CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ruby-on-rails
Andy Harvey
Andy Harvey

Reputation: 12663

How to write non-brittle rspec tests for DateTime values?

In a Rails app I have a model attribute that sets a datetime when the user performs an action.

What is the best way to test for this functionality, without being too brittle?

for example, I have

it "should set the uploaded time" do
  @model.uploaded_at.should == DateTime.now.new_offset(0)
end

My test is failing when it should pass, with 

expected: Thu, 24 May 2012 10:32:50 +0000
got: Thu, 24 May 2012 10:32:50 UTC +00:00

So my questions are:

  1. How should I define DateTime.now.new_offset(0) so that the UTC marker is expected?

  2. I can see this test potentially failing due to the passage of time. For example: factory get created, tests are run, 1 second later it "should set the uploaded time" is run, test fails due to 1 second difference. Is there a better way to test this?

Thanks for any tips that would help me learn this.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 674

Answers (2)

tight
tight

Reputation: 833

For your second question, if you don't want to add another gem (timecop), you can stub the date (DateTime.stub(:now).and_return :whatever) or base your test on the fact that uploaded_at changed (@model.uploaded_at.should_not == the_previous_uploaded_at_value)

Upvotes: 1

Yuri Barbashov
Yuri Barbashov

Reputation: 5437

there is timecop for that purpose https://github.com/jtrupiano/timecop

Upvotes: 3

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