I sent this message to a RailsMentor Protege of mine :
A couple notes on BDD testing :
1. Never test “the glue”. “Glue” means anything that Ruby or Rails should be doing “automatically”. That means, database querying, sending values from controller to view, etc. So, in a view test, you should be able to adequately test your views using the isolated view tests. This is where you could test that your table-building code is working right as you expect. Your controller tests should be able to be tested without database requests (mocking model instances), see #2.
2. Skinny Controllers, Skinny Views. Make your controller code, and your view usage as absolutely minimal as possible.
The ideal controller method looks like :
def show
respond_with @some_record
end
Yes, THAT SMALL. Rails framework provides a HEAP of assistive methods to accomplish that. #before_filter, #after_filter, #respond_to
Views should contain very little Ruby code. #render :partial and generous use of Helpers allows your view code to be very small (and subsequently, very testable). Repeatable elements like table-rows should be in partials, where they are easily testable.
3. Cucumber-level testing : Are you using Cucumber (http://cukes.info)? Cucumber scripts should really be reserved for “business owner specification”. A business owner would not usually be concerned with error handling or the exact placement (or even widget-type) of elements on the forms. The Business owner instead is interested in knowing that Page A => Page B => Page C works… or for instance, “If I buy product “Widget Sharpener”, then my shopping cart counter increases to 1 ”
There is a general BDD/TDD work cycle :
Create cucumber feature
Code supporting Cucumber step
Cucumber-RED : Cucumber execution fails because step causes failure in model/view/controller
Match expected functionality in model/controller/view RSpec
RSpec-RED : Rspec execution fails because functionality is not implemented
Modify model/view/controller with added functionality
RSpec-GREEN : Rspec now succeeds
Cucumber-GREEN : Cucumber now succeeds
You will often find steps 5-7 (Rspec Red/Green cycle) will repeat several times between Cucumber Red/Green cycles. This is our minute-to-minute Ruby-programmer’s work experience.
I’m looking forward to hearing more from you of your experience learning Ruby and Rails.