From: Christian Neukirchen <chneukirchen@...>
Date: 2008-07-02T19:37:08+09:00
Subject: [ANN] test/spec 0.9, a BDD interface for Test::Unit

Hello,

today I'm releasing test/spec 0.9, a library to do BDD with Test::Unit.

== News in 0.9:

* July 2nd, 2008: Fifth public release 0.9.
  * Allow should.<predicate>? as well as should.<predicate>.
  * Add shared contexts.
  * Nested contexts now run the
    setups/teardowns/before(:all)/after(:all) of their parents.

== What is test/spec?

test/spec layers an RSpec-inspired interface on top of Test::Unit, so
you can mix TDD and BDD (Behavior-Driven Development).

test/spec is a clean-room implementation that maps most kinds of
Test::Unit assertions to a `should'-like syntax.

Consider this Test::Unit test case:

    class TestFoo < Test::Unit::TestCase
      def test_should_bar
        assert_equal 5, 2 + 3
      end
    end
    
In test/spec, it looks like this:
    
    require 'test/spec'
    
    context "Foo" do
      specify "should bar" do
        (2 + 3).should.equal 5
      end
    end

Since test/spec 0.4, you can also use the new RSpec 1.0 style:
    
    require 'test/spec'
    
    describe "Foo" do
      it "should bar" do
        (2 + 3).should.equal 5
      end
    end

test/spec does not include a mocking/stubbing-framework; use whichever
you like to.  test/spec has been tested successfully with FlexMock and
Mocha.

test/spec has no dependencies outside Ruby 1.8.

== Mixing test/spec and test/unit

test/spec and Test::Unit contexts/test cases can be intermixed freely,
run in the same test and live in the same files.  You can just add them
to your Rake::TestTask, too.  test/spec allows you to leverage your
full existing Test::Unit infrastructure.

test/spec does not change Test::Unit with the exception of
monkey-patching Test::Unit::TestSuite to order the test cases before
running them.  (This should not do any harm, but if you know a way
around it, please tell me.)

== Wrapped assertions

assert_equal: should.equal, should == 
assert_not_equal: should.not.equal, should.not == 
assert_same: should.be 
assert_not_same: should.not.be 
assert_nil: should.be.nil 
assert_not_nil: should.not.be.nil 

assert_in_delta: should.be.close 
assert_match: should.match, should =~ 
assert_no_match: should.not.match, should.not =~ 

assert_instance_of: should.be.an.instance_of 
assert_kind_of: should.be.a.kind_of 
assert_respond_to: should.respond_to 

assert_raise: should.raise 
assert_nothing_raised: should.not.raise 
assert_throws: should.throw 
assert_nothing_thrown: should.not.throw 
assert_block: should.satisfy

== Additional assertions

These assertions are not included in Test::Unit, but have been added
to test/spec for convenience:

* should.not.satisfy
* a.should.<predicate> (works like assert a.<predicate>?)
* a.should.be <operator> (where <operator> is <, <=, >, >=, or ===)
* should.output, to check what is printed

== Messaging/Blaming

With more complex assertions, it may be helpful to provide a message
to show if the assertion has failed.  This can be done with the
Should#blaming or Should#messaging methods:

    RUBY_VERSION.should.messaging("Ruby too old.").be > "1.8.4"

    (1 + 1).should.blaming("weird math").not.equal 11

== Custom shoulds ("Matchers")

To capture recurring patterns in parts of your specifications, you can
define custom "shoulds" (RSpec calls them "matchers") in your
contexts, or include modules of them:

    context "Numbers"
      class EqualString < Test::Spec::CustomShould
        def matches?(other)
          object == other.to_s
        end
      end
    
      def equal_string(str)
        EqualString.new(str)
      end
    
      specify "should have to_s"
        42.should equal_string("42")
      end
    end

Alternatively, your implementation can define
CustomShould#assumptions, where you can use test/spec assertions
instead of Boolean predicates:

    class EqualString < Test::Spec::CustomShould
      def assumptions(other)
        object.should.equal other.to_s
      end
    end

A CustomShould by default takes one argument, which is placed in
self.object for your convenience.

You can CustomShould#failure_message to provide a better error
message.

== SpecDox and RDox

test/spec adds two additional test runners to Test::Unit, based on the
console runner but with a different output format.

SpecDox, run with --runner=specdox (or -rs) looks like RSpec's output:

    should.output
    - works for print
    - works for puts
    - works with readline

RDox, run with --runner=rdox (or -rr) can be included for RDoc
documentation:

    == should.output
    * works for print
    * works for puts
    * works with readline

SpecDox and RDox work for Test::Unit too:

    $ ruby -r test/spec test/testunit/test_testresult.rb -rs
    
    Test::Unit::TC_TestResult
    - fault notification
    - passed?
    - result changed notification
    
    Finished in 0.106647 seconds.
    
    3 specifications (30 requirements), 0 failures

== Shared contexts

Since version 0.9, you can define shared contexts in test/spec using
shared_context/describe_shared.  These contexts are not executed on
their own, but can be included with it_should_behave_like/behaves_like
in other contexts.  You can use shared contexts to structure suites
with many recurring specifications.

== Thanks to

* Eero Saynatkari for writing should.output.
* Tuxie for writing test/spec on Rails.
* Brian Donovan for allowing alternative superclasses.
* Xavier Shay for implementing nested setups/teardowns.
* Chris Wanstrath for should.raise with a block and xcontext.
* Jean-Michel Garnier for packaging the first gem.
* Mikko Lehtonen, Jan Wikholm, Matt Mower and Michael Fellinger for
  testing the gem.
* Chris McGrath for reporting a bug.
* Thomas Fuchs for script.aculo.us BDD testing which convinced me.
* Dave Astels for BDD.
* The RSpec team for API inspiration.
* Nathaniel Talbott for Test::Unit.

== Copying

Copyright (C) 2006, 2007, 2008  Christian Neukirchen <http://purl.org/net/chneukirchen>
test/spec is licensed under the same terms as Ruby itself.

== Where can I get it?

You can download test/spec 0.9 at

        http://chneukirchen.org/releases/test-spec-0.9.0.tar.gz

Alternatively, you can checkout from the development repository with:

           darcs get http://chneukirchen.org/repos/testspec

Please mail bugs, suggestions and patches to
<mailto:chneukirchen@gmail.com>.

(Patches using "darcs send" are most welcome.)

== Installing with RubyGems

Since version 0.3, a Gem of test/spec is available.  You can install with:

    gem install test-spec

(It may take some time for the index to be updated and the mirrors
propagated.)  I also provide a local mirror of the gems (and
development snapshots) at my site:

    gem install test-spec --source http://chneukirchen.org/releases/gems

== Links

Behavior-Driven Development:: <http://behaviour-driven.org/>
RSpec:: <http://rspec.rubyforge.org/>
script.aculo.us testing:: <http://mir.aculo.us/articles/2006/08/29/bdd-style-javascript-testing>
FlexMock:: <http://onestepback.org/software/flexmock/>
Mocha:: <http://mocha.rubyforge.org/>


Happy hacking and have a nice day,
Christian Neukirchen

3fe1bf54cbca0142a9b600992bbcb791f691120f  test-spec-0.9.0.tar.gz
f717f1c49d2d28223bbe6a24ac737ae51075bb66  test-spec-0.9.0.gem