Spork, Guard Test Setup for Rails

README.md

Spork, Guard, RSpec Test Setup for Rails 3.1+

Running test automatically is great in theory, but the go-to solution when using RSpec based on Spork and Guard is mediocre to say the least. It forces you to remember all details of which component does what, who trigges what, what's reloaded at what stage and so on. Despite the fact that this was really confusing to start off with, maybe you're like me and never really cared to learn these details (and you really shouldn't need to!).

This is the setup I found working for me for plain Rails 3.1+ and RSpec.

Readings

• Elaborate explanation on StackOverflow
• Description of Spork.trap, including derivation you'll need to make when using additional Gems like FactoryGirl
• Useful options for guard-rspec

Guardfile

guard 'rspec', cli: '--drb', all_on_start: false, all_after_pass: false do
  watch(%r{^spec/.+_spec\.rb$})
  watch(%r{^lib/(.+)\.rb$})     { |m| "spec/lib/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }
  watch('spec/spec_helper.rb')  { "spec" }

  # Rails example
  watch(%r{^app/(.+)\.rb$})                           { |m| "spec/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }
  watch(%r{^app/(.*)(\.erb|\.haml)$})                 { |m| "spec/#{m[1]}#{m[2]}_spec.rb" }
  watch(%r{^app/controllers/(.+)_(controller)\.rb$})  { |m| ["spec/routing/#{m[1]}_routing_spec.rb", "spec/#{m[2]}s/#{m[1]}_#{m[2]}_spec.rb", "spec/acceptance/#{m[1]}_spec.rb"] }
  watch(%r{^spec/support/(.+)\.rb$})                  { "spec" }
  watch('config/routes.rb')                           { "spec/routing" }
  watch('app/controllers/application_controller.rb')  { "spec/controllers" }

  # Capybara features specs
  watch(%r{^app/views/(.+)/.*\.(erb|haml)$})          { |m| "spec/features/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }

  # Turnip features and steps
  watch(%r{^spec/acceptance/(.+)\.feature$})
  watch(%r{^spec/acceptance/steps/(.+)_steps\.rb$})   { |m| Dir[File.join("**/#{m[1]}.feature")][0] || 'spec/acceptance' }
end


guard 'spork', :cucumber_env => { 'RAILS_ENV' => 'test' }, :rspec_env => { 'RAILS_ENV' => 'test' } do
  watch('config/application.rb')
  watch('config/environment.rb')
  watch(%r{^config/environments/.+\.rb$})
  watch(%r{^config/initializers/.+\.rb$})
  watch('Gemfile')
  watch('Gemfile.lock')
  watch('spec/spec_helper.rb') { :rspec }
  watch('test/test_helper.rb') { :test_unit }
  watch(%r{features/support/}) { :cucumber }
end

spec_helper.rb

require 'rubygems'
require 'spork'

Spork.prefork do
  # Loading more in this block will cause your tests to run faster. However,
  # if you change any configuration or code from libraries loaded here, you'll
  # need to restart spork for it take effect.

  # Trap autoloads to prevent class caches so that application parts are loaded on each run
  require "rails/application"
  Spork.trap_method(Rails::Application, :eager_load!)
  Spork.trap_method(Rails::Application::RoutesReloader, :reload!)

  # Require environment
  ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
  require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
  
  require 'rspec/rails'
  require 'rspec/autorun'

  RSpec.configure do |config|
    # ...
  end
end

Spork.each_run do
  # This code will be run each time you run your specs.

  Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each {|f| require f}
end