Fixtures getting a little hard to manage

Rails
1

I have lots of tests which rely on fixtures being a particular state in
order to pass. For example, one test checks that a User object can have
no
more than 3 associated ‘Page’ objects at a time. That’s a simple example
but
I have more complicated tests too. The problem is I sometimes add a
fixture
without realising it’ll affect the tests and everything blows up.

I’ve taken to creating the a specific state for each test that needs
one,
i.e. before I assert anything, I’ll create new objects from scratch so I
don’t have to use fixtures. This is fine for simple tests but gets
unwieldy
when I’m testing associations between multiple objects.

Just wondering how other people manage situations like this?
alan

2

Hello Alan,

2006/7/13, Alan B. [email protected]:

I’ve taken to creating the a specific state for each test that needs one,
i.e. before I assert anything, I’ll create new objects from scratch so I
don’t have to use fixtures. This is fine for simple tests but gets unwieldy
when I’m testing associations between multiple objects.

I am doing that too now. I have a set of basic objects in my fixtures
which I reuse in #setup, users and accounts for example. Other
objects I will create on the fly.

If your tests are hard to write, this is usually a hint that there is
something missing in your models / associations to make things easier.

Hope that helps !