From: Shadowfirebird <shadowfirebird@...>
Date: 2008-08-02T07:03:32+09:00
Subject: Re: unit testing advice

Many thanks. Clearly I'm going to have to go back to research mode on
this one.

I've found this lovely bit of example code for mocha, though -- see
below.  If I understand you correctly, you seem to be saying that you
*don't* test the output routine; you use a mock to fake it so that you
can test the rest of the code?

That would imply that you farm out the difficult bits of the output
routine into other methods in the same way that you would with
functional programming -- ideally, leaving the output routine as
something that is so simple it doesn't need testing?


class Enterprise
  def initialize(dilithium);  @dilithium = dilithium;  end

  def go(warp_factor);  warp_factor.times { @dilithium.nuke(:anti_matter) }; end
end


require 'test/unit'
require 'rubygems'
require 'mocha'

class EnterpriseTest < Test::Unit::TestCase

  def test_should_boldly_go
    dilithium = mock()
    dilithium.expects(:nuke).with(:anti_matter).at_least_once  #
auto-verified at end of test
    enterprise = Enterprise.new(dilithium)
    enterprise.go(2)
  end

end


On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 10:37 PM, Gregory Brown
<gregory.t.brown@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 5:31 PM, Shadowfirebird <shadowfirebird@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Forgive me if this is a stupid question.
>>
>> (Actually, I know it's a stupid question -- they're the only ones
>> worth asking...)
>>
>> * How do you unit test a method who's job is to interface with the
>> outside world?  For example, a method that outputs to a file? *
>>
>> I've done a lot of coding, but in a dinosaur language -- automated
>> unit tests are completely new to me.   I understand how to use
>> unit/test; but it seems to me that that's only half the story.  I need
>> some suggestions on how to design my code in such a way as it can be
>> tested.   Suggestions, anyone?
>
> Usually, mock objects are best for this.  There exist some special
> purpose ones, but it is relatively straightforward to put one together
> using something like Mocha or Flexmock, both available on RubyForge.
> If you are using RSpec, support for mock objects is built in.
>
> -greg
>
> --
> Killer Ruby PDF Generation named after a magnificent sea creature:
> http://github.com/sandal/prawn | Non-tech stuff at:
> http://metametta.blogspot.com
>
>



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