)
         m.send("#{attribute}=", nil)
         m.should have(1).error_on(attribute)
       end
     end
   end
...
end

Using FactoryGirl for spinning up instances, but of course easily  
tweaked for other mocking.

Mike


On Oct 28, 2008, at 8:09 AM, Cameron Booth wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere,  
> but I didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of
useful
> rspec macros for rails development, eg. things like:
>
> it_should_return_success
> it_should_redirect_to { some_url }
>
> I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done, as
well
> as a few others.
>
> One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model class
in
> a rails model spec, so I can do something like:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
> end

Hi everybody,

David and Pat, thanks for the tip on using "described_type" to access
the
model class. I actually figured that one out like 10 minutes after sending
the email. 2 learnings there, first, sometimes explaining the problem helps
solve the problem, and second, maybe I should sit on those emails for 10
minutes before sending them ;-)

Scott, to answer your question, basically I''d love to find something
less
verbose. I''m really liking rspec, but am finding my specs are getting
longer
and longer, and I''m basically in the process of investigating what
options
are out there in terms of shortening the commonly done stuff in specs
(specifically in the context of Rails). Technoweenie has done some stuff on
this, as has awfreeman on github. I''m in the process of diving deeper
into
those concepts to maybe pull together a plugin or something, will let this
group know.

Cheers!
Cameron



> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:40:08 -0400
> From: Scott Taylor <mailing_lists at railsnewbie.com>
> Subject: Re: [rspec-users] Accessing the model class from within an
>        rspec-rails spec
> To: rspec-users <rspec-users at rubyforge.org>
> Message-ID: <3961A8F4-311D-4237-B82D-36EFF0D56FAE at railsnewbie.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
>
> On Oct 28, 2008, at 9:09 AM, Cameron Booth wrote:
>
> > Hi everybody,
> >
> > New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere,
> > but I didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a
plugin of useful
> > rspec macros for rails development, eg. things like:
> >
> > it_should_return_success
> > it_should_redirect_to { some_url }
> >
> > I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done,
as well
> > as a few others.
> >
> > One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model
class in
> > a rails model spec, so I can do something like:
> >
> > describe User do
> >   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
> > end
> >
> > I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
> >
> > describe User do
> >   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
> > end
> >
> > but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself
> > that I''m missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is
> > controller_class_name, but that needs to be set with the
> > controller_name method. I could go for something like that if
> > required, but somehow it seems like it would be overkill.
> >
> > Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!
>
> Why not something like this:
>
> before(:each) { @user = User.new }
>
> it { @user.validate_presence_of(:name) }
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:15:43 -0400
> From: "Stephen Eley" <sfeley at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [rspec-users] Should acceptance tests be run against a
>        production environment?
> To: rspec-users <rspec-users at rubyforge.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <1fb4df0810282215u1c8552dag5f96fd86abdf6802 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 1:08 PM, Pat Maddox <pergesu at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > When you do end-to-end acceptance testing with Selenium, I think it
> > should be run against a production environment.  Not THE production
> > environment, mind you, but simply a new Rails app running with
> > RAILS_ENV=production.
>
> I believe that''s what the angels call a "staging
environment."
>
> And yes.
>
> --
> Have Fun,
>   Steve Eley (sfeley at gmail.com)
>   ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
>   http://www.escapepod.org
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:11:39 -0700
> From: Pat Maddox <pergesu at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [rspec-users] Accessing the model class from within an
>        rspec-rails spec
> To: rspec-users <rspec-users at rubyforge.org>
> Message-ID: <m2abcoouic.fsf at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> "Cameron Booth" <cameron.booth at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Is there a way to access the class itself that I''m missing?
>
> described_type
>
> Pat
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>
> End of rspec-users Digest, Vol 28, Issue 76
> *******************************************
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/rspec-users/attachments/20081029/5ac6f2d7/attachment.html>

On 2008-10-28, at 09:09, Cameron Booth wrote:
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
> end
>
> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>
> describe User do
>   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
> end
Hi Cameron. I haven''t played with RSpec''s internals at all,
but
considering that
     #it_should_validate_presence_of
is nested within
     describe User do
I would imagine that there''s a way to grab "User". Have a
look at the
structure of the Example, ExampleGroup, etc classes. It''ll be stored  
in one of those, somewhere.
-Nick

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 12:01 PM, Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com>
wrote:
> On 2008-10-28, at 09:09, Cameron Booth wrote:
>
>> describe User do
>>  it_should_validate_presence_of :name
>> end
>>
>> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>>
>> describe User do
>>  it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
>> end
>>
>
> Hi Cameron. I haven''t played with RSpec''s internals at
all, but considering
> that
>    #it_should_validate_presence_of
> is nested within
>    describe User do
> I would imagine that there''s a way to grab "User". Have
a look at the
> structure of the Example, ExampleGroup, etc classes. It''ll be
stored in one
> of those, somewhere.

described_type is what you want. This represents the object being described,


-- 
Zach Dennis
http://www.continuousthinking.com
http://www.mutuallyhuman.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/rspec-users/attachments/20081029/1aa1c079/attachment.html>

Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com> writes:
> On 2008-10-28, at 09:09, Cameron Booth wrote:
>> describe User do
>>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
>> end
>>
>> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>>
>> describe User do
>>   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
>> end
>
> Hi Cameron. I haven''t played with RSpec''s internals at
all, but
> considering that
>     #it_should_validate_presence_of
> is nested within
>     describe User do
> I would imagine that there''s a way to grab "User". Have
a look at the
> structure of the Example, ExampleGroup, etc classes. It''ll be
stored
> in one of those, somewhere.
For some reason my emails are getting bounced or delayed or something,
so I''ll try again in case my first one didn''t go through...

You''re looking for described_type

Pat

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 8:40 AM, Cameron Booth <cameron.booth at
gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi again,
>
> I think I may have partly found my own answer.
>
> Looking at this gist http://gist.github.com/14050 by Andy Freeman, it seems
> to do much of what I''m looking for right now (thanks, awesome!!).
>
> But playing around with it a bit, calling self.described_type which I
> thought would return the class, it''s not, it seems to be looking
only for a
> module?
>
>       def described_type
>         description_parts.find {|part| part.is_a?(Module)}
>       end
>
> Is there something I''m missing?
Some example groups describe modules, some classes. RSpec supports
both, and Module does it:

$ irb
>> module Foo; end
=> nil
>> Foo.is_a?(Module)
=> true
>> class Bar; end
=> nil
>> Bar.is_a?(Module)
=> true

whereas Class does not.

HTH,
David
Cheers,
David





>
> Cameron
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 8:09 AM, Cameron Booth <cameron.booth at
gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi everybody,
>>
>> New to the list, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but
I
>> didn''t find it. I''m trying to build up a plugin of
useful rspec macros for
>> rails development, eg. things like:
>>
>> it_should_return_success
>> it_should_redirect_to { some_url }
>>
>> I''m basing my ideas off of some stuff technoweenie has done,
as well as a
>> few others.
>>
>> One thing I''d love to do is be able to figure out the model
class in a
>> rails model spec, so I can do something like:
>>
>> describe User do
>>   it_should_validate_presence_of :name
>> end
>>
>> I can get it working if I pass in User as an argument:
>>
>> describe User do
>>   it_should_validate_presence_of User, :name
>> end
>>
>> but that feels redundant. Is there a way to access the class itself
that
>> I''m missing? On the controller spec side, I see there is
>> controller_class_name, but that needs to be set with the
controller_name
>> method. I could go for something like that if required, but somehow it
seems
>> like it would be overkill.
>>
>> Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!
>>
>> Cameron
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>