rspec users - Jul 2009 - basic noob questions

Struggling mightily!

Testing a controller called Govtpositions. Just focusing on testing
the create method for the moment. I would imagine there should be two
examples for a successful save... instantiate the model object and
then save it, is that right?

So just to test the model object instantiation, I have:

describe GovtpositionsController, do
  before do
    Govtposition.stub!(:new).and_return(@govtposition)
  end

  it "should create a new govt position model" do
    @govtposition = mock_model(Govtposition)
    @params = {"name"=>"chief"}
    Govtposition.should_receive(:new).with(@params).and_return
(@govtposition)
  end

end

This fails, with the reason that @govtposition is receiving an
unexpected :save. Well I didn''t intend to test save, I was planning to
write another example for that assertion. Why can''t I just test object
creation in it''s own example, must I also test saving in the same
example? I''m clearly missing something basic!

thanks in advance for any insight you can offer

Norm,

I don''t test instantiation and then saving, I test successful and  
unsuccessful creation.

By testing this concern, I don''t need to worry about expectations or  
mocks, I actually create the object (or not!) and then test that the  
controller behaves the way I expect it to in these situations.

Its probably not important that Govtpostion receives "new".
It''s
important that when it receives new with the proper things, and then  
saves, that it behaves a certain way. And when it doesn''t receive the  
proper things, it acts another way.

Hope that helps,

BJ Clark


On Jul 24, 2009, at 5:13 PM, norm wrote:
> Struggling mightily!
>
> Testing a controller called Govtpositions. Just focusing on testing
> the create method for the moment. I would imagine there should be two
> examples for a successful save... instantiate the model object and
> then save it, is that right?
>
> So just to test the model object instantiation, I have:
>
> describe GovtpositionsController, do
>  before do
>    Govtposition.stub!(:new).and_return(@govtposition)
>  end
>
>  it "should create a new govt position model" do
>    @govtposition = mock_model(Govtposition)
>    @params = {"name"=>"chief"}
>    Govtposition.should_receive(:new).with(@params).and_return
> (@govtposition)
>  end
>
> end
>
> This fails, with the reason that @govtposition is receiving an
> unexpected :save. Well I didn''t intend to test save, I was
planning to
> write another example for that assertion. Why can''t I just test
object
> creation in it''s own example, must I also test saving in the same
> example? I''m clearly missing something basic!
>
> thanks in advance for any insight you can offer
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
-----
BJ Clark
AboutUs.Org

On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 7:13 PM, norm<codehacker at comcast.net>
wrote:
> Struggling mightily!
>
> Testing a controller called Govtpositions. Just focusing on testing
> the create method for the moment. I would imagine there should be two
> examples for a successful save... instantiate the model object and
> then save it, is that right?
>
> So just to test the model object instantiation, I have:
>
> describe GovtpositionsController, do
> ?before do
> ? ?Govtposition.stub!(:new).and_return(@govtposition)
> ?end
>
> ?it "should create a new govt position model" do
> ? ?@govtposition = mock_model(Govtposition)
> ? ?@params = {"name"=>"chief"}
> ? ?Govtposition.should_receive(:new).with(@params).and_return
> (@govtposition)
> ?end
>
> end
>
> This fails, with the reason that @govtposition is receiving an
> unexpected :save. Well I didn''t intend to test save,
Sure, but if the code does that, then you have to account for it. You
can just stub save and not expect it. That''s a perfect case for a
method stub - something unimportant to your example, but necessary for
the example to run.
> I was planning to
> write another example for that assertion. Why can''t I just test
object
> creation in it''s own example, must I also test saving in the same
> example? I''m clearly missing something basic!
>
> thanks in advance for any insight you can offer
Assuming you''re dealing w/ a standard create action, IMO, you
don''t
really need to spec the instantiation of the object. This is one of
those gray areas in which you''re touching implementation with stubs
and mocks, but you''re not really specifying implementation. i.e., the
examples might read:

GovtpositionsController
  POST create
    with valid data
      creates a new govtposition with the submitted data
      redirects to the list of govtpositions

If you''re using mocks/stubs for isolation and speed, you may need to
stub :new if that''s what the create method is using, but
that''s just
there to get the example to execute - not because it''s part of
what''s
being specified. Make sense?

Cheers,
David