/rspec-rails

Rspec-2 for Rails-3

Primary LanguageRuby

rspec-rails-2

rspec-2 for rails-3 with lightweight extensions to each

NOTICE: rspec-rails-2.0.0.beta.13 only works with rails-3.0.0.beta4 or higher.

NOTICE: This README aligns with the code in git HEAD. If you're looking for the README for the latest release, go to http://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails, and select the appropriate tag from the Switch Tags select list.

Install

gem install rspec-rails --pre

This installs the following gems:

  • rspec
  • rspec-core
  • rspec-expectations
  • rspec-mocks
  • rspec-rails

Configure:

Add this line to the Gemfile:

gem "rspec-rails", ">= 2.0.0.beta.13"

This will expose generators, including rspec:install. Now you can run:

script/rails g rspec:install

This adds the spec directory and some skeleton files, including the "rake spec" task.

Note that things are in flux, so some generators generate code that doesn't work all that well yet.

Living on edge

If you prefer to exploit bundler's support for pointing a gem at a github repo, be sure to do so for all five of the relevant rspec gems:

gem "rspec-rails",        :git => "git://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails.git"
gem "rspec",              :git => "git://github.com/rspec/rspec.git"
gem "rspec-core",         :git => "git://github.com/rspec/rspec-core.git"
gem "rspec-expectations", :git => "git://github.com/rspec/rspec-expectations.git"
gem "rspec-mocks",        :git => "git://github.com/rspec/rspec-mocks.git"

Keep in mind that each of these repos is under active development, which means that its very likely that you'll pull from these repos and they won't play nice together. If playing nice is important to you, stick to the published gems.

Backwards compatibility

This is a complete rewrite of the rspec-rails extension designed to work with rails-3.x and rspec-2.x. It will not work with older versions of either rspec or rails. Many of the APIs from rspec-rails-1 have been carried forward, however, so upgrading an app from rspec-1/rails-2, while not pain-free, should not send you to the doctor with a migraine.

Known issues

See http://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/issues

Request Specs

Request specs live in spec/requests.

describe "widgets resource" do
  describe "GET index" do
    get "/widgets/index"
    response.should have_selector("h1", :content => "Widgets")
  end
end

Request specs mix in behavior from Rails' integration tests. See the docs for ActionDispatch::Integration::Runner for more information.

Controller Specs

Controller specs live in spec/controllers, and mix in ActionController::TestCase::Behavior. See the documentation for ActionController::TestCase to see what facilities are available from Rails.

You can use RSpec expectations/matchers or Test::Unit assertions.

render_views

By default, controller specs do not render views (as of beta.9). This supports specifying controllers without concern for whether the views they render work correctly or even exist. If you prefer to render the views (a la Rails' functional tests), you can use the render_views declaration in each example group:

describe SomeController do
  render_views
  ...

* Upgrade note

render_views replaces integrate_views from rspec-rails-1.3

assigns

Use assigns(key) to express expectations about instance variables that a controller assigns to the view in the course of an action:

get :index
assigns(:widgets).should eq(expected_value)

View specs

View specs live in spec/views, and mix in ActionView::TestCase::Behavior.

describe "events/index.html.erb" do
  it "renders _event partial for each event" do
    assign(:events, [stub_model(Event), stub_model(Event)])
    render
    view.should render_template(:partial => "_event", :count => 2)
  end
end

describe "events/show.html.erb" do
  it "displays the event location" do
    assign(:event, stub_model(Event,
      :location => "Chicago"
    )
    render
    rendered.should contain("Chicago")
  end
end

assign(key, val)

Use this to assign values to instance variables in the view:

assign(:widget, stub_model(Widget))
render

The code above assigns stub_model(Widget) to the @widget variable in the view, and then renders the view.

* Upgrade note

assign(key, value) replaces assigns[key] = value from rspec-rails-1.3

rendered

This represents the rendered view.

render
rendered.should =~ /Some text expected to appear on the page/

* Upgrade note

rendered replaces response from rspec-rails-1.3

Routing specs

Routing specs live in spec/routing.

describe "routing to profiles" do
  it "routes /profile/:username to profile#show for username" do
    { :get => "/profiles/jsmith" }.should route_to(
      :controller => "profiles",
      :action => "show",
      :username => "jsmith"
    )
  end

  it "does not expose a list of profiles" do
    { :get => "/profiles" }.should_not be_routable
  end
end

Helper specs

Helper specs live in spec/helpers, and mix in ActionView::TestCase::Behavior.

describe EventsHelper do
  describe "#link_to_event" do
    it "displays the title, and formatted date" do
      event = Event.new("Ruby Kaigi", Date.new(2010, 8, 27))
      # helper is an instance of ActionView::Base configured with the
      # EventsHelper and all of Rails' built-in helpers
      helper.link_to_event.should =~ /Ruby Kaigi, 27 Aug, 2010/
    end
  end
end

Matchers

rspec-rails exposes domain-specific matchers to each of the example group types. Most of them simply delegate to Rails' assertions.

be_a_new

  • Available in all specs.
  • Primarily intended for controller specs
object.should be_a_new(Widget)

Passes if the object is a Widget and returns true for new_record?

render_template

  • Delegates to Rails' assert_template.
  • Available in request, controller, and view specs.

In request and controller specs, apply to the response object:

response.should render_template("new")

In view specs, apply to the view object:

view.should render_template(:partial => "_form", :locals => { :widget => widget } )

redirect_to

  • Delegates to assert_redirect
  • Available in request and controller specs.
response.should redirect_to(widgets_path)

route_to

  • Delegates to Rails' assert_routing.
  • Available in routing and controller specs.
{ :get => "/widgets" }.should route_to(:controller => "widgets", :action => "index")

be_routable

Passes if the path is recognized by Rails' routing. This is primarily intended to be used with should_not to specify routes that should not be routable.

{ :get => "/widgets/1/edit" }.should_not be_routable