On 17 May 2008, at 18:34, Jens Carroll wrote:
Hi All,
I am new to rspec and it seems that I don't understand some basics.
Hi Jens,
Jarkko answered your real question but there are other things worth
pointing out, more about style than actually making the specs work.
---- spec -------
module XmlImportSpecHelper
def mock_xml_import
xml_file = RAILS_ROOT + "/spec/fixtures/import-member.xml"
xml = File.read(xml_file)
@xml_import = XmlImport.new
@xml_import.should_receive(:open).exactly(1).times.
with("any-file-name.xml").
and_return(xml)
end
end
You shouldn't have (hoho) a should_receive here. You're using the
mock_xml_import in the before step, which is intended to set up mocks
and stubs shared across the examples ("it" blocks). The code
"@xml_import.should_receive(:open)..." should have its own example.
Also, since you're creating a *real* XmlImport, it doesn't make sense
to call it "mock_xml_import", maybe "new_xml_import" would be clearer.
describe XmlImport do
include XmlImportSpecHelper
before(:each) do
mock_xml_import
@xml_import.parse_xml("any-file-name.xml")
@country = mock_model(Country)
Country.stub!(:find_by_short).and_return(@country)
end
it "should find country object for DE" do
Country.should_receive(:find_by_short).with("DE").and_return(@country)
@xml_import.user.country.should equal(@country)
end
end
Be clear what you are specifying here. Your call to #parse_xml is in
the before block, which means you can't set expectations on it. I
like to nest my methods in their own inner describe blocks, eg:
describe XmlImport do
before(:each) do
@xml_import = XmlImport.new
end
describe "#parse_xml" do
it "should open the XML file" do
# ...
end
it "should find country object for DE" do
# ...
end
end
end
Be aware also that while "xml_import.should_receive(:open)" may work,
it's a bit of a quirk of Ruby. The real method is define on the
Kernel module, which is included into Object (so you get access to it
everywhere). Since you know you're dealing with files, I'd use
File.open, and specify that File.should_receive(:open) instead.
Otherwise you may start thinking it's ok to specify interpendencies
between methods in the class being specified.
Finally, this line:
@xml_import.user.country.should equal(@country)
is known as a trainwreck- that is, multiple method calls strung
together. It's usually a sign that something is modelled wrong. In
this case, it's because your XmlParser class is doing too much.
This section
(@doc/:member).each do |data|
retrieve_and_save_user(data)
end
Is the culprit. The XmlParser should parse XML, not retrieve and save
user data (I know this, because it's called XmlParser, not
UserDataRetrieverAndSaver, basically.) A more OO approach would be to
make User responsible for this:
(@doc/:member).each do |data|
User.update_from_xml(data)
end
That way, the spec for User#update_from_xml would have one less level
of indirection, ie just
@user.country.should equal(@country)
Hope this is useful,
Ashley
--
http://www.patchspace.co.uk/
http://aviewfromafar.net/
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