Rspec - archives array to match tested array

Question

I'm having this class method on my Post model for getting archives

def self.archives
    Post.unscoped.select("YEAR(created_at) AS year, MONTHNAME(created_at) AS month, COUNT(id) AS total")
        .group("year, month, MONTH(created_at)")
        .order("year DESC, MONTH(created_at) DESC")
end

This is the test I have wrote for my method

context '.archives' do

  first = FactoryGirl.create(:post, published_at: Time.zone.now)
  second = FactoryGirl.create(:post, published_at: 1.month.ago)

  it 'returns articles archived' do
    archives = Post.archives()

    expect(
      [{
        year: first.published_at.strftime("%Y"),
        month: first.published_at.strftime("%B"),
        published: 1
      },
      {
        year: second.published_at.strftime("%Y"),
        month: second.published_at.strftime("%B"),
        published: 1
      }]
      ).to match_array(archives)
  end
end

However I get the following error

expected collection contained:  [#<Post id: nil>, #<Post id: nil>]
actual collection contained:    [{:year=>"2017", :month=>"October", :published=>1}, {:year=>"2017", :month=>"September", :total=>1}]
the missing elements were:      [#<Post id: nil>, #<Post id: nil>]
the extra elements were:        [{:year=>"2017", :month=>"October", :total=>1}, {:year=>"2017", :month=>"September", :total=>1}]

So although I have created 2 factories, the archives array is empty. What am I doing wrong?

moveson · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-04 22:09:01Z

1

Rspec standard is to use the let syntax for defining variables within a context or describe block. The test should look something like this:

describe '.archives' do
  let!(:first) { FactoryGirl.create(:post, published_at: Time.zone.now) }
  let!(:second) { FactoryGirl.create(:post, published_at: 1.month.ago) }

  it 'returns year, month, and total for articles archived' do
    actual_attributes = Post.archives.map { |post| [post.year, post.month, post.total] }
    expected_total = 1 # I don't know why the query is returning 1 for total, but including this for completeness
    expected_attributes = [first, second].map { |post| [post.created_at.year, post.created_at.strftime("%B"), expected_total] }

    expect(actual_attributes).to match_array(expected_attributes)
  end
end

The issue here is that you are comparing records pulled with only a few attributes (the result of your SQL query) with fully-formed records (created by your test). This test pulls the applicable attributes from both groups and compares them.

edited Oct 4, 2017 at 22:09

answered Oct 4, 2017 at 21:22

moveson

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7 Comments

ltdev Over a year ago

expected collection contained:  [#<Post id: nil>, #<Post id: nil>]actual collection contained:    [#<Post id: 1, user_id: 4, title: "This is the Post title", excerpt: "This is the Post body", created_at: "2017-10-04 21:25:31", updated_at: "2017-10-04 21:25:31">]

moveson Over a year ago

I've tweaked it a bit. Please try again.

ltdev Over a year ago

I tried it my self to reverse the arrays but nothing changes

moveson Over a year ago

Did you add the ! after let?

moveson Over a year ago

Try adding the additional expect shown in the edited answer, and tell me if it fails on the first expect or the second.

|

hedgesky · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-04 21:52:39Z

1

Actual array is not empty, it's an array of two Post instances with ids unset (because Select in .archives method doesn't contain id field). You could compare expected hashes not with archives, but with smth like that:

actual = Post.archives().map do |post| 
  { year: post["year"].to_s, month: post["month"], published: post["total"] }
end

expected = [{
  year: first.published_at.strftime("%Y").to_s,
  month: first.published_at.strftime("%B"),
  published: 1
},
{
  year: second.published_at.strftime("%Y").to_s,
  month: second.published_at.strftime("%B"),
  published: 1
}]

expect(actual).to match_array(expected)

edited Oct 4, 2017 at 21:52

answered Oct 4, 2017 at 21:22

hedgesky

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6 Comments

ltdev Over a year ago

Not sure I understand, you mean this should be in place of my expect?

hedgesky Over a year ago

Clarified the answer.

ltdev Over a year ago

expected collection contained:  [{:year=>"2017", :month=>"October", :published=>1}, {:year=>"2017", :month=>"September", :published=>1}]actual collection contained:    []the missing elements were:      [{:year=>"2017", :month=>"October", :published=>1}, {:year=>"2017", :month=>"September", :published=>1}]

ltdev Over a year ago

with let! I get

actual collection contained:    [{:year=>2017, :month=>"October", :published=>1}, {:year=>2017, :month=>"September", :published=>1}] the missing elements were:      [{:year=>"2017", :month=>"October", :published=>1}, {:year=>"2017", :month=>"September", :published=>1}]        the extra elements were:        [{:year=>2017, :month=>"October", :published=>1}, {:year=>2017, :month=>"September", :published=>1}]

hedgesky Over a year ago

Actual collection contains year as an integer, you should convert it to string

|

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