jason_spec

Write specs for JSON without writing JSON or data-structures

Install

gem install jason_spec

or, in your Gemfile, possibly in the test group

gem "jason_spec"

Usage

Test by specification

Jason spec is designed to test json by specifying the desired result. This means you should not type or create any JSON; or even data structures.

The following snippet:

%q(
  {"first_name":"Jason","last_name":"Voorhees"}
).should have_jason([:first_name,:last_name])

would result in a match. The supplied JSON has a :first_name and a :last_name key - that's all we wanted to know.

Off course, you can also specify your root object:

%q(
  {"movie":{"title":"Friday the 13th","release_year":"1980"}}
).should have_jason(
  movie: [ :title, :release_year ]
)

Test by object

Now it is also nice to test the actual values; you can do this by supplying an object in the specifications key, like so:

# assuming ActiveRecord or so

my_movie = Movie.find(x)

%q(
  {"movie":{"title":"Friday the 13th","release_year":"1980"}}
).should have_jason(
  { movie: { my_movie => [ :title, :release_year ] } }
)

This will check the values of the JSON against the value of my_movie.title and my_movie.release_year

Test by enhanced specification

Now; that is all pretty nice and dandy, but what about complex(er) JSON structures? How can I test those, without supplying huge structures as a specification?

Jason::Spec to the resque:

%q(
  {"movies":[{"title":"Friday the 13th"},{"title":"Nightmare on Elm Street"}]}
).should have_jason(
  movies: Jason.spec( type: Array, size: 2, each: [ :title ] )
)

Basicly we are saying; the JSON should have a movies key, it should hold an Array with a size of 2 and each element should have a title key.

Off course you should combine all of it to make full use of the potential:

json = %q({"user":{
    "user_name":"jason",
    "favorite_movies":[
      {"title":"Friday the 13th","id":1},
      {"title":"Nightmare on Elm Street","id":2}
    ]
  },
  "links":[
    { "href":"/users/2", "rel": "self" },
    { "href":"/users/2/movies", "rel": "favorite movies"}
  ]
})

json.should have_jason(
  user: {
    user_name: "jason",
    favorite_movies: Jason.spec(type: Array, each: [ :title, :id ])
  },
  links: Jason.spec(type: Array, each: [ :href, :rel ])
)

For further documentation, please read the docs at RubyDoc.info

State

The examples in this readme work, see spec/readme_spec.rb. Otherwise this is a work in progress; Especialy the features on Jason::Spec are bound to grow.

Credits

jason_spec

was inspired by json_spec. The code organisation has been derived from their project.
was written by Hartog de Mik
was kindly sponsored by OrganisedMinds For those who organise Teamwork

Contributing to jason_spec

Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet.
Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it.
Fork the project.
Start a feature/bugfix branch.
Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution.
Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it.

OrganisedMinds/jason_spec