From: "weathercoach@..." <weathercoach@...>
Date: 2007-11-15T07:15:02+09:00
Subject: test/unit question.   Accessing class variables?

   Hello.
   This is my first attempt in trying to use the ruby library test/
unit.   Additionally my programming and ruby skills are still around
the beginner stage.

  I have a unix utility which I've written in ruby and now that it
actually does some work I want to be able to test it.    My first
attempt at a unit test was to check the value of a class variable but
this results in the following error

NameError: uninitialized class variable @@bad_users in FindUsersTest

   Here is a class and test which demonstrates what I'm trying to
do.

-- start class
class Simple
@@whatisit = "false"

  def parse(n)
    @@whatisit = true if n =~ /yes/
  end
end

--- start test
require 'simple'
require 'test/unit'

class SimpleTest <  Test::Unit::TestCase

  def test_parse
   v = Simple.new
   v.parse("yes")

  assert @@whatisit
   end
end

--- run test
./test_simple.rb
Started
E
Finished in 0.003813 seconds.

  1) Error:
test_parse(SimpleTest):
NameError: uninitialized class variable @@whatisit in SimpleTest
    ./test_simple.rb:14:in `test_parse'

1 tests, 0 assertions, 0 failures, 1 errors


 I then added this method into the simple class above

def return_whatisit
  @@whatisit
end

   Then in my test created a Simple object (v = Simple.new) and then
called the return_whatisit method (eg: v.return_whatisit).     I dont
really want to have to add extra methods to the code to support the
retreival of class variables from within the tests.   I dont
understand why I'm not able to access the class variable @@whatisit
from within the test script?    Is it possible to extend the Simple
class from within the test file itself?
   For example iin the test file I would like to add this method to
the Simple class
def return_whatisit
  @@whatisit
end

   So if you have any tips on how to best approach this situation I
would appreciate it.    I figure if I get a better understanding of
using and writing tests that will influence how I write scripts down
the road.

  TIA. G