[rspec-users] validate_presence_of

[Stephen Eley]

On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:42 PM, Yi Wen <hayafirst at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Without this syntax sugar, we still have to test validates_presence_of to
> make sure it's there and won't broken, right?

Wrong.  You don't have to test validates_presence_of.  What matters,
and therefore what you should test, is whether the model will complain
at you if a particular value is left empty.

validates_presence_of happens to be the name of the method in
ActiveRecord that does that.  But if you decide to write your own
check_to_see_if_this_thingy_is_in_my_whatsis() method that does the
same thing, a good *behavior* spec will not break.  Because the
behavior remains the same.

If your spec breaks because you changed a method call, you're not
testing behavior any more.  You're testing syntax.



-- 
Have Fun,
   Steve Eley (sfeley at gmail.com)
   ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
   http://www.escapepod.org