initial-test-data

The initial-test-data is a tool to create a text fixture for Rails applications.

Overview

Although the Rails itself has a standard mechanism (Fixtures), it is rather cumbersome to construct a real (often complicated) data structure from YAML files.

The initial-test-data provides a a way to create a test fixture using Active Record, Factory Girl, etc.

Installation

Add the following line to Gemfile:

gem 'initial-test-data', group: :test

Run bin/bundle install on the terminal.

Configuration of test framework

MiniTest

To be written.

RSpec

Edit spec/rails_helper.rb like this:

ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require 'spec_helper'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
require 'rspec/rails'
require 'initial-test-data'

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:suite) do
    InitialTestData.load('spec')
  end
end

Usage

Synopsis

• Create initial_data subdirectory in the test or spec directory.
• Put any ruby scripts on this file.
• Run your test suite.

Caching data

The initial-test-data generates the md5 digest of all ruby scripts in the initial_data directory and app/models directory, then stores it to the _initial_data_digest table of the test database.

When the generated md5 digest is equal to the previously stored value, data initializing process will be skipped.

Load Order

The files in the initial_data directory are loaded in alphabetical order. If you control the load order, you should make a YAML file called _index.yml, which has a content like this:

- products
- customers
- orders

Options for the InitialTestData.load method

except

The initial-test-data utilizes the database_cleaner gem to truncate all tables except _initial_data_digest and schema_migrations.

If you want to keep some tables intact, specify the except option:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:suite) do
    InitialTestData.load('spec', except: %w(country_names))
  end
end

This option is passed to the DatabaseCleaner.strategy= method.

monitoring

By default the initial-test-data monitors the initial_data directory under the test directory (or the directory specified by the first argument) and the app/models directory.

If you want to add monitoring target directories, specify monitoring option to the InitialTestData.load method:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:suite) do
    InitialTestData.load('spec', monitoring: [ 'app/services', 'lib' ]
  end
end

You should use relative paths from the Rails.root.

Example

MiniTest and Active Record

To be written

RSpec, Capybara and Factory Girl

# spec/initial_data/customers.rb

include FactoryGirl::Syntax::Methods

0.upto(9) do |n|
  create(:customer, email: "test#{n}@example.com")
end

# spec/features/manage_customers_spec.rb

require 'rails_helper'

feature 'Manage customers' do
  let(:customer) { Customer.find_by(email: 'test0@example.com') }

  scenario 'Change the name of a customer' do
    visit root_path

    find('table.customers td', text: customer.email)
      .find(:xpath, '..').click_link('Edit')

    fill_in 'Given Name', with: 'John'
    fill_in 'Family Name', with: 'Doe'
    click_button 'Update'

    customer.reload
    expect(customer.given_name).to eq('John')
    expect(customer.family_name).to eq('Doe')
  end
end