README.markdown

ShamRack

ShamRack plumbs Net:HTTP into Rack.

What's it for, again?

Well, it makes it easy to stub out external (HTTP) services, which is handy in development and testing environments, or when you want to test your HTTP client code.

You can also use it to test your Rack application (or Sinatra, or Rails, or Merb) using arbitrary HTTP client libraries, to check interoperability. For instance, you could test your app using:

• rest-client
• httparty
• oauth

all without having to boot it in a server.

Installing it

gem install sham_rack

Using it

A simple inline application

require 'sham_rack'

ShamRack.at("www.example.com") do |env|
  ["200 OK", { "Content-type" => "text/plain" }, "Hello, world!"]
end
  
require 'open-uri'
open("http://www.example.com/").read            #=> "Hello, world!"

Sinatra integration

ShamRack.at("sinatra.xyz").sinatra do
  get "/hello/:subject" do
    "Hello, #{params[:subject]}"
  end
end

open("http://sinatra.xyz/hello/stranger").read  #=> "Hello, stranger"

Rackup support

ShamRack.at("rackup.xyz").rackup do
  use Some::Middleware
  use Some::Other::Middleware
  run MyApp.new
end

Any old app

ShamRack.mount(my_google_stub, "google.com")

General-purpose stubbing

@stub_app = ShamRack.at("stubbed.com").stub
@stub_app.register_resource("/greeting", "Hello, world!", "text/plain")

open("http://stubbed.com/greeting").read       #=> "Hello, world!"
@stub_app.last_request.path                    #=> "/greeting"

Or, just use Sinatra, as described above ... it's almost as succinct, and heaps more powerful.

When you're done testing

ShamRack.unmount_all

open("http://stubbed.com/greeting").read       #=> OpenURI::HTTPError

What's the catch?

• Your Rack request-handling code runs in the same Ruby VM, in fact the same Thread, as your request.

Thanks to

• Blaine Cook for FakeWeb, which was an inspiration for ShamRack.
• Perryn Fowler for his efforts plumbing Net::HTTP into ActionController::TestProcess.
• Christian Neukirchen et al for the chewy goodness that is Rack.