Autotest debugger?

Testing RSpec
1

Hi,

I keep facing problems with autotest, and I don’t know what’s happening
in the background, is there anyway to know what’s happening while
testing?

Example:
@user = User.new
@user.email = “testcom”
@user.errors.on(:email).should_not be_empty

…throws error failure

  • You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!
  • You might have expected an instance of Array.
  • The error occurred while evaluating nil.empty?

…but when I type this in ./script/console

@user = User.new
=> #<User id: nil, email: nil, nickname: nil, password: nil, logged_at:
nil, created_at: nil>

@user.valid?
=> false

@user.email = “asd@”
@user.errors.on ‘email’
=> “is invalid”

So how do you guys test things out and see what’s happening behind? I’m
lost :frowning:

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

2

On Nov 1, 2007, at 6:18 AM, Jamal S. wrote:

@user.errors.on(:email).should_not be_empty

…throws error failure

This is not an autotest problem, this is a test problem.

Usually I start adding extra tests:

it “should not raise an error with a new user (exploratory test)” do
lambda {
User.new
}.should_not raise_error
end

If that one fails…then it’s a problem with my setup (before
(:each))…and so on.

If I really have no idea what’s going on, I’ll insert the following
snippet to the top of the spec:

require ‘rubygems’; require ‘ruby-debug’; debugger;

(I use textmate, and have a snippet setup so that I can type “debug”
tab, and the full line gets inserted)

The next time autotest runs, it will drop me into the debugger (make
sure you have the ruby-debug gem installed).

Hope that helps,

Scott

3

Scott T. wrote:

On Nov 1, 2007, at 6:18 AM, Jamal S. wrote:

@user.errors.on(:email).should_not be_empty

…throws error failure

This is not an autotest problem, this is a test problem.

Usually I start adding extra tests:

it “should not raise an error with a new user (exploratory test)” do
lambda {
User.new
}.should_not raise_error
end

If that one fails…then it’s a problem with my setup (before
(:each))…and so on.

If I really have no idea what’s going on, I’ll insert the following
snippet to the top of the spec:

require ‘rubygems’; require ‘ruby-debug’; debugger;

(I use textmate, and have a snippet setup so that I can type “debug”
tab, and the full line gets inserted)

The next time autotest runs, it will drop me into the debugger (make
sure you have the ruby-debug gem installed).

Hope that helps,

Scott

I tried to insert the requiring files etc. and went into the debugger,
but how do I use it ?

$ autotest
loading autotest/rails_rspec
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby -S
script/spec -O spec/spec.opts spec/controllers/user_controller_spec.rb
spec/models/user_spec.rb spec/helpers/user_helper_spec.rb
spec/controllers/video_controller_spec.rb
spec/helpers/video_helper_spec.rb
./spec/controllers/user_controller_spec.rb:5 require
File.dirname(FILE) + ‘/…/spec_helper’
(rdb:1) user = User.new
Adjusting would put us beyond the oldest (initial) frame.
(rdb:1) user.email = “test”
Adjusting would put us beyond the oldest (initial) frame.
(rdb:1) user.should_not be_valid
Adjusting would put us beyond the oldest (initial) frame.
(rdb:1)

4

On Nov 2, 2007, at 4:48 AM, Jamal S. wrote:

Usually I start adding extra tests:
If I really have no idea what’s going on, I’ll insert the following
Hope that helps,
user_controller_spec.rb
Adjusting would put us beyond the oldest (initial) frame.
(rdb:1)
–
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Google for the ruby-debugger. The most common commands are:

h - help
c - continue
p - print (so p user = User.new)
irb - drops you into irb
b - breakpoint
l - list where you are in the code

And so on. I would advise looking up the tutorial, though.

Scott