Ryan Schenk

If you have an AR Model whose table name does not follow the convention, and you have needed to set it explicitly using set_table_name.

class ChiliDog < ActiveRecord::Base
  set_table_name 'dogs_made_of_chili'
end

Then your test fixtures file must be named the same name as the table, not the model…

dogs_made_of_chili.yml

In your rspec, you must use the table name to call your fixtures, then specify the AR class that models it…

fixtures :dogs_made_of_chili
set_fixture_class :dogs_made_of_chili => 'ChiliDog'

Note that little guy set_fixture_class!! He does not appear in the online Rails API docs (at least not Rails Brain), so I had originally assumed that you would pass in a Constant, not a String to it. I was wrong!!

The class name given to set_fixture_class must be a String and not a Constant like you might assume/think/wish-for/hope/desire. If you put a constant in there, you will get all sorts of weird, will bang your head against your desk repeatedly, pull your hair, tear your clothes, pour ashes on your head, and various other Old-Testament-style lamentations.

So, word of warning, use a String, not a Constant when using set_fixture_class!

This entry was posted Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 8:18 am and is filed under Rails. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.