FozWorks: Validating Fixtures: Something I helped write with Jeremy for democracy now. I'll probably ship it soon... somewhere.
ZenTest: May 2007 Archives
I just finished diagnosing a problem with two users who were both seeing the following stack trace when firing up autotest:
.../rubygems.rb:325:in `latest_partials':
undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:322:in `each'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:322:in `latest_partials'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:292:in `latest_load_paths'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:291:in `each'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:291:in `latest_load_paths'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ZenTest-3.6.0/lib/autotest.rb:109:in `
autodiscover'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ZenTest-3.6.0/bin/autotest:36
from /usr/local/bin/autotest:18:in `load'
from /usr/local/bin/autotest:18
It apparently turns out (ironically), that rspec 0.8 or so installed a bogus gem named "web_spec" with no version or anything and was choking the latest_load_paths method I was using in rubygems. This gem wasn't removed when you removed rspec so it might still be floating around in your system. If so, please remove it.
cd `gem env gem path`/gems
sudo rm -rf web_spec*
cd ../specs
sudo rm -rf web_spec*
According to David Chalimsky, when you upgrade to autotest 3.6.0 with rspec 1.0.3+, you'll need to run the following in your rails project:
script/generate rspec
For non-rails projects, it should run fine out of the box.
ZenTest provides 4 different tools and 1 library: zentest, unit_diff, autotest, multiruby, and Test::Rails.
ZenTest scans your target and unit-test code and writes your missing code based on simple naming rules, enabling XP at a much quicker pace. ZenTest only works with Ruby and Test::Unit.
unit_diff is a command-line filter to diff expected results from actual results and allow you to quickly see exactly what is wrong.
autotest is a continous testing facility meant to be used during development. As soon as you save a file, autotest will run the corresponding dependent tests.
multiruby runs anything you want on multiple versions of ruby. Great for compatibility checking!
Test::Rails helps you build industrial-strength Rails code.
Changes:
3.6.0 / 2007-05-25
- 4 major enhancements:
- New auto-discovery mechanism to make rspec and friends work independently!
- Moved and restructured camping and rails as plugins.
- Removed rspec - now packaged with rspec and/or as plugin.
- Changed the way FTM tests are named. Allows multiple matricies.
- 3 minor enhancements:
- Added :OK special result value to FTM.
- Hugh Sasse is awesome. Rdoc happiness.
- Parameterized emacs client command.
3 bug fixes:
- Dup load path because I'm dum.
- Fixed a lame syntax error in emacs.rb.
- autotest now builds command separator with '&' on windoze. ARGH! Why is this the first I've heard of this?!?
- http://rubyforge.org/projects/zentest/
- ryand-ruby@zenspider.com
Dr Nic posts his video of my functional test matrix presentation at rejectconf. YAY!
I've been wanting to do something like this for a little while... Namely, I was getting tired of cryptic little codes for everything. Here and there I don't mind, but for every action I'd rather the nominal case fade into the background. So, like :na, I added :OK, which has the added benefit of rendering green instead of blue in emacs (because it is uppercase, I think ruby-mode thinks it is a const).
Before:
matrix :pages, :c_rw, :c_W, :c_R, :o_rw, :g_c, :a_rw, :a_W, :a_R
action :delete, :del, :del, :del, :del, :e_NF, :del, :del, :del
action :edit, :edit, :edit, :edit, :edit, :e_NF, :edit, :edit, :edit
action :publish, :pub, :pub, :pub, :pub, :e_NF, :pub, :pub, :pub
action :unpublish, :unpb, :unpb, :unpb, :unpb, :e_NF, :unpb, :unpb, :unpb
action :update, :updt, :updt, :updt, :updt, :e_NF, :updt, :updt, :updt
action :view, :view, :view, :view, :view, :e_NF, :view, :view, :view
action :delete, :del, :del, :del, :del, :e_NF, :del, :del, :del
action :edit, :edit, :edit, :edit, :edit, :e_NF, :edit, :edit, :edit
action :publish, :pub, :pub, :pub, :pub, :e_NF, :pub, :pub, :pub
action :unpublish, :unpb, :unpb, :unpb, :unpb, :e_NF, :unpb, :unpb, :unpb
action :update, :updt, :updt, :updt, :updt, :e_NF, :updt, :updt, :updt
action :view, :view, :view, :view, :view, :e_NF, :view, :view, :view
After:
matrix :pages, :c_rw, :c_W, :c_R, :o_rw, :g_c, :a_rw, :a_W, :a_R
action :delete, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :edit, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :publish, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :unpublish, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :update, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :view, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :delete, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :edit, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :publish, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :unpublish, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :update, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
action :view, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :OK, :e_NF, :OK
See how nice all those error cases pop out at you now? I love that. Now I can gloss over the green OKs and question everything else (n/a's and errors alike). It'll help me question my requirements even more.
:OK dispatches to a validator with the same name as the action, so now they're more readable.
Before:
def matrix_test_unpub(...)
# ...
end
# ...
end
After:
def matrix_test_unpublish(...)
# ...
end
# ...
end
Absolutely fantastic:
The Poka-Yoke principle and how to write better software
Basic Tenents of Poka-Yoke Testing:
- Unit Tests have to be as fast as lightning
- Quick and slow tests should be separated
- Tests must be reliable
- Tests must be repeatable
This is the gist of what I try to teach coming on to any new project. Beautifully written. I'll have to steal some of the language simply because it gets the point across so well.
