There’s been a lot of discussion about clarity over DRY lately. This is something that I’ve been espousing for some time, but recent posts by Jay Fields, Mikel Lindsaar and Dan North have gotten me thinking about it again with more focus.

With this in mind, I’ve been refining the examples generated for restful controllers when you run script/generate rspec_scaffold with the rspec-rails plugin. I’ve got them now where I’m pretty happy with them, but I’m curious to hear what you think. I’m not going to tell you what I changed or what to look for, I’m just going to ask you to look it over and post your comments.

There are two listings: the generated code and the output you get from running the examples. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

script/generate rspec_scaffold account

require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper')

describe AccountsController do

def mock_account(stubs={})
  stubs = {
    :save => true,
    :update_attributes => true,
    :destroy => true,
    :to_xml => ''
  }.merge(stubs)
  @mock_account ||= mock_model(Account, stubs)
end

describe "responding to GET /accounts" do

  it "should succeed" do
    Account.stub!(:find)
    get :index
    response.should be_success
  end

  it "should render the 'index' template" do
    Account.stub!(:find)
    get :index
    response.should render_template('index')
  end

  it "should find all accounts" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).with(:all)
    get :index
  end

  it "should assign the found accounts for the view" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).and_return([mock_account])
    get :index
    assigns[:accounts].should == [mock_account]
  end

end

describe "responding to GET /accounts.xml" do

  before(:each) do
    request.env["HTTP_ACCEPT"] = "application/xml"
  end

  it "should succeed" do
    Account.stub!(:find).and_return([])
    get :index
    response.should be_success
  end

  it "should find all accounts" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).with(:all).and_return([])
    get :index
  end

  it "should render the found accounts as xml" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).and_return(accounts = mock("Array of Accounts"))
    accounts.should_receive(:to_xml).and_return("generated XML")
    get :index
    response.body.should == "generated XML"
  end

end

describe "responding to GET /accounts/1" do

  it "should succeed" do
    Account.stub!(:find)
    get :show, :id => "1"
    response.should be_success
  end

  it "should render the 'show' template" do
    Account.stub!(:find)
    get :show, :id => "1"
    response.should render_template('show')
  end

  it "should find the requested account" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).with("37")
    get :show, :id => "37"
  end

  it "should assign the found account for the view" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).and_return(mock_account)
    get :show, :id => "1"
    assigns[:account].should equal(mock_account)
  end

end

describe "responding to GET /accounts/1.xml" do

  before(:each) do
    request.env["HTTP_ACCEPT"] = "application/xml"
  end

  it "should succeed" do
    Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
    get :show, :id => "1"
    response.should be_success
  end

  it "should find the account requested" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).with("37").and_return(mock_account)
    get :show, :id => "37"
  end

  it "should render the found account as xml" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).and_return(mock_account)
    mock_account.should_receive(:to_xml).and_return("generated XML")
    get :show, :id => "1"
    response.body.should == "generated XML"
  end

end

describe "responding to GET /accounts/new" do

  it "should succeed" do
    get :new
    response.should be_success
  end

  it "should render the 'new' template" do
    get :new
    response.should render_template('new')
  end

  it "should create a new account" do
    Account.should_receive(:new)
    get :new
  end

  it "should assign the new account for the view" do
    Account.should_receive(:new).and_return(mock_account)
    get :new
    assigns[:account].should equal(mock_account)
  end

end

describe "responding to GET /accounts/1/edit" do

  it "should succeed" do
    Account.stub!(:find)
    get :edit, :id => "1"
    response.should be_success
  end

  it "should render the 'edit' template" do
    Account.stub!(:find)
    get :edit, :id => "1"
    response.should render_template('edit')
  end

  it "should find the requested account" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).with("37")
    get :edit, :id => "37"
  end

  it "should assign the found Account for the view" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).and_return(mock_account)
    get :edit, :id => "1"
    assigns[:account].should equal(mock_account)
  end

end

describe "responding to POST /accounts" do

  describe "with successful save" do

    it "should create a new account" do
      Account.should_receive(:new).with({'these' => 'params'}).and_return(mock_account)
      post :create, :account => {:these => 'params'}
    end

    it "should assign the created account for the view" do
      Account.stub!(:new).and_return(mock_account)
      post :create, :account => {}
      assigns(:account).should equal(mock_account)
    end

    it "should redirect to the created account" do
      Account.stub!(:new).and_return(mock_account)
      post :create, :account => {}
      response.should redirect_to(account_url(mock_account))
    end

  end

  describe "with failed save" do

    it "should create a new account" do
      Account.should_receive(:new).with({'these' => 'params'}).and_return(mock_account(:save => false))
      post :create, :account => {:these => 'params'}
    end

    it "should assign the invalid account for the view" do
      Account.stub!(:new).and_return(mock_account(:save => false))
      post :create, :account => {}
      assigns(:account).should equal(mock_account)
    end

    it "should re-render the 'new' template" do
      Account.stub!(:new).and_return(mock_account(:save => false))
      post :create, :account => {}
      response.should render_template('new')
    end

  end

end

describe "responding to PUT /accounts/1" do

  describe "with successful update" do

    it "should find the requested account" do
      Account.should_receive(:find).with("37").and_return(mock_account)
      put :update, :id => "37"
    end

    it "should update the found account" do
      Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
      mock_account.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({'these' => 'params'})
      put :update, :id => "1", :account => {:these => 'params'}
    end

    it "should assign the found account for the view" do
      Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
      put :update, :id => "1"
      assigns(:account).should equal(mock_account)
    end

    it "should redirect to the account" do
      Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
      put :update, :id => "1"
      response.should redirect_to(account_url(mock_account))
    end

  end

  describe "with failed update" do

    it "should find the requested account" do
      Account.should_receive(:find).with("37").and_return(mock_account(:update_attributes => false))
      put :update, :id => "37"
    end

    it "should update the found account" do
      Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
      mock_account.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({'these' => 'params'})
      put :update, :id => "1", :account => {:these => 'params'}
    end

    it "should assign the found account for the view" do
      Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account(:update_attributes => false))
      put :update, :id => "1"
      assigns(:account).should equal(mock_account)
    end

    it "should re-render the 'edit' template" do
      Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account(:update_attributes => false))
      put :update, :id => "1"
      response.should render_template('edit')
    end

  end

end

describe "responding to DELETE /accounts/1" do

  it "should find the account requested" do
    Account.should_receive(:find).with("37").and_return(mock_account)
    delete :destroy, :id => "37"
  end

  it "should call destroy on the found account" do
    Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
    mock_account.should_receive(:destroy)
    delete :destroy, :id => "1"
  end

  it "should redirect to the accounts list" do
    Account.stub!(:find).and_return(mock_account)
    delete :destroy, :id => "1"
    response.should redirect_to(accounts_url)
  end

end

end

script/spec spec/controllers/accounts_controller_spec.rb -fn

AccountsController
responding to GET /accounts
  should succeed
  should render the 'index' template
  should find all accounts
  should assign the found accounts for the view
responding to GET /accounts.xml
  should succeed
  should find all accounts
  should render the found accounts as xml
responding to GET /accounts/1
  should succeed
  should render the 'show' template
  should find the requested account
  should assign the found account for the view
responding to GET /accounts/1.xml
  should succeed
  should find the account requested
  should render the found account as xml
responding to GET /accounts/new
  should succeed
  should render the 'new' template
  should create a new account
  should assign the new account for the view
responding to GET /accounts/1/edit
  should succeed
  should render the 'edit' template
  should find the requested account
  should assign the found Account for the view
responding to POST /accounts
  with successful save
    should create a new account
    should assign the created account for the view
    should redirect to the created account
  with failed save
    should create a new account
    should assign the invalid account for the view
    should re-render the 'new' template
responding to PUT /accounts/1
  with successful update
    should find the requested account
    should update the found account
    should assign the found account for the view
    should redirect to the account
  with failed update
    should find the requested account
    should update the found account
    should assign the found account for the view
    should re-render the 'edit' template
responding to DELETE /accounts/1
  should find the account requested
  should call destroy on the found account
  should redirect to the accounts list