Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec + inline debugging of a spec
On 9/8/07, Jay Levitt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 9/8/2007 4:19 PM, Scott Taylor wrote: So far it has been a mixed experience - I have found that it doesn't work very well with rails as you end up debugging more of rails then of your own code. Finally, a debugging environment that matches the production environment! I agree. When debug is required, I switch to script/spec and specify the exact file and specification to run, in that way, reduce the problems loading ruby-debug and getting my feet wet with Rails code :) -- Luis Lavena Multimedia systems - Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. Vince Lombardi ___ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec + inline debugging of a spec
On Sep 5, 2007, at 4:25 AM, Wincent Colaiuta wrote: El 4/9/2007, a las 22:51, Geoffrey Wiseman escribió: Using this as an example, if a new validation rule is added, this test will fail without indicating /why/. Sure, I can get that answer in other ways, but I'd hate to discover things like: it should be valid with valid attributes do # puts @person.errors if [EMAIL PROTECTED] @person.should be_valid end (Which I've seen when people have to repeatedly diagnose issues in a test; I'd prefer a failure message to the above) My personal approach when a spec fails and I can't figure out *why* just by looking at it is to run the spec under the debugger and set a breakpoint on the line where the corresponding spec fails. I've been doing the same thing with ruby-debug. I have setup a snippet in textmate so that when I type debug(tab), I get the following line: require 'rubygems'; require 'ruby-debug'; debugger And I usually do this *inside* the failing spec. So far it has been a mixed experience - I have found that it doesn't work very well with rails as you end up debugging more of rails then of your own code. It also doesn't work with the DRB server. Any thoughts on how this could be better done? I actually *like* the way that RSpec doesn't provide a mechanism for specifying error messages; it's one of the things that makes the specs so easy to read. It's difficult to imagine a syntax that would provide what you're asking for without sacrificing readability. Cheers, Wincent I couldn't agree more. I, like David, am not opposed to a custom matcher, but it's hard to imagine how it would play nicely with the syntax. Scott ___ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec
On 9/4/07, Geoffrey Wiseman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Having used JUnit and Test::Unit, I'm quite used to having the ability to
insert a failure message, which helps when tests fail.
For instance, the example RSpec that is generated for a model class
specifies that the model class is valid. Assuming this were supposed to be
true, and it failed, I've now got to duplicate the code in the test in order
to find out why it wasn't valid.
Whereas if I were writing the same code in Test::Unit, I might write:
assert model.valid?, Expected model to be valid, but found these errors:
#{model.errors}
This means that when the model validation fails, I know /why/. I don't see
an easy way to include these sorts of messages in RSpec, which seems likely
to cause me to waste time on test failures. Am I missing something? How
are experienced RSpec users resolving this?
I come from the same background as you, so I hear where you're coming
from. We made a conscious decision, however, not to support custom
messages almost two years ago and I'm not sure if its ever even come
up before. If it has, it was a long time ago.
If you follow the conventions of one expectation per example, and your
example is well named, this is less of a problem. Here's a common
idiom:
describe Person do
def valid_attributes
{:name = 'joe smith'}
end
before(:each) do
@person = Person.new(valid_attributes)
end
it should be valid with valid attributes do
@person.should be_valid
end
it should be invalid with no name do
@person.name = nil
@person.should_not be_valid
end
end
Together, these different examples help to tell the whole story, and
when one example fails you know why it's failing - its just that the
message is in the example's name instead of a custom assertion
message.
Make sense?
Thanks,
- Geoffrey
--
Geoffrey Wiseman
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Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec
On 9/4/07, Geoffrey Wiseman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I come from the same background as you, so I hear where you're coming
from. We made a conscious decision, however, not to support custom
messages almost two years ago and I'm not sure if its ever even come
up before. If it has, it was a long time ago.
[nod] Perhaps as I get into the mindset, I'll find this desire slips away.
If you follow the conventions of one expectation per example, and your
example is well named, this is less of a problem. Here's a common
idiom:
describe Person do
def valid_attributes
{:name = 'joe smith'}
end
before(:each) do
@person = Person.new(valid_attributes)
end
it should be valid with valid attributes do
@person.should be_valid
end
it should be invalid with no name do
@person.name = nil
@person.should_not be_valid
end
end
Using this as an example, if a new validation rule is added, this test will
fail without indicating /why/. Sure, I can get that answer in other ways,
but I'd hate to discover things like:
it should be valid with valid attributes do
# puts @person.errors if [EMAIL PROTECTED]
@person.should be_valid
end
(Which I've seen when people have to repeatedly diagnose issues in a test;
I'd prefer a failure message to the above)
Together, these different examples help to tell the whole story, and
when one example fails you know why it's failing - its just that the
message is in the example's name instead of a custom assertion
message.
Make sense?
Yes and no; test isolation and good names is a decent practice even in
XUnit, but clearly it's that much stronger in RSpec, and I'm in favour of
that. However, I find that often test failures involve unexpected changes (
e.g. the REST service didn't return a status code of 201, as you expected,
because a validation rule changed and the validation failed), which aren't
as easy to message.
Still, i'm willing to give this approach a shot and see if this bothers me
increasingly less.
Personally, I'm open to the idea of custom messages - I just have no
idea how that work syntactically. If you get to the point where you
really feel the need for that feature (or before that point) please
feel free to make suggestions about that.
Cheers,
David
- Geoffrey
--
Geoffrey Wiseman
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Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec
Shane Mingins wrote: On 5/09/2007, at 8:51 AM, Geoffrey Wiseman wrote: Using this as an example, if a new validation rule is added, this test will fail without indicating /why/. Sure, I can get that answer in other ways, but I'd hate to discover things like: it should be valid with valid attributes do # puts @person.errors if [EMAIL PROTECTED] @person.should be_valid end Sorry if I missed the point of this, but in the context of having an optional failure message I am curious as to how an optional message param to the assertion would help you in this case? Seems like, in this case, he'd output @person.errors in his message so he could see *why* person was invalid; the puts is his current hack-around for the lack of custom messages. Not a bad idea, really. (the custom messages, not the hackaround!) Jay ___ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec
I generally write custom expectation matchers when I want more specific information on failure scenarios. Granted this might not work in all scenarios (taking time to write a custom matcher I mean), but for most things it has made it very nice. -Chad On Sep 4, 2007, at 5:08 PM, Jay Levitt wrote: Shane Mingins wrote: On 5/09/2007, at 8:51 AM, Geoffrey Wiseman wrote: Using this as an example, if a new validation rule is added, this test will fail without indicating /why/. Sure, I can get that answer in other ways, but I'd hate to discover things like: it should be valid with valid attributes do # puts @person.errors if [EMAIL PROTECTED] @person.should be_valid end Sorry if I missed the point of this, but in the context of having an optional failure message I am curious as to how an optional message param to the assertion would help you in this case? Seems like, in this case, he'd output @person.errors in his message so he could see *why* person was invalid; the puts is his current hack-around for the lack of custom messages. Not a bad idea, really. (the custom messages, not the hackaround!) Jay ___ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users ___ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
Re: [rspec-users] Failure Messages in RSpec
On 9/4/07, Ben Mabey [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Maybe this is what your thinking? http://opensoul.org/2007/4/18/rspec-model-should-be_valid That should be the default matcher for be_valid... I use that and help me pinpoint some brittle specs (all related to new attributes added later in the development phase). As David himself said on that post: Perfect use of custom matchers! Nice. Cheers, David :-D -- Luis Lavena Multimedia systems - Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. Vince Lombardi ___ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
