rspec users - Nov 2009 - rails /lib module testing

I''ve seen several posts related, but not touching on what I''m
wondering...

I have a lib module that I''d like to do ''white-box''
testing - similar
to a Rails mvc.  But I can''t see how to get a handle on the internal
instance vars in the method.

here are some code snippets that probably best explain my situation...

#########################################################
require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) +
''/../spec_helper'')

describe AasmCrawler do

  context "create_message method" do
    it "should create a new Link message" do
      @link.should == Link.new
    end
  end
end
#########################################################
module AasmCrawler
  def create_message
    @link = Link.new
  end
end
#########################################################

I''ve tried "assigns[:link]" but "assigns" is not
known.

I''ve also seen comments to test this via a model where it is included
- but that seems like WET testing, if this is used repeatedly why not
test it once at the source?

thanks for any help

That''s because assigns only works in a Rails functional test.

If you''re the author of the module, you could add a self.included block
that then sets up an attr_reader :link, like so:

   def self.included(base)
     base.class_eval do
       attr_reader :link
     end
   end

Then, all you have to say is @link.link.should == Link.new.

Otherwise, you can access the instance variable within @link using 
instance_variable_get. So @link.instance_variable_get("@link").should
==
Link.new.

-- Elliot

On 11/16/09 1:32 PM, Andy Koch wrote:
> I''ve seen several posts related, but not touching on what
I''m
> wondering...
>
> I have a lib module that I''d like to do
''white-box'' testing - similar
> to a Rails mvc.  But I can''t see how to get a handle on the
internal
> instance vars in the method.
>
> here are some code snippets that probably best explain my situation...
>
> #########################################################
> require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) +
''/../spec_helper'')
>
> describe AasmCrawler do
>
>    context "create_message method" do
>      it "should create a new Link message" do
>        @link.should == Link.new
>      end
>    end
> end
> #########################################################
> module AasmCrawler
>    def create_message
>      @link = Link.new
>    end
> end
> #########################################################
>
> I''ve tried "assigns[:link]" but "assigns" is
not known.
>
> I''ve also seen comments to test this via a model where it is
included
> - but that seems like WET testing, if this is used repeatedly why not
> test it once at the source?
>
> thanks for any help
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users