TCFG

TCFG (pronounced "tee config") is test suite configuration for the real world. TCFG offers:

• Support for easily controlling which environment your tests execute against

• A tiered structure to configuration which allows for every kind of configuration scenario to be supported.

Background

The Wiki contains more in depth information. Some good places to start:

• Test suite configuration manifesto

• The tiers of configuration in TCFG

Getting started

Using in RSpec

Start by installing the gem:

$ gem install tcfg

In the project root, make a yaml file called tcfg.yml that contains all configuration you want to be able to control. For a selenium suite, it might look something like this:

---
#start with basic defaults
BROWSER: firefox
BASE_URL: http://localhost:8080
LOG_LEVEL: INFO

#This is a special section with overrides by 'environment'
t_environments:
  QA:
    BASE_URL: http://qa.mysite.com

  Production:
    BASE_URL: https://mysite.com

Then configure RSpec to use tcfg in your spec helper file (typically called spec/spec_helper.rb):

require 'tcfg'

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.include TCFG::Helper
end

Now you can access configuration in any before, after, or it block, like:

require 'selenium-webdriver'
RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:all) do
    @browser = Selenium::WebDriver.for tcfg['BROWSER']
  end

  config.before(:each) do
    @browser.get tcfg['BASE_URL']
  end

  config.after(:all) do
    @browser.quit
  end
end

If you need to access configuration outside of a before, after, or it block you can use the TCFG module directly:

Log.level = TCFG['BASE_URL']

To control your test suite, you can use environment variables. To change the browser used:

#To execute with all default configuration
$ rspec

#To change the browser used
$ T_BROWSER=chrome rspec

#To change which environment the tests execute against:
$ T_ENVIRONMENT=QA rspec

Other uses

TCFG is a general purpose configuration framework. It should be possible to use with most Ruby test frameworks or even for non testing uses. If you have a use and aren't sure how to handle it with tcfg, file an issue we'll see if we can help you out.