Question

How can I do something like:

it { should have_constant(:FIXED_LIST) }

In my model (active record) I have FIXED_LIST = 'A String'

It’s not a db attribute or a method and I haven’t been able to use responds_to or has_attribute to test for it (they fail). What can I use the to check for it. – btw I have the shoulda-matchers installed.

Answer 1

Based on David Chelimsky’s answer I’ve got this to work by slightly modifying his code.

In a file spec/support/utilities.rb (or some other in spec/support) you can put:

RSpec::Matchers.define :have_constant do |const|
  match do |owner|
    owner.const_defined?(const)
  end
end

Note the use of “RSpec::Matchers.define” in stead of “matchers”

This allows to test for constants in your specs, like:

 it "should have a fixed list constant" do
    YourModel.should have_constant(:FIXED_LIST)
 end

Note the use of “have_constant” in stead of “have_const”