UnitRecord
This plugin provides unit testing for ActiveRecord by disconnecting tests from the database.
The Benefits
Rationale: www.dcmanges.com/blog/rails-unit-record-test-without-the-database
One huge benefit to disconnecting unit tests from the database is having a faster test suite. Here is the benchmark from one of my current projects:
Finished in 11.541093 seconds.
3001 tests, 5325 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors
Installation
gem install unit_record
Usage
Restructuring the Rails Test Directory
The Rails test directory typically places testing for models under test/unit
and tests for controllers under test/functional
. However, we need to change the definition of unit and functional. Controllers can be unit tested (mocking out models and not rendering the view). Models can be functionally tested (hitting the database). Also, each type of test needs its own test_helper. I recommend restructuring your test directory like this:
test
test_helper.rb
unit
unit_test_helper.rb
controllers
models
functional
functional_test_helper.rb
controllers
models
You should move existing functional tests into functional/controllers. You will also need to change the require line at the top of those tests to require the functional_test_helper.rb file instead of the test_helper.rb file.
The functional_test_helper.rb
file only needs to require test_helper.rb
:
require File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../test_helper"
For moving unit tests, you have a few options. I recommend moving them to unit/models and then disconnecting your unit tests from the database. Any tests that fail should then be modified to not hit the database or moved to functional/models.
Disconnecting
In the test/unit/unit_test_helper.rb
file you created when restructuring your test directory, you should add these lines:
require File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../test_helper"
require "unit_record"
ActiveRecord::Base.disconnect!
The disconnect!
method will do everything necessary to run your unit tests without hitting the database.
Thanks
Thanks to Jay Fields for the original implementation: blog.jayfields.com/2007/03/rails-activerecord-unit-testing-part-ii.html
License
Released under Ruby’s license. www.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt