[rspec-users] Speccing private class methods

[David Chelimsky]

On 12/21/06, Ashley Moran <work at ashleymoran.me.uk> wrote:
> Hi
>
> How can I specify that a private method of a class gets called?  If
> you run the code below, only spec (1) passes.  Spec (2) is what I
> found causing problems in my code, and class (3) is my failed attempt
> to work around it.  (3 really puzzles me - why is a private class
> method not accessible via send?)
>
> Another problem is that stub! makes public methods, which changes the
> behaviour of a class if you stub a private method.

In theory you shouldn't be specifying anything about private methods.
The only reason we support partial mocks at all (which is a mocking
no-no) is because Rails forces us to.

You won't find a solution to your problem within RSpec, but you can do this:

specify "(2) call_private_method should call private_method" do
  begin
    MyClass.send :public, 'private_method'
    MyClass.should_receive(:private_method).and_return("this is private")
  ensure
    MyClass.send :private, 'private_method'
  end
end

So, for this spec only, you can access the method to spec that it gets
called, but then restore the method to its private state.

>
> Ashley
>
>
>    require 'spec'
>
>    class MyClass
>      class << self
>        def call_private_method
>          private_method.upcase
>        end
>
>        private
>          def private_method
>            "this is private"
>          end
>      end
>    end
>
>    context "MyClass" do
>      specify "(1) call_private_method should upcase the
> private_method" do
>        MyClass.call_private_method.should == "THIS IS PRIVATE"
>      end
>
>      specify "(2) call_private_method should call private_method" do
>        MyClass.should_receive(:private_method).and_return("this is
> private")
>      end
>
>      specify "(3) private_method should return 'this is private'" do
>        MyClass.send(:private_method).should == "this is private"
>      end
>    end
>
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