# Simple unit test failure **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 24, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554 "2008-05-24T18:27:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/1 "2008-05-24T18:27:40Z")
Snipping out unnecessary, /test/unit/personnel\_test.rb… def setup @first = “Test” @last = “User” @new\_id = ‘1000’ end def test\_create\_read\_update\_delete person = Personnel.new(:id =\> @new\_id, :first\_name =\> @first, :last\_name =\> @last) ``` # save him assert person.save ``` end running this test gets me an error… $ ruby test/unit/personnel\_test.rb Loaded suite test/unit/personnel\_test Started F. Finished in 0.39329 seconds. 1. Failure: test\_create\_read\_update\_delete(PersonnelTest) [test/unit/personnel\_test.rb:23]: is not true. 2 tests, 4 assertions, 1 failures, 0 errors The error is on the line… ‘assert person.save’ The only ‘not null’ fields in my personnel table are id (obviously), first\_name and last\_name. The personnels table does not have a record with id = 1000. I can ‘find’ by id items loaded via fixtures but cannot assert the above save. Is it my syntax? How do I get more information about the failure (adding -v doesn’t give me meaningful info) Craig ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/2 "2008-05-24T18:47:03Z")
Craig, You could look in log/test.log. That file can grow large enough that it’s a little hard to spot just what you want, though, so I often delete it before running tests when I need to dig into a test failure. It’ll be recreated when you run your test and should contain only the data collected from that test run. Regards, Craig ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/3 "2008-05-24T18:58:46Z")
On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 12:46 -0400, Craig D. wrote: > Craig, > > You could look in log/test.log. That file can grow large enough that > it’s a little hard to spot just what you want, though, so I often > delete it before running tests when I need to dig into a test failure. > It’ll be recreated when you run your test and should contain only the > data collected from that test run. * * * I’ve been ‘tailing’ it as I work and it gives me nothing… $ cat log/test.log SQL (0.001977) SET search\_path TO db SQL (0.001476) BEGIN SQL (0.023013) SELECT count(_) AS count\_all FROM personnels SQL (0.001639) ROLLBACK SQL (0.000325) BEGIN SQL (0.002350) SELECT count(_) AS count\_all FROM personnels SQL (0.000546) ROLLBACK the 'select count(\*) are from my ‘teardown’ method Craig ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/4 "2008-05-24T19:22:51Z")
On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 09:26 -0700, Craig W. wrote: > ``` > :first_name => @first, > > ``` > > Started > The error is on the line… ‘assert person.save’ > > The only ‘not null’ fields in my personnel table are id (obviously), > first\_name and last\_name. The personnels table does not have a record > with id = 1000. I can ‘find’ by id items loaded via fixtures but cannot > assert the above save. Is it my syntax? How do I get more information > about the failure (adding -v doesn’t give me meaningful info) * * * never mind…it was a validation in the model that wasn’t reflected in the database - fixed Thanks Craig ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/5 "2008-05-24T19:59:51Z")
> > def setup > > @first = “Test” > > @last = “User” > > @new\_id = ‘1000’ > > end Going forward, you are abusing the setup here. Each test case should generally use _different_ sample data, so put them in the test case itself, and don’t lean on @ variables until they serve a real purpose! ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/6 "2008-05-24T21:37:29Z")
Craig W. wrote: > thanks…I’ve been going though the ‘Guide to Testing the Rails’ on > [manuals.rubyonrails.com](http://manuals.rubyonrails.com) and ‘Gluttonous’ but it would help to see real > life examples…any suggestions? The source code to beast is exemplary! > Also, and this is probably big…I use an RBAC method suggested in Rails > Recipes with a self-rolled authentication system against LDAP which > blocks controllers methods. I can only get these tests to run if I > disable the RBAC…any suggestions here? Use Mocha to make the library return what you need. The point of tests is not to promise accuracy, it’s to make sure your code stays the same (bugs and all) as you add features. And to let you Undo, if a test fails unexpectedly, instead of debugging. ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/simple-unit-test-failure/138554/7 "2008-05-24T20:25:05Z")
On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 10:58 -0700, Phlip wrote: > > > def setup > > > @first = “Test” > > > @last = “User” > > > @new\_id = ‘1000’ > > > end > > Going forward, you are abusing the setup here. Each test case should > generally use _different_ sample data, so put them in the test case itself, > and don’t lean on @ variables until they serve a real purpose! * * * thanks…I’ve been going though the ‘Guide to Testing the Rails’ on [manuals.rubyonrails.com](http://manuals.rubyonrails.com) and ‘Gluttonous’ but it would help to see real life examples…any suggestions? Also, and this is probably big…I use an RBAC method suggested in Rails Recipes with a self-rolled authentication system against LDAP which blocks controllers methods. I can only get these tests to run if I disable the RBAC…any suggestions here? Thanks Craig