rspec users - May 2010 - How to separate unit and integration spec suites?

On my current rails project we''re using both rspec and cucumber.
We''ve been diligent about keeping our specs as true unit tests, using
nulldb and mocking/stubbing to disconnect the specs from the database
and keep each spec focused on the class/method under test.  Our
cucumber features are integration tests and use the database (as they
should).  This separation has worked well for us up to now.  Our specs
have remained fairly fast, even as our spec suite has grown (around
1200 specs, currently).

I''ve started working on building an REST-inspired HTTP API for the
app.  Initially, I''ve continued to use cucumber to integration test
the API.  However, I''m now convinced that as great as cucumber is for
integration testing the user-facing parts of our application, it''s not
the right tool for integration testing the API.  I''d like to write my
API integration tests using just rspec and rack-test.  But I really
like the fact that "rake spec" runs only the unit tests, and is much
faster than running all of the tests.  I don''t want to give that up.

Is there an easy way to setup multiple spec suites within a single
rails app?  I''d like to run the integration test specs separately from
the unit test specs.

Thanks,
Myron

On May 19, 2010, at 4:11 PM, Myron Marston wrote:
> On my current rails project we''re using both rspec and cucumber.
> We''ve been diligent about keeping our specs as true unit tests,
using
> nulldb and mocking/stubbing to disconnect the specs from the database
> and keep each spec focused on the class/method under test.  Our
> cucumber features are integration tests and use the database (as they
> should).  This separation has worked well for us up to now.  Our specs
> have remained fairly fast, even as our spec suite has grown (around
> 1200 specs, currently).
> 
> I''ve started working on building an REST-inspired HTTP API for the
> app.  Initially, I''ve continued to use cucumber to integration
test
> the API.  However, I''m now convinced that as great as cucumber is
for
> integration testing the user-facing parts of our application, it''s
not
> the right tool for integration testing the API.  I''d like to write
my
> API integration tests using just rspec and rack-test.  But I really
> like the fact that "rake spec" runs only the unit tests, and is
much
> faster than running all of the tests.  I don''t want to give that
up.
> 
> Is there an easy way to setup multiple spec suites within a single
> rails app?  I''d like to run the integration test specs separately
from
> the unit test specs.
In rspec-1 you pretty much have to do it by directories. In rspec-2 you can use
arbitrary hash key/values as filters:

describe "something", :suite => "my fast suite" do
  ...
end

RSpec.configure do |c|
  c.filter_run :suite => "my fast suite"
end

As of now there is not an easy way to hook into that to create different
"profiles" like Cucumber, but it''d be pretty easy to add and
we should definitely do so before rspec-2 goes final. Because the filtering can
be arbitrarily complex (using lambdas), we need to keep it in ruby, but maybe we
have a DSL for named filters that we can key off on the command line. Something
like:

RSpec.configure do |c|
  c.filter :fast, :suite => "my fast suite"
end

Then, on the command line:

rspec spec --filter fast

WDYT?

The new tagging support in rspec 2 looks fantastic, but I don''t think
we''re ready to upgrade to rspec 2 yet, especially since it''s
still in
beta.

How does the directory approach work with rspec 1?  (And feel free to
point me to a blog post or wiki entry that documents this--I''ve done
some googling but haven''t found anything yet).

Myron

On May 19, 2:19?pm, David Chelimsky <dchelim... at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On May 19, 2010, at 4:11 PM, Myron Marston wrote:
>
>
>
> > On my current rails project we''re using both rspec and
cucumber.
> > We''ve been diligent about keeping our specs as true unit
tests, using
> > nulldb and mocking/stubbing to disconnect the specs from the database
> > and keep each spec focused on the class/method under test. ?Our
> > cucumber features are integration tests and use the database (as they
> > should). ?This separation has worked well for us up to now. ?Our specs
> > have remained fairly fast, even as our spec suite has grown (around
> > 1200 specs, currently).
>
> > I''ve started working on building an REST-inspired HTTP API
for the
> > app. ?Initially, I''ve continued to use cucumber to
integration test
> > the API. ?However, I''m now convinced that as great as
cucumber is for
> > integration testing the user-facing parts of our application,
it''s not
> > the right tool for integration testing the API. ?I''d like to
write my
> > API integration tests using just rspec and rack-test. ?But I really
> > like the fact that "rake spec" runs only the unit tests, and
is much
> > faster than running all of the tests. ?I don''t want to give
that up.
>
> > Is there an easy way to setup multiple spec suites within a single
> > rails app? ?I''d like to run the integration test specs
separately from
> > the unit test specs.
>
> In rspec-1 you pretty much have to do it by directories. In rspec-2 you can
use arbitrary hash key/values as filters:
>
> describe "something", :suite => "my fast suite" do
> ? ...
> end
>
> RSpec.configure do |c|
> ? c.filter_run :suite => "my fast suite"
> end
>
> As of now there is not an easy way to hook into that to create different
"profiles" like Cucumber, but it''d be pretty easy to add and
we should definitely do so before rspec-2 goes final. Because the filtering can
be arbitrarily complex (using lambdas), we need to keep it in ruby, but maybe we
have a DSL for named filters that we can key off on the command line. Something
like:
>
> RSpec.configure do |c|
> ? c.filter :fast, :suite => "my fast suite"
> end
>
> Then, on the command line:
>
> rspec spec --filter fast
>
> WDYT?
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>
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On May 19, 2010, at 4:45 PM, Myron Marston wrote:
> The new tagging support in rspec 2 looks fantastic, but I don''t
think
> we''re ready to upgrade to rspec 2 yet, especially since
it''s still in
> beta.
> 
> How does the directory approach work with rspec 1?  (And feel free to
> point me to a blog post or wiki entry that documents this--I''ve
done
> some googling but haven''t found anything yet).
Take a peek at
http://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec-rails/blob/master/generators/rspec/templates/rspec.rake#L86
to see how rspec-rails-1.3.2 configures rake tasks to run files in different
directories.

HTH,
David

> 
> Myron
> 
> On May 19, 2:19 pm, David Chelimsky <dchelim... at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On May 19, 2010, at 4:11 PM, Myron Marston wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On my current rails project we''re using both rspec and
cucumber.
>>> We''ve been diligent about keeping our specs as true unit
tests, using
>>> nulldb and mocking/stubbing to disconnect the specs from the
database
>>> and keep each spec focused on the class/method under test.  Our
>>> cucumber features are integration tests and use the database (as
they
>>> should).  This separation has worked well for us up to now.  Our
specs
>>> have remained fairly fast, even as our spec suite has grown (around
>>> 1200 specs, currently).
>> 
>>> I''ve started working on building an REST-inspired HTTP API
for the
>>> app.  Initially, I''ve continued to use cucumber to
integration test
>>> the API.  However, I''m now convinced that as great as
cucumber is for
>>> integration testing the user-facing parts of our application,
it''s not
>>> the right tool for integration testing the API.  I''d like
to write my
>>> API integration tests using just rspec and rack-test.  But I really
>>> like the fact that "rake spec" runs only the unit tests,
and is much
>>> faster than running all of the tests.  I don''t want to
give that up.
>> 
>>> Is there an easy way to setup multiple spec suites within a single
>>> rails app?  I''d like to run the integration test specs
separately from
>>> the unit test specs.
>> 
>> In rspec-1 you pretty much have to do it by directories. In rspec-2 you
can use arbitrary hash key/values as filters:
>> 
>> describe "something", :suite => "my fast suite"
do
>>   ...
>> end
>> 
>> RSpec.configure do |c|
>>   c.filter_run :suite => "my fast suite"
>> end
>> 
>> As of now there is not an easy way to hook into that to create
different "profiles" like Cucumber, but it''d be pretty easy
to add and we should definitely do so before rspec-2 goes final. Because the
filtering can be arbitrarily complex (using lambdas), we need to keep it in
ruby, but maybe we have a DSL for named filters that we can key off on the
command line. Something like:
>> 
>> RSpec.configure do |c|
>>   c.filter :fast, :suite => "my fast suite"
>> end
>> 
>> Then, on the command line:
>> 
>> rspec spec --filter fast
>> 
>> WDYT?
>> _______________________________________________
>> rspec-users mailing list
>> rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>> 
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "rspec" group.
>> To post to this group, send email to rspec at googlegroups.com.
>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rspec+unsubscribe at
googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit this group
athttp://groups.google.com/group/rspec?hl=en.
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

On 19 May 2010, at 22:11, Myron Marston wrote:
> On my current rails project we''re using both rspec and cucumber.
> We''ve been diligent about keeping our specs as true unit tests,
using
> nulldb and mocking/stubbing to disconnect the specs from the database
> and keep each spec focused on the class/method under test.  Our
> cucumber features are integration tests and use the database (as they
> should).  This separation has worked well for us up to now.  Our specs
> have remained fairly fast, even as our spec suite has grown (around
> 1200 specs, currently).
> 
> I''ve started working on building an REST-inspired HTTP API for the
> app.  Initially, I''ve continued to use cucumber to integration
test
> the API.  However, I''m now convinced that as great as cucumber is
for
> integration testing the user-facing parts of our application, it''s
not
> the right tool for integration testing the API.
I know this isn''t why you''re here, but can I ask why not? At
Songkick we actually went the other way and ended up converting rspec-based
integration tests for the API into cukes when we got the hang of testing it via
Cucumber.
>  I''d like to write my
> API integration tests using just rspec and rack-test.  But I really
> like the fact that "rake spec" runs only the unit tests, and is
much
> faster than running all of the tests.  I don''t want to give that
up.
> 
> Is there an easy way to setup multiple spec suites within a single
> rails app?  I''d like to run the integration test specs separately
from
> the unit test specs.
> 
> Thanks,
> Myron
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users