# Why are my unit tests passing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 4, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-my-unit-tests-passing/122125 "2007-12-04T20:17:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ian)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-my-unit-tests-passing/122125/1 "2007-12-04T20:17:50Z")
Most people want to know why their tests are failing. I want to know why they are passing. They really shouldn’t be. The test environment database defined in database.yml does not exist. I have not altered the auto-generated tests at all. When I run the following command from the site root: > ruby test/unit/gender\_test.rb I expect that this should fail. However, I get “1 tests, 1 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors” I’m working my way through the Prag Prog Agile Rails book. In the testing section (page 186), the book says that these tests should fail until I create the testing database. Is the book wrong, or do I have magic unit tests? RoR Version: 1.2.3 Ruby Version: 1.8.6 DB: Mysql Thanks for the help. Ian ---
**Author:** ![ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ian)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-my-unit-tests-passing/122125/2 "2007-12-04T20:33:22Z")
Ian wrote: > Most people want to know why their tests are failing. I want to know > why they are passing. They really shouldn’t be. > > The test environment database defined in database.yml does not exist. > I have not altered the auto-generated tests at all. When I run the > following command from the site root: > > > ruby test/unit/gender\_test.rb > > I expect that this should fail. However, I get > > “1 tests, 1 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors” > > I’m working my way through the Prag Prog Agile Rails book. In the > testing section (page 186), the book says that these tests should fail > until I create the testing database. Is the book wrong, or do I have > magic unit tests? > > RoR Version: 1.2.3 > Ruby Version: 1.8.6 > DB: Mysql > > Thanks for the help. > > Ian Ian, By default the test case that is provided by the generator for each model is assert\_truth() which returns true so initially “all” test cases pass. ---
**Author:** ![ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ian)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-my-unit-tests-passing/122125/3 "2007-12-04T21:17:54Z")
Thank you for your reply. I noticed the simplicity of the default test & have some familiarity with both unit testing and Test::Unit. But the example I’m reading says that even this very simple test should fail if the database doesn’t exist. That’s where my confusion comes from. On Dec 4, 1:33 pm, Ilan B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@ian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-are-my-unit-tests-passing/122125/4 "2007-12-05T21:06:02Z")
Ian, > I noticed the simplicity of the default test & have some familiarity > with both unit testing and Test::Unit. But the example I’m reading > says that even this very simple test should fail if the database > doesn’t exist. That’s where my confusion comes from. Do you have any fixtures declared in your tests? If not, then Rails might not be bothering to connect to the database at all. ## Jim Jim M., removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [http://www.io.com/~jimm/](http://www.io.com/~jimm/)