rspec-2 for rails-3 with lightweight extensions to each
NOTE: Use rspec-rails-1.3.x for rails-2.
gem install rspec-rails
This installs the following gems:
rspec
rspec-core
rspec-expectations
rspec-mocks
rspec-rails
Add rspec-rails to the :test and :development groups in the Gemfile:
group :test, :development do
gem "rspec-rails", "~> 2.6"
end
It needs to be in the :development group to expose generators and rake
tasks without having to type RAILS_ENV=test.
Now you can run:
rails generate rspec:install
This adds the spec directory and some skeleton files, including the "rake spec" task.
If you type script/rails generate, the only RSpec generator you'll actually
see is rspec:install. That's because RSpec is registered with Rails as the
test framework, so whenever you generate application components like models,
controllers, etc, RSpec specs are generated instead of Test::Unit tests.
Please note that the generators are there to help you get started, but they are
no substitute for writing your own examples, and they are only guaranteed to
work out of the box for the default scenario (ActiveRecord + Webrat).
The rspec:install generator creates an .rspec file, which tells Autotest
that you're using RSpec and Rails. You'll also need to add the ZenTest gem to
your Gemfile:
gem "ZenTest"
At this point, if all of the gems in your Gemfile are installed in system
gems, you can just type autotest. If, however, Bundler is managing any gems
for you directly (i.e. you've got :git or :path attributes in the Gemfile),
you'll need to run bundle exec autotest.
You can choose between webrat or capybara for simulating a browser, automating a browser, or setting expectations using the matchers they supply. Just add your preference to the Gemfile:
gem "webrat"
gem "capybara"
Bundler makes it a snap to use the latest code for any gem your app depends on. For
rspec-rails, you'll need to point bundler to the git repositories for rspec-rails
and the other rspec related gems it depends on:
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"
Run bundle install and you'll have whatever is in git right now. Any time you
want to update to a newer head, just run bundle update.
Keep in mind that each of these codebases is under active development, which means that its entirely possible 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.
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.
See http://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/issues
Request specs live in spec/requests.
describe "widgets resource" do
describe "GET index" do
it "contains the widgets header" do
get "/widgets/index"
response.should have_selector("h1", :content => "Widgets")
end
end
end
Request specs mix in behavior from Rails' integration tests. See the docs for ActionDispatch::Integration::Runner for more information.
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.
By default, controller specs do not render views. This supports specifying
controllers without concern for whether the views they render work correctly
(NOTE: the template must exist, unlike rspec-rails-1. See Upgrade.md for more
information about this). 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
...
render_views replaces integrate_views from rspec-rails-1.3
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 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
View specs infer the controller name and path from the path to the view template. e.g. if the template is "events/index.html.erb" then:
controller.controller_path == "events"
controller.request.path_parameters[:controller] == "events"
This means that most of the time you don't need to set these values. When spec'ing a partial that is included across different controllers, you may need to override these values before rendering the view.
To provide a layout for the render, you'll need to specify both the template and the layout explicitly. For example:
render :template => "events/show", :layout => "layouts/application"
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.
Note that because view specs mix in ActionView::TestCase behavior, any
instance variables you set will be transparently propagated into your views
(similar to how instance variables you set in controller actions are made
available in views). For example:
@widget = stub_model(Widget)
render # @widget is available inside the view
RSpec doesn't officially support this pattern, which only works as a
side-effect of the inclusion of ActionView::TestCase. Be aware that it may be
made unavailable in the future.
assign(key, value) replaces assigns[key] = value from rspec-rails-1.3
This represents the rendered view.
render
rendered.should =~ /Some text expected to appear on the page/
rendered replaces response from rspec-rails-1.3
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
route_for from rspec-rails-1.x is gone. Use route_to and be_routable instead.
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
rspec-rails exposes domain-specific matchers to each of the example group types. Most of them simply delegate to Rails' assertions.
- 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?
- 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 } )
- Delegates to assert_redirect
- Available in request and controller specs.
response.should redirect_to(widgets_path)
- Delegates to Rails' assert_routing.
- Available in routing and controller specs.
{ :get => "/widgets" }.should route_to(:controller => "widgets", :action => "index")
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