Trying out TDD, getting stuck!

rubyonrails-talk
1

I've heard about TDD, read about TDD, and now I'm trying to practice it. However, I'm getting stuck trying to do a simple test in rails 2.2.2. I've decided to try writing a simple functional test to test the 'add_item' action of my cart controller.

However, I got as far as this before my test was already not running:

test "should add an item to the cart" do

end

My cart controller uses two 'fake' models (cart_session, cart_session_line_item) that aren't activerecords. however i'm getting this error message:

ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: SQLite3::SQLException: no such table: cart_sessi on_line_items: DELETE FROM "cart_session_line_items" WHERE 1=1

for the life of me, I don't understand why my test would be hitting the database yet when my test body is blank and why it thinks that cart_session_line_item is an activerecord when it's not wired up as such.

i know TDD is a good thing, and any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Nelson

2

I've heard about TDD, read about TDD, and now I'm trying to practice it. However, I'm getting stuck trying to do a simple test in rails 2.2.2. I've decided to try writing a simple functional test to test the 'add_item' action of my cart controller.

However, I got as far as this before my test was already not running:

test "should add an item to the cart" do

end

My cart controller uses two 'fake' models (cart_session, cart_session_line_item) that aren't activerecords. however i'm getting this error message:

ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: SQLite3::SQLException: no such table: cart_sessi on_line_items: DELETE FROM "cart_session_line_items" WHERE 1=1

for the life of me, I don't understand why my test would be hitting the database yet when my test body is blank and why it thinks that cart_session_line_item is an activerecord when it's not wired up as such.

Are you sure your models are not inheriting from ActiveRecord::Base?

Even if you're not calling any methods on them yet, the sheer act of deriving from ActiveRecord::Base will necessitate the presence of those tables.

i know TDD is a good thing, and any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Nelson

TDD is a good thing! Let's see if we can't get this working for you.

Jeff purpleworkshops.com

3

Jeff Cohen wrote:

Are you sure your models are not inheriting from ActiveRecord::Base?

Even if you're not calling any methods on them yet, the sheer act of deriving from ActiveRecord::Base will necessitate the presence of those tables.

Thanks for the response! I just double checked the two models and neither of them derive from ActiveRecord::Base.

4

Nelson Hsu wrote:

Are you sure your models are not inheriting from ActiveRecord::Base?

Even if you're not calling any methods on them yet, the sheer act of deriving from ActiveRecord::Base will necessitate the presence of those tables.

Thanks for the response! I just double checked the two models and neither of them derive from ActiveRecord::Base.

Can you post the source to either class? Also note that inheritance is not equal to derivation.

5

Roderick van Domburg wrote:

Can you post the source to either class?

cart_session.rb

class CartSession   attr :items   attr_accessor :building   attr_accessor :use_corporate_account end

class CartSessionLineItem   attr_accessor :sku, :quantity, :sku_id

  def initialize(sku_id, quantity)     @sku_id = sku_id     @sku = Sku.find(sku_id)     @quantity = quantity   end

  def total     sku.skuable.price * quantity   end

end

Also note that inheritance is not equal to derivation.

OK, I have to admit, I feel dumb here. I always thought inheriting from a class was deriving from it. Is my terminology all messed up?

6

Nelson Hsu wrote:

Thanks for the response! I just double checked the two models and neither of them derive from ActiveRecord::Base.

Use 'script/generate model my_model' to generate models. They will come complete with empty unit tests, empty data fixtures, etc.

Then, learn TDD using the "unit" tests, meaning the tests on the models - not the "functional" tests on the controllers!

Anything your users can do to data thru the view and controllers, your unit tests should be able to do to the model objects thru their public methods.

Only after you are proficient at the "unit" tests should you try more advanced and indirect testing!

7

Nelson Hsu wrote:

cart_session.rb

class CartSession   attr :items   attr_accessor :building   attr_accessor :use_corporate_account end

class CartSessionLineItem   attr_accessor :sku, :quantity, :sku_id

  def initialize(sku_id, quantity)     @sku_id = sku_id     @sku = Sku.find(sku_id)     @quantity = quantity   end

  def total     sku.skuable.price * quantity   end

end

That looks right. Is there perhaps a fixture lingering around?

Also note that inheritance is not equal to derivation.

OK, I have to admit, I feel dumb here. I always thought inheriting from a class was deriving from it. Is my terminology all messed up?

I take that back and you are right. Must have had my head up in the clouds at that time of writing. :slight_smile:

8

Maybe me too--I've been watching this thread waiting for a clue as to what TDD is--my out of the blue guess is Top Down Design, but I'll do better to ask...?

Randy Kramer

9

Randy Kramer wrote:

10

Matt,

Yes, thank you!

Randy Kramer

11

Well, I figured it out, so I'm going to update my thread and hopefully help someone in the future.

The problem was in test_helper.rb on this line:

fixtures :all

Anyways, thanks for everyone's responses. And thanks to Phlip's suggestion about starting out with unit tests. They were much easier to start with, and now I feel more comfortable with tests.

Randy Kramer wrote: