From: poopdeville@...
Date: 2007-06-26T15:40:10+09:00
Subject: Vaguely humorous Test::Unit problem (long)

Hi everybody,

I have a problem I can't figure out.  I've created a test class using
Test::Unit::TestCase.  One of the test cases is failing, but if I
comment out the passing one, the failing one passes.  Moreover, if I
rename the failing test to something preceeding the passing one in
alphabetical order, it passes.

The issue is a bit complicated, however.  I'll post some code, then
explain it.

require 'drb'
require 'test/unit'
require '../lib/classes/Config.rb'
require '../lib/classes/Service.rb'

class TestService < Test::Unit::TestCase

  def test_statistics # fails, unless named e.g. test_astatistics
    message = {:data => [1,1,1], :mixin => :statistics}.to_config
    config = {:url => 'druby://localhost:9001',}.to_config

    remote_service = Service.new(config)
    DRb.start_service()
    service = DRbObject.new(nil, config.url)
    assert_equal([:statistics, 1, 0], service.process(message))
  end

  def test_service_drb  # Always passes.
    message = {:data => 1, :mixin => :trivial}.to_config
    config = {:url => 'druby://localhost:9000',}.to_config

    remote_service = Service.new(config)
    DRb.start_service()
    service = DRbObject.new(nil, config.url)
    assert_equal(service.process(message),1)
  end
end

EOC

Note that outside of the message and config objects, and parameters to
assert_equal, the code is identical.

The Hash.to_config method turns hash keys into attr_reader's and hash
values into the reader's return value.  The new object's class is
Config.

Oh, right, I should explain what a Service object is.  First off,
Service.new(config) takes in a Config object.  It also starts a DRb
server with the line:

DRb.start_service(@config.url, self)

service.process is harder to explain.  Essentially, Service objects
are servers that dynamically change how they process data depending on
the type of data they recieve.  I implemented this idea using mixins
and a stable public API.  So for each call of
service.process(message), the Service object checks the value of
config.mixin, compares it to the currently loaded module, and requires
and includes it if they differ.  Then it calls the run(message.data)
method, which is implemented by the mixed in module.  The Service
class:

class Service

  def initialize(config)
    @mixin = ""
    @config = config
    DRb.start_service(@config.url, self)
  end

  def process(message)
    new_mixin = message.mixin
    unless @mixin == new_mixin
      require "../lib/services/#{new_mixin.to_s.capitalize}.rb"
      self.class.class_eval("include #{new_mixin.to_s.capitalize}" )
      @mixin = new_mixin
    end
    self.run(message.data)
  end
end

EOC

Little help?
Thanks,
Alex