Issue with Faker in specs

faker_issues.md

Problem

# Factory uses Faker::Name.first_name under the hoode -- evaluates to something with 'frank' as a substring
# Now you have two users named frank without realizing it
let(:user) { create :user } 
let(:another_user) { create :user, name: 'frank' }

it do
  filter_for_frank 
  expect(page).to have_text 'frank'
end

Solution

This is a simple illustration of one way Faker can be problematic in specs.

The basic issue is that you can't rely on Faker data on being unique unless you call Faker::{Generator}.unique.{method}.

If you want to make these kinds of expectations, be explicit about all the data under test and leave less responsibility to Faker:

let(:user) { create :user, name: 'alice' } 
let(:another_user) { create :user, name: 'frank' }

it do
  filter_for_frank 
  expect(page).to have_text 'frank'
end

Faker has more place in seed data than it does specs. Don't use Faker to expand your test coverage.