From: nathaniel@...
Date: 2003-01-22T15:31:01+09:00
Subject: Re: iterating in a test

Paul Brannan [mailto:pbrannan@atdesk.com] wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 11, 2003 at 01:58:07AM +0900, Nathaniel Talbott wrote:
> > How about (untested):
> > 
> >   10.times { |i|
> >     assert_nothing_raised("Testing f where i=#{i}") {
> >       assert_equal(1, f(i), "Testing f where i=#{i}")
> >     }
> >   }
> 
> In this case I still have to duplicate the message for the 
> assert_nothing_raised and the assert_equal call.

Hmmm... you're right - I should've used a temp var to store the message
;-). Seriously, that doesn't seem like a hardship to me, and it seems
much simpler than what you propose below...


> What I think I'd like to see is something like this:
> 
>   def test_foo
>     10.times do |i|
>       performing_action("Testing f(x) where i=#{i}") do
>         assert_equal 1, f(i)
>         some_helper_function(1)
>       end
>     end
>   end
> 
>   def some_helper_function(i)
>     performing_action("inside the helper function") do
>       # make some assertions here
>     end
>   end
> 
> The performing_action() method could append the passed string onto an 
> array at the start of the block (and remove it at the end), so I have 
> a list of actions that I'm in the middle of performing.  This list of 
> actions should be printed for every failed assertion and every 
> exception that escapes.

  def performing_action(message) # Not tested
    @message_stack ||= []
    @message_stack.push(message)
    begin
      yield
    rescue Exception
      raise $!, [$!.message, *@message_stack].join("\n"), $!.backtrace
    ensure
      @message_stack.pop
    end
  end

It's seems overly complex for me to want to use it, though; if the
simpler solution I gave above wouldn't work, I'd probably start looking
to refactor my tests. Just my $0.02.

HTH,


Nathaniel

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