Question

I am describing class on RSpec

class Pupil
      def initialize(name, dateOfBirth)
            @name = name
            @dateOfBirth = dateOfBirth
      end

      def name
            @name
      end

      def ages
            #should calculate ages
      end
end

describe Pupil do
      context do
            pupil = Pupil.new("Stanislav Majewski", "1 april 1999")

            it "should returns name" do
                  pupil.name.should eq("Stanislav Majewski")
            end

            it "should calculates ages" do
                  #not described
            end
      end
end

RSpec returns:

..

Finished in 0.00203 seconds
2 examples, 0 failures

Is there an elegant way to display a failure message that the method is not described?

Answer 1

If you’re concerned that you’ll create a test and forget to put anything it in (sometimes I’ll create three tests I know I’ll need, and work on each of them in turn) then you can do the following:

it "should calculates ages" do
  fail
end

OR

it "should calculates ages"

…and that’s all (no block) will mark the test as pending automatically. In other words, don’t fill out your tests until they have actual test code in them.

Also, if you don’t test any assertions (i.e. if your spec doesn’t contain any lines that have a call to should in them), your spec will appear to pass. This has happened to me a few times, where I write a new test, expecting it to fail, and it doesn’t because I forgot to include the call to should which is what actually tests the assertion.