The primary function of my rails app compares database date values to
the current date. In order to test this functionality, I need to
simulate time passing. I currently roll back date fields to trigger
certain processes. This becomes increasingly tedious as my application
becomes more complex. I would love to artificially advance ActiveRecord
datetime during my test to more naturally simulate the passage of time
instead of tricking every field in my database into believing it. Anyone
ever done this?
Hi Peter,
On Jan 15, 2008 7:50 PM, Peter M. [email protected]
wrote:
The primary function of my rails app compares database date values to
the current date. In order to test this functionality, I need to
simulate time passing. I currently roll back date fields to trigger
certain processes. This becomes increasingly tedious as my application
becomes more complex. I would love to artificially advance ActiveRecord
datetime during my test to more naturally simulate the passage of time
instead of tricking every field in my database into believing it. Anyone
ever done this?
I wrote an extension to Time to support exactly this sort of testing:
http://geeksomnia.com/2007/11/07/timetravel_to
Time.travel_to(1.week.from_now) do
mess with some objects
end
I’ve never pluginized it, but if it meets your needs it should be
pretty easy for you to integrate. 
~ j.
John B. wrote:
Hi Peter,
I wrote an extension to Time to support exactly this sort of testing:
http://geeksomnia.com/2007/11/07/timetravel_toTime.travel_to(1.week.from_now) do
mess with some objects
end
I’ve never pluginized it, but if it meets your needs it should be
pretty easy for you to integrate.~ j.
John -
This looks awesome. I shall play around with this and let you know how
it goes. Muchos Gracias!
Peter
On 1/15/08, Peter M. [email protected] wrote:
The primary function of my rails app compares database date values to
the current date. In order to test this functionality, I need to
simulate time passing. I currently roll back date fields to trigger
certain processes. This becomes increasingly tedious as my application
becomes more complex. I would love to artificially advance ActiveRecord
datetime during my test to more naturally simulate the passage of time
instead of tricking every field in my database into believing it. Anyone
ever done this?
Six months or so ago, I did it this way
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/articles/2007/07/18/time-flies-while-youre-having-fun-testing
Today, I’d probably use some form of stub or mock, probably what’s
built into RSpec.
–
Rick DeNatale
My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
Nevermind. I didn’t realize I needed to pass the code I want to execute
in a time warp inside a block. Here is what I’m using:
TimeMachine.now_as(2.days.ago){ my code }
Works great! Thanks for sharing your module and pointing me in its
direction. No more tedious tricking my db into thinking it’s the past!
Today, I’d probably use some form of stub or mock, probably what’s
built into RSpec.
That’s exactly what I do now. I used to have some nifty method to go
‘back to the future’, but stubbing works well now. This always tends
to come up, so it’s a standard part of my test suites now.
–
Rick O.
http://lighthouseapp.com
http://weblog.techno-weenie.net
http://mephistoblog.com
Rick Denatale wrote:
Six months or so ago, I did it this way
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/articles/2007/07/18/time-flies-while-youre-having-fun-testing
Hey Rick:
I’d like to implement this method of yours as it looks simple and I
don’t know how to use R-spec with integration testing. I’ve never done
anything with modules though. From what I’ve read, it seems like I
should be able to call your now_as method like this:
TimeMachine.now_as(2.days.ago)
However, even with your module defined in my_test.rb, I get the error
“undefined method `now_as’ for MyTest::TimeMachine:Module”. How are you
calling your ‘now_as’ method? Thanks for the advice.
Peter