Method: Shoulda::ClassMethods#context

Defined in:

lib/shoulda/context.rb

#context(name, &blk) ⇒ Object

Contexts

A context block groups should statements under a common set of setup/teardown methods. Context blocks can be arbitrarily nested, and can do wonders for improving the maintainability and readability of your test code.

A context block can contain setup, should, should_eventually, and teardown blocks.

class UserTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
  context "A User instance" do
    setup do
      @user = User.find(:first)
    end

    should "return its full name"
      assert_equal 'John Doe', @user.full_name
    end
  end
end

This code will produce the method "test: A User instance should return its full name. ".

Contexts may be nested. Nested contexts run their setup blocks from out to in before each should statement. They then run their teardown blocks from in to out after each should statement.

class UserTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
  context "A User instance" do
    setup do
      @user = User.find(:first)
    end

    should "return its full name"
      assert_equal 'John Doe', @user.full_name
    end

    context "with a profile" do
      setup do
        @user.profile = Profile.find(:first)
      end

      should "return true when sent :has_profile?"
        assert @user.has_profile?
      end
    end
  end
end

This code will produce the following methods

• "test: A User instance should return its full name. "

• "test: A User instance with a profile should return true when sent :has_profile?. "

Just like should statements, a context block can exist next to normal def test_the_old_way; end tests. This means you do not have to fully commit to the context/should syntax in a test file.

# File 'lib/shoulda/context.rb', line 165

def context(name, &blk)
  if Shoulda.current_context
    Shoulda.current_context.context(name, &blk)
  else
    context = Shoulda::Context.new(name, self, &blk)
    context.build
  end
end