Example Groups and Code Examples
A Code Example is an executable example of how a bit of code is expected to behave.
An Example Group is a group of code examples.
RSpec exposes a DSL to describe groups of examples.
describe Account do it "should have a balance of $0" do account = Account.new account.balance.should == Money.new(0, :dollars) end end
Before and After
You can use the before() and after() methods to extract common code within an Example Group. Both methods take an optional scope argument so you can run the block before :each example or before :all examples
describe "..." do before :all do ... end before :each do ... end it "should do something" do ... end it "should do something else" do ... end after :each do ... end after :all do ... end end
The before :each block will run before each of the examples, once for each example. Likewise, the after :each block will run after each of the examples.
It is also possible to specify a before :all and after :all block that will run only once for each example group, before the first before :each and after the last after :each respectively. The use of these is generally discouraged, because it introduces dependencies between the examples. Still, it might prove useful for very expensive operations if you know what you are doing.
Local helper methods
You can include local helper methods by simply expressing them within an example group:
describe "..." do it "..." do helper_method end def helper_method ... end end
Included helper methods
You can include helper methods in multiple example groups by expressing them within a module, and then including that module in your example groups:
module AccountExampleHelperMethods def helper_method ... end end describe "A new account" do include AccountExampleHelperMethods before do @account = Account.new end it "should have a balance of $0" do helper_method @account.balance.should eql(Money.new(0, :dollars)) end end
Shared Example Groups
You can define a shared example group, that may be used on other groups
share_examples_for "All Editions" do it "all editions behaviour" ... end describe SmallEdition do it_should_behave_like "All Editions" it "should do small edition stuff" do ... end end
You can also assign the shared group to a module and include that
share_as :AllEditions do it "should do all editions stuff" ... end describe SmallEdition do it_should_behave_like AllEditions it "should do small edition stuff" do ... end end
And, for those of you who prefer to use something more like Ruby, you can just include the module directly
describe SmallEdition do include AllEditions it "should do small edition stuff" do ... end end
lib/spec/example/args_and_options.rb lib/spec/example/before_and_after_hooks.rb lib/spec/example/errors.rb lib/spec/example/example_group.rb lib/spec/example/example_group_factory.rb lib/spec/example/example_group_hierarchy.rb lib/spec/example/example_group_proxy.rb lib/spec/example/example_matcher.rb lib/spec/example/example_proxy.rb lib/spec/example/module_reopening_fix.rb lib/spec/example/pending.rb lib/spec/example/predicate_matchers.rb lib/spec/example/shared_example_group.rb lib/spec/example/example_group_methods.rb lib/spec/example/example_methods.rb lib/spec/example/subject.rb lib/spec/example.rb