Testing notification of custom LWRPs does not behave correctly

[ghost]

Imaging a simple LWRP test.

actions :create
attribute :name, name_attribute: true

action(:create) do
  new_resource.updated_by_last_action(new_resource.name == 'bar')
end

This means, that only if I create the resource test[bar], it fires its notifications.

test 'bar' do
  action :create
  notifies :restart, 'service[name]'
end

test[foo], shouldn't fire a notification.

test 'foo' do
  action :create
  notifies :restart, 'service[name]'
end

The appropriate tests could look like this:

describe 'test::default' do

  cached(:chef_run) {
    ChefSpec::ServerRunner.new.converge(described_recipe)
  }


  it 'should notify service[name] when test is called bar' do
    bar = chef_run.test('bar')
    expect(bar).to notify('service[name]').to(:restart)
  end

  it 'should NOT notify service[name] when test is called foo' do
    foo = chef_run.test('foo')
    expect(foo).to_not notify('service[name]').to(:restart)
  end

end

And the matcher

ChefSpec.define_matcher :test

def test(resource_name)
  ChefSpec::Matchers::ResourceMatcher.new(:test, :create, resource_name)
end

Now, when you run this test, it's saying:

     Failure/Error: expect(foo).to_not notify('service[name]').to(:restart)
       expected "test[foo]" to not notify "service[name]", but it did.

[sethvargo]

You need to step_into the LWRP if you want to test this.

[ghost]

I tried to step_into the LWRP with no effect.

[sethvargo]

@yves-vogl it should be notifies, not notify

[ghost]

Sorry - I fixed it in the example above. But error was just in the example.
How can I help to debug this?

[sethvargo]

@yves-vogl can you put together a PR that shows the failing test? Please use the cucumber tests and follow the existing patterns in place.

[ghost]

Give a me a few days and I'll get back to you with a PR

[dblessing]

ChefSpec is testing the catalog. So, it is correct to say each of those resources does cause a notification to be set up in the catalog. You need an integration test to determine if a specific event causes a notification to actually be sent. This is my understanding of what you're describing here.

[ghost]

@sethvargo Could you please reopen this issue?

[sethvargo]

Please see my response on your PR

[sethvargo]

@yves-vogl also, @dblessing gave a much shorter explanation than mine, which is correct.

[till]

@sethvargo I spent a good amount of time on the same problem before I found this Github issue.

I totally get the explanation, so thanks for that.

However, I am wondering if since ChefSpec will always assume that resources notify, maybe something like expect(resource).not_to notify('something[else]') should be added to the documentation so people do not try this and instead do an integration test to start with?

Maybe I am not sure where to draw the line between ChefSpec and actual integration tests.