spect

by Clinton R. Nixon of Viget Labs <clinton.nixon@viget.com>

Description

Spect is a set of wrappers for Test::Unit assertions so that you can write assertions in a more BDD-like syntax. You can use it with any Test::Unit-derived framework. I intended it to be enjoyable to use with Shoulda (thoughtbot.com/projects/shoulda).

Features/problems

• Lets you write tests that read like English.
• Doesn’t prevent you from writing tests that read like moron.
• Does not yet wrap assert_block.

Synopis

     def test_spect_works
       expect(current_user.name).equal "Jim Dangly"
       expect(current_user).is.an.admin
       expect(1 + 1).is.kind_of Fixnum
       expect(black_sabbath).is.not.nil
       expect(false).is.not.not.not.equal true
       expect(user.name).to.not.match /mr_jenkins/
       expect(user).to.be.equal User.find(:first)
       expect(user).to.be.equal_to User.find(:first)
       expect(ZeroDivisionError).raised_by do
         1 / 0
       end
       expect(4).returned_by do
         a = 1
         b = 3
         a + b
       end
     end

See test/test_spect.rb for more examples.

Details

expect is a method added to Test::Unit::TestCase that returns a PositiveExpectation. You can use this to call Test::Unit assertions. Many of the Test::Unit assertions are wrapped, with the following mappings:

• assert_equal is equal or equal_to
• assert_in_delta is close_to
• assert_match is match
• assert_same is same
• assert_raise is raised_by
• assert_throws is thrown_by
• returned_by wraps assert_equal, but takes a block

In addition, all predicates on an object can be tested for truth by calling them per normal (+nil?+) or by dropping the question mark (nil.) This eliminates the need to wrap assert_respond_to or assert_nil.

There are several methods used solely for grammatical purposes. to, an, and a are no-ops and just return self. is and be are no-ops unless they are passed an argument, in which case they assert equality between the original object and this argument. not reverses assertions, but also can be passed an argument to assert inequality.

Requirements

Shoulda is required to run the tests, but otherwise, nothing else.

Install

    sudo gem install spect

and then

    require 'spect'

Inspirations

• test/spec
• JDave

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright © 2008 Clinton R. Nixon of Viget Labs

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the ‘Software’), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.