Class: ActiveRecord::FixtureSet

Inherits:
Object
  • Object
show all
Defined in:
lib/active_record/fixtures.rb,
lib/active_record/fixture_set/file.rb

Overview

Fixtures are a way of organizing data that you want to test against; in short, sample data.

They are stored in YAML files, one file per model, which are placed in the directory appointed by ActiveSupport::TestCase.fixture_path=(path) (this is automatically configured for Rails, so you can just put your files in <your-rails-app>/test/fixtures/). The fixture file ends with the .yml file extension, for example: <your-rails-app>/test/fixtures/web_sites.yml).

The format of a fixture file looks like this:

rubyonrails:
  id: 1
  name: Ruby on Rails
  url: http://www.rubyonrails.org

google:
  id: 2
  name: Google
  url: http://www.google.com

This fixture file includes two fixtures. Each YAML fixture (ie. record) is given a name and is followed by an indented list of key/value pairs in the “key: value” format. Records are separated by a blank line for your viewing pleasure.

Note: Fixtures are unordered. If you want ordered fixtures, use the omap YAML type. See yaml.org/type/omap.html for the specification. You will need ordered fixtures when you have foreign key constraints on keys in the same table. This is commonly needed for tree structures. Example:

--- !omap
- parent:
    id:         1
    parent_id:  NULL
    title:      Parent
- child:
    id:         2
    parent_id:  1
    title:      Child

Using Fixtures in Test Cases

Since fixtures are a testing construct, we use them in our unit and functional tests. There are two ways to use the fixtures, but first let’s take a look at a sample unit test:

require 'test_helper'

class WebSiteTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
  test "web_site_count" do
    assert_equal 2, WebSite.count
  end
end

By default, test_helper.rb will load all of your fixtures into your test database, so this test will succeed.

The testing environment will automatically load the all fixtures into the database before each test. To ensure consistent data, the environment deletes the fixtures before running the load.

In addition to being available in the database, the fixture’s data may also be accessed by using a special dynamic method, which has the same name as the model, and accepts the name of the fixture to instantiate:

test "find" do
  assert_equal "Ruby on Rails", web_sites(:rubyonrails).name
end

Alternatively, you may enable auto-instantiation of the fixture data. For instance, take the following tests:

test "find_alt_method_1" do
  assert_equal "Ruby on Rails", @web_sites['rubyonrails']['name']
end

test "find_alt_method_2" do
  assert_equal "Ruby on Rails", @rubyonrails.name
end

In order to use these methods to access fixtured data within your testcases, you must specify one of the following in your ActiveSupport::TestCase-derived class:

  • to fully enable instantiated fixtures (enable alternate methods #1 and #2 above)

    self.use_instantiated_fixtures = true

  • create only the hash for the fixtures, do not ‘find’ each instance (enable alternate method #1 only)

    self.use_instantiated_fixtures = :no_instances

Using either of these alternate methods incurs a performance hit, as the fixtured data must be fully traversed in the database to create the fixture hash and/or instance variables. This is expensive for large sets of fixtured data.

Dynamic fixtures with ERB

Some times you don’t care about the content of the fixtures as much as you care about the volume. In these cases, you can mix ERB in with your YAML fixtures to create a bunch of fixtures for load testing, like:

<% 1.upto(1000) do |i| %>
fix_<%= i %>:
  id: <%= i %>
  name: guy_<%= i %>
<% end %>

This will create 1000 very simple fixtures.

Using ERB, you can also inject dynamic values into your fixtures with inserts like <%= Date.today.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") %>. This is however a feature to be used with some caution. The point of fixtures are that they’re stable units of predictable sample data. If you feel that you need to inject dynamic values, then perhaps you should reexamine whether your application is properly testable. Hence, dynamic values in fixtures are to be considered a code smell.

Helper methods defined in a fixture will not be available in other fixtures, to prevent against unwanted inter-test dependencies. Methods used by multiple fixtures should be defined in a module that is included in ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.context_class.

  • define a helper method in ‘test_helper.rb`

    module FixtureFileHelpers
  def file_sha(path)
    Digest::SHA2.hexdigest(File.read(Rails.root.join('test/fixtures', path)))
  end
end
ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.context_class.include FixtureFileHelpers

  • use the helper method in a fixture

    photo:
  name: kitten.png
  sha: <%= file_sha 'files/kitten.png' %>

Transactional Tests

Test cases can use begin+rollback to isolate their changes to the database instead of having to delete+insert for every test case.

class FooTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
  self.use_transactional_tests = true

  test "godzilla" do
    assert !Foo.all.empty?
    Foo.destroy_all
    assert Foo.all.empty?
  end

  test "godzilla aftermath" do
    assert !Foo.all.empty?
  end
end

If you preload your test database with all fixture data (probably in the rake task) and use transactional tests, then you may omit all fixtures declarations in your test cases since all the data’s already there and every case rolls back its changes.

In order to use instantiated fixtures with preloaded data, set self.pre_loaded_fixtures to true. This will provide access to fixture data for every table that has been loaded through fixtures (depending on the value of use_instantiated_fixtures).

When not to use transactional tests:

  1. You’re testing whether a transaction works correctly. Nested transactions don’t commit until all parent transactions commit, particularly, the fixtures transaction which is begun in setup and rolled back in teardown. Thus, you won’t be able to verify the results of your transaction until Active Record supports nested transactions or savepoints (in progress).

  2. Your database does not support transactions. Every Active Record database supports transactions except MySQL MyISAM. Use InnoDB, MaxDB, or NDB instead.

Advanced Fixtures

Fixtures that don’t specify an ID get some extra features:

  • Stable, autogenerated IDs

  • Label references for associations (belongs_to, has_one, has_many)

  • HABTM associations as inline lists

There are some more advanced features available even if the id is specified:

  • Autofilled timestamp columns

  • Fixture label interpolation

  • Support for YAML defaults

Stable, Autogenerated IDs

Here, have a monkey fixture:

george:
  id: 1
  name: George the Monkey

reginald:
  id: 2
  name: Reginald the Pirate

Each of these fixtures has two unique identifiers: one for the database and one for the humans. Why don’t we generate the primary key instead? Hashing each fixture’s label yields a consistent ID:

george: # generated id: 503576764
  name: George the Monkey

reginald: # generated id: 324201669
  name: Reginald the Pirate

Active Record looks at the fixture’s model class, discovers the correct primary key, and generates it right before inserting the fixture into the database.

The generated ID for a given label is constant, so we can discover any fixture’s ID without loading anything, as long as we know the label.

Label references for associations (belongs_to, has_one, has_many)

Specifying foreign keys in fixtures can be very fragile, not to mention difficult to read. Since Active Record can figure out the ID of any fixture from its label, you can specify FK’s by label instead of ID.

belongs_to

Let’s break out some more monkeys and pirates.

### in pirates.yml

reginald:
  id: 1
  name: Reginald the Pirate
  monkey_id: 1

### in monkeys.yml

george:
  id: 1
  name: George the Monkey
  pirate_id: 1

Add a few more monkeys and pirates and break this into multiple files, and it gets pretty hard to keep track of what’s going on. Let’s use labels instead of IDs:

### in pirates.yml

reginald:
  name: Reginald the Pirate
  monkey: george

### in monkeys.yml

george:
  name: George the Monkey
  pirate: reginald

Pow! All is made clear. Active Record reflects on the fixture’s model class, finds all the belongs_to associations, and allows you to specify a target label for the association (monkey: george) rather than a target id for the FK (monkey_id: 1).

Polymorphic belongs_to

Supporting polymorphic relationships is a little bit more complicated, since Active Record needs to know what type your association is pointing at. Something like this should look familiar:

### in fruit.rb

belongs_to :eater, polymorphic: true

### in fruits.yml

apple:
  id: 1
  name: apple
  eater_id: 1
  eater_type: Monkey

Can we do better? You bet!

apple:
  eater: george (Monkey)

Just provide the polymorphic target type and Active Record will take care of the rest.

has_and_belongs_to_many

Time to give our monkey some fruit.

### in monkeys.yml

george:
  id: 1
  name: George the Monkey

### in fruits.yml

apple:
  id: 1
  name: apple

orange:
  id: 2
  name: orange

grape:
  id: 3
  name: grape

### in fruits_monkeys.yml

apple_george:
  fruit_id: 1
  monkey_id: 1

orange_george:
  fruit_id: 2
  monkey_id: 1

grape_george:
  fruit_id: 3
  monkey_id: 1

Let’s make the HABTM fixture go away.

### in monkeys.yml

george:
  id: 1
  name: George the Monkey
  fruits: apple, orange, grape

### in fruits.yml

apple:
  name: apple

orange:
  name: orange

grape:
  name: grape

Zap! No more fruits_monkeys.yml file. We’ve specified the list of fruits on George’s fixture, but we could’ve just as easily specified a list of monkeys on each fruit. As with belongs_to, Active Record reflects on the fixture’s model class and discovers the has_and_belongs_to_many associations.

Autofilled Timestamp Columns

If your table/model specifies any of Active Record’s standard timestamp columns (created_at, created_on, updated_at, updated_on), they will automatically be set to Time.now.

If you’ve set specific values, they’ll be left alone.

Fixture label interpolation

The label of the current fixture is always available as a column value:

geeksomnia:
  name: Geeksomnia's Account
  subdomain: $LABEL
  email: [email protected]

Also, sometimes (like when porting older join table fixtures) you’ll need to be able to get a hold of the identifier for a given label. ERB to the rescue:

george_reginald:
  monkey_id: <%= ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.identify(:reginald) %>
  pirate_id: <%= ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.identify(:george) %>

Support for YAML defaults

You can set and reuse defaults in your fixtures YAML file. This is the same technique used in the database.yml file to specify defaults:

DEFAULTS: &DEFAULTS
  created_on: <%= 3.weeks.ago.to_s(:db) %>

first:
  name: Smurf
  <<: *DEFAULTS

second:
  name: Fraggle
  <<: *DEFAULTS

Any fixture labeled “DEFAULTS” is safely ignored.

Configure the fixture model class

It’s possible to set the fixture’s model class directly in the YAML file. This is helpful when fixtures are loaded outside tests and set_fixture_class is not available (e.g. when running rails db:fixtures:load).

_fixture:
  model_class: User
david:
  name: David

Any fixtures labeled “_fixture” are safely ignored.

Defined Under Namespace

Classes: ClassCache, File, HasManyThroughProxy, ReflectionProxy, RenderContext

Constant Summary collapse

MAX_ID =

– An instance of FixtureSet is normally stored in a single YAML file and possibly in a folder with the same name. ++

2 ** 30 - 1
@@all_cached_fixtures = 
Hash.new { |h,k| h[k] = {} }

Instance Attribute Summary collapse

Class Method Summary collapse

Instance Method Summary collapse

Constructor Details

#initialize(connection, name, class_name, path, config = ActiveRecord::Base) ⇒ FixtureSet

Returns a new instance of FixtureSet.



591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 591

def initialize(connection, name, class_name, path, config = ActiveRecord::Base)
  @name     = name
  @path     = path
  @config   = config

  self.model_class = class_name

  @fixtures = read_fixture_files(path)

  @connection  = connection

  @table_name = ( model_class.respond_to?(:table_name) ?
                  model_class.table_name :
                  self.class.default_fixture_table_name(name, config) )
end

Instance Attribute Details

#config ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute config.



589
590
591
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 589

def config
  @config
end

#fixtures ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute fixtures.



589
590
591
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 589

def fixtures
  @fixtures
end

#model_class ⇒ Object

Returns the value of attribute model_class.



589
590
591
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 589

def model_class
  @model_class
end

#name ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute name.



589
590
591
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 589

def name
  @name
end

#table_name ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute table_name.



589
590
591
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 589

def table_name
  @table_name
end

Class Method Details

.cache_fixtures(connection, fixtures_map) ⇒ Object 



454
455
456
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 454

def self.cache_fixtures(connection, fixtures_map)
  cache_for_connection(connection).update(fixtures_map)
end

.cache_for_connection(connection) ⇒ Object 



438
439
440
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 438

def self.cache_for_connection(connection)
  @@all_cached_fixtures[connection]
end

.cached_fixtures(connection, keys_to_fetch = nil) ⇒ Object 



446
447
448
449
450
451
452
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 446

def self.cached_fixtures(connection, keys_to_fetch = nil)
  if keys_to_fetch
    cache_for_connection(connection).values_at(*keys_to_fetch)
  else
    cache_for_connection(connection).values
  end
end

.context_class ⇒ Object

Superclass for the evaluation contexts used by ERB fixtures.



581
582
583
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 581

def self.context_class
  @context_class ||= Class.new
end

.create_fixtures(fixtures_directory, fixture_set_names, class_names = {}, config = ActiveRecord::Base) ⇒ Object 



511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 511

def self.create_fixtures(fixtures_directory, fixture_set_names, class_names = {}, config = ActiveRecord::Base)
  fixture_set_names = Array(fixture_set_names).map(&:to_s)
  class_names = ClassCache.new class_names, config

  # FIXME: Apparently JK uses this.
  connection = block_given? ? yield : ActiveRecord::Base.connection

  files_to_read = fixture_set_names.reject { |fs_name|
    fixture_is_cached?(connection, fs_name)
  }

  unless files_to_read.empty?
    connection.disable_referential_integrity do
      fixtures_map = {}

      fixture_sets = files_to_read.map do |fs_name|
        klass = class_names[fs_name]
        conn = klass ? klass.connection : connection
        fixtures_map[fs_name] = new( # ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.new
          conn,
          fs_name,
          klass,
          ::File.join(fixtures_directory, fs_name))
      end

      update_all_loaded_fixtures fixtures_map

      connection.transaction(requires_new: true) do
        deleted_tables = Hash.new { |h, k| h[k] = Set.new }
        fixture_sets.each do |fs|
          conn = fs.model_class.respond_to?(:connection) ? fs.model_class.connection : connection
          table_rows = fs.table_rows

          table_rows.each_key do |table|
            unless deleted_tables[conn].include? table
              conn.delete "DELETE FROM #{conn.quote_table_name(table)}", "Fixture Delete"
            end
            deleted_tables[conn] << table
          end

          table_rows.each do |fixture_set_name, rows|
            rows.each do |row|
              conn.insert_fixture(row, fixture_set_name)
            end
          end

          # Cap primary key sequences to max(pk).
          if conn.respond_to?(:reset_pk_sequence!)
            conn.reset_pk_sequence!(fs.table_name)
          end
        end
      end

      cache_fixtures(connection, fixtures_map)
    end
  end
  cached_fixtures(connection, fixture_set_names)
end

.default_fixture_model_name(fixture_set_name, config = ActiveRecord::Base) ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



422
423
424
425
426
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 422

def self.default_fixture_model_name(fixture_set_name, config = ActiveRecord::Base) # :nodoc:
  config.pluralize_table_names ?
    fixture_set_name.singularize.camelize :
    fixture_set_name.camelize
end

.default_fixture_table_name(fixture_set_name, config = ActiveRecord::Base) ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



428
429
430
431
432
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 428

def self.default_fixture_table_name(fixture_set_name, config = ActiveRecord::Base) # :nodoc:
   "#{ config.table_name_prefix }"\
   "#{ fixture_set_name.tr('/', '_') }"\
   "#{ config.table_name_suffix }".to_sym
end

.fixture_is_cached?(connection, table_name) ⇒ Boolean

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


442
443
444
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 442

def self.fixture_is_cached?(connection, table_name)
  cache_for_connection(connection)[table_name]
end

.identify(label, column_type = :integer) ⇒ Object

Returns a consistent, platform-independent identifier for label. Integer identifiers are values less than 2^30. UUIDs are RFC 4122 version 5 SHA-1 hashes.



572
573
574
575
576
577
578
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 572

def self.identify(label, column_type = :integer)
  if column_type == :uuid
    Digest::UUID.uuid_v5(Digest::UUID::OID_NAMESPACE, label.to_s)
  else
    Zlib.crc32(label.to_s) % MAX_ID
  end
end

.instantiate_all_loaded_fixtures(object, load_instances = true) ⇒ Object 



470
471
472
473
474
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 470

def self.instantiate_all_loaded_fixtures(object, load_instances = true)
  all_loaded_fixtures.each_value do |fixture_set|
    instantiate_fixtures(object, fixture_set, load_instances)
  end
end

.instantiate_fixtures(object, fixture_set, load_instances = true) ⇒ Object 



458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 458

def self.instantiate_fixtures(object, fixture_set, load_instances = true)
  if load_instances
    fixture_set.each do |fixture_name, fixture|
      begin
        object.instance_variable_set "@#{fixture_name}", fixture.find
      rescue FixtureClassNotFound
        nil
      end
    end
  end
end

.reset_cache ⇒ Object 



434
435
436
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 434

def self.reset_cache
  @@all_cached_fixtures.clear
end

.update_all_loaded_fixtures(fixtures_map) ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



585
586
587
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 585

def self.update_all_loaded_fixtures(fixtures_map) # :nodoc:
  all_loaded_fixtures.update(fixtures_map)
end

Instance Method Details

#[](x) ⇒ Object 



607
608
609
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 607

def [](x)
  fixtures[x]
end

#[]=(k, v) ⇒ Object 



611
612
613
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 611

def []=(k,v)
  fixtures[k] = v
end

#each(&block) ⇒ Object 



615
616
617
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 615

def each(&block)
  fixtures.each(&block)
end

#size ⇒ Object 



619
620
621
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 619

def size
  fixtures.size
end

#table_rows ⇒ Object

Returns a hash of rows to be inserted. The key is the table, the value is a list of rows to insert to that table.



625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
 
# File 'lib/active_record/fixtures.rb', line 625

def table_rows
  now = config.default_timezone == :utc ? Time.now.utc : Time.now

  # allow a standard key to be used for doing defaults in YAML
  fixtures.delete('DEFAULTS')

  # track any join tables we need to insert later
  rows = Hash.new { |h,table| h[table] = [] }

  rows[table_name] = fixtures.map do |label, fixture|
    row = fixture.to_hash

    if model_class
      # fill in timestamp columns if they aren't specified and the model is set to record_timestamps
      if model_class.record_timestamps
        timestamp_column_names.each do |c_name|
          row[c_name] = now unless row.key?(c_name)
        end
      end

      # interpolate the fixture label
      row.each do |key, value|
        row[key] = value.gsub("$LABEL", label.to_s) if value.is_a?(String)
      end

      # generate a primary key if necessary
      if has_primary_key_column? && !row.include?(primary_key_name)
        row[primary_key_name] = ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.identify(label, primary_key_type)
      end

      # Resolve enums
      model_class.defined_enums.each do |name, values|
        if row.include?(name)
          row[name] = values.fetch(row[name], row[name])
        end
      end

      # If STI is used, find the correct subclass for association reflection
      reflection_class =
        if row.include?(inheritance_column_name)
          row[inheritance_column_name].constantize rescue model_class
        else
          model_class
        end

      reflection_class._reflections.each_value do |association|
        case association.macro
        when :belongs_to
          # Do not replace association name with association foreign key if they are named the same
          fk_name = (association.options[:foreign_key] || "#{association.name}_id").to_s

          if association.name.to_s != fk_name && value = row.delete(association.name.to_s)
            if association.polymorphic? && value.sub!(/\s*\(([^\)]*)\)\s*$/, "")
              # support polymorphic belongs_to as "label (Type)"
              row[association.foreign_type] = $1
            end

            fk_type = reflection_class.type_for_attribute(fk_name).type
            row[fk_name] = ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.identify(value, fk_type)
          end
        when :has_many
          if association.options[:through]
            add_join_records(rows, row, HasManyThroughProxy.new(association))
          end
        end
      end
    end

    row
  end
  rows
end