Session data and user stories

Testing RSpec
1

hello there,

i have been trying my hand at this rbehave material, specifically in
terms
of integration testing a rails application, and i am curious about the
most
friendly way to deal with session data.

currently, the only way i have found to simulate a session is to open a
session and refer to everything afterward via the @session variable
stored
after open_session. it seems to be workable, but is far from ideal:

dir = File.dirname(FILE)
require ‘rubygems’
require ‘spec/story’
require “#{dir}/helper”

steps_for(:dealer_login) do
Given(“I have opened a session”) do
@session = open_session
end

Given("I am not logged in") do
  @session.instance_variable_get("@session").should == nil
end

Given("I have a valid login/password combo") do
  @login_with = valid_dealer_credentials
end

When("I submit my login/ password") do
  @session.post("/gateway", :user=> @login_with)
end

#there has to be a better way to address this
Then(“I should be authenticated”) do
@session.response.session.data.should == {:id => 1, “flash” => {}}
end

#and this is just hideous.
Then(“I should be sent to the dealer landing page”) do
puts
@session.response.instance_variable_get("@redirected_to").should
== {:controller => “dealers”}
end
end

with_steps_for(:dealer_login) do
run_local_story “dealer_story”, :type=>RailsStory
end

there is a good chance someone has already covered this and i have just
managed to miss it. documentation on rbehave is sparse (at best, as i
have
seen it. i have the peepcode, but if anyone has any other good resources
i
would be more than appreciative.)

in the event that this has not been addressed, i see two possibilities:

first, that i am somehow subverting the intention of rbehave. as i
understand it, however, rbehave is at least partially intended for
integration-level specification, so it seems to me that this session
information would be valuable.

on the other hand, perhaps this needs to be addressed in some way. i
would
be happy to help, but i am interested to see the community’s opinion on
the
issue first.

regards,
evan

2

On Jan 16, 2008 4:59 PM, Evan S. [email protected] wrote:

dir = File.dirname(FILE)
@session.instance_variable_get(“@session”).should == nil
#there has to be a better way to address this

first, that i am somehow subverting the intention of rbehave. as i
understand it, however, rbehave is at least partially intended for
integration-level specification, so it seems to me that this session
information would be valuable.

on the other hand, perhaps this needs to be addressed in some way. i would
be happy to help, but i am interested to see the community’s opinion on the
issue first.

RailsStory derives from ActionController::IntegrationTest, which
provides an implicit session. You also get rspec’s matchers built
right in. Also, being logged in is not really behaviour - it’s state.
All of that said (the following is not tested, but it’s the right
idea):

Story: dealer visits landing page
As a dealer
I want the dealer landing page to be secure
So that only dealers can see dealer stuff

Scenario: anonymous user tries to visit landing page
Given I am an anonymous user
When I visit the dealer landing page
Then I should see the login form

Scenario: registered dealer logs in
Given I am a registered dealer
When I log in
Then I should see the dealer landing page

steps_for(:dealer_login) do
Given(“I am an anonymous user”) do
# noop
end

Given(“I am a registered dealer”) do
User.create!(registered_dealer_attributes)
@credentials = registered_dealer_credentials
end

Given(“I visit the $page”) do |page|
case page
when “dealer landing page”
get “/dealers”
else
raise “I don’t know how to get to the #{page}”
end
follow_redirect if redirect?
end

When(“I log in”) do
post “/gateway”, :user => @credentials
end

Then(“I should see the $page”) do |page|
case page
when “dealer landing page”
template = “/dealers/index”
else
raise “I don’t know how what template to expect for #{page}”
end
follow_redirect if redirect?
end
end

There are more things to generalize here as things build up. For
example, I’ve got one step definition that looks like this:

Then(“I should see the $page”) do |page|
page_map = {
“user form” => “users/form”,
“login form” => “sessions/new”,
“thank you page” => “users/index”,
“user list” => “users/index”,
“group list” => “groups/index”,
“welcome page” => “welcome/index”
}
unless page_map[page].nil?
response.should render_template(page_map[page])
else
raise “I don’t know what template to look for for #{page.inspect}”
end
end

And a similar one for “When I visit the foo page”.

You can use an explicit session, but this is mostly useful if you
have more than one session running simultaneously. Check out docs for
rails integration tests to get some more insight on this.

There’s a lot more to talk about here, but that should get you going.
HTH.

Cheers,
David