Rails Integration Testing

Question

I'm looking to set up a bunch of integration tests for an Rails 3 app that is already built. The app is built with Rails 3 and Ruby 1.9.2. I've seen recommendations for Capybara, Cucumber and RSpec 2 but I'm not sure what the advantages of each are.

I've also noticed that they seem to be closely tied together. The post I've seen always seem to talk about using Capybara with Cucumber, or using Rspec with Cucumber.

What are the advantages/disadvantages for each of them? Are there certain combinations that work best together?

David · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-08 09:39:20Z

13

All these test tools fall in different parts of the testing environment.

If you want to set up integration tests, then you should use Cucumber because it has no real alternative. Cucumber is designed to easy Behaviour Driven Development but even if you don't BDD it is perfect for integration testing.

Capybara mission statement is "webrat alternative which aims to support all browser simulators". So to simulate the browser part (http request, DOM manipulation, etc) you have two alternatives Webrat or Capybara. Cucumber integrates fine with both of them. In fact it detects which one you have installed in your system and by default uses it.

On the other side is Rspec. Rspec is not a tool for Integration Testing but for Unit Testing (with a BDD approach). In http://www.pragprog.com/titles/achbd/the-rspec-book it is explained very clearly. Cucumber is in an outer circle of application behaviour and rspec is in an inner circle of class behaviour. The alternative to rspec is classic Test::Unit classes.

For more information see:

edited Apr 8, 2011 at 9:39

answered Dec 28, 2010 at 9:37

David

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3 Comments

jwfearn Over a year ago

great answer, but may I suggest adding links for Cucumber, Capybara, Webrat, RSpec and Unit::Test. I think you'll get more up votes.

GeorgeW Over a year ago

Very good post and answers. So Rspec covers Rails' unit test of model and Cucumber covers Rails' integration test, then what covers Rails' functional test of controllers?

tothemario Over a year ago

@GeorgeW Rails functional tests are indeed unit tests, they try to test the controllers in isolation (as much as possible). So, to make the answer easy: RSpec for everything but integration tests, where you can use Cucumber. Then of course you can find alternatives to everything.

Andrew · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-19 18:32:41Z

0

In summary, use all three.

Use RSpec...

...for testing methods in your models, controllers, and helpers in isolation.
Also known as Unit testing.

Use Cucumber...

...for testing high level features of your application.
Also known as integration testing. Verifies that all the pieces work together.
Good for testing from a user's perspective.

Use Capybara with Cucumber...

...for navigating your app like a user would through the browser.
...for testing your views contain the content that a user would expect to see.

answered Mar 19, 2013 at 18:32

Andrew

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