Rspec and plugins

Testing RSpec
1

I have a question regarding best practices around module and plugin
testing for rails applications. In our application we have created
several plugins that extend ActiveRecord::Base with class methods,
that when invoked in a model add behavior to that model. For
example …

class SomeModel < ActiveRecord::Base

adds_some_cool_behavior
adds_another_wicked_sweet_behavior

end

My initial thoughts are that any model that add these behaviors
“should” have this specified in their spec. With that in mind, I was
leaning towards creating a module that when included inside a model
spec adds the necessary specifications to ensure the behavior is there
and is executing as intended. However, before proceeding too far I
wanted to run it by the collective to hear your thoughts as I am sure
this has been tackled by others in the community already (although
google didn’t yield anything noteworthy).

Thanks,
Anthony Broad-Crawford

2

I would prefer two independent steps:

  1. Specify (or test) the plugin so that you can trust that it works
    as intended.

  2. Write a custom matcher (behave_in_a_cool_way) that lets you
    express that you want to have added some_cool_behavior to SomeModel:

describe SomeModel

it “should show some_cool_behavior” do
SomeModel.should behave_in_a_cool_way
end

end

This: http://stevetooke.karmatrading.co.uk/2007/8/10/simple-rails-
association-matching-with-rspec
may be an example.

Matthias

Am 03.03.2008 um 18:08 schrieb Anthony Broad-Crawford: