Cannot Use Initialize With Minitest?

Ruby
1

Hey folks,

I’ve been trying my best to write a class that uses initialize() with
minitest, so that I can swap out a specific dependency at runtime. It
appears, though, that I cannot use initialize() in a class that inherits
from minitest:

require “minitest/autorun”

#A simple dependency which is being dispatched to.
class Dependency
def initialize(argument)
$stderr.puts argument
end
end

#The main test class.
class TestProblemReproduction < MiniTest::Unit::TestCase
def initialize(test_argument)
Dependency.new(test_argument)
end

def test_something
puts “This is here so minitest does something.”
end
end

TestProblemReproduction.new(“stuff”)

#######

Expected Output is to see the class Dependency output “stuff”.
The actual output is that the class Dependency outputs
“stuff\ntest_something”

However, I have a use case where I would like to use minitest to run my
test cases, but I have a bunch of tests written in selenium. With one
flag,
the selenium browser will be constructed to run locally on my desktop,
for
local testing. With a different flag, the selenium browser is
constructed
to run remotely on a set of remote test servers.

Is there any way I can hand a dependency into my minitest based test
cases?
Or do they have to be static?

Thanks!

Jams

2

Hi folks,

as an addendum, this problem is preset for me because I’m using
minitest/autorun. I wanted to use this because of the various hooks that
are provided (def setup() etc); if you can think of a way to provide the
same pre-test hooks without being tied in to autorun, I could use that
instead.

Jams

3

On Mar 7, 2013, at 15:22 , James H.on [email protected] wrote:

as an addendum, this problem is preset for me because I’m using
minitest/autorun. I wanted to use this because of the various hooks that are
provided (def setup() etc); if you can think of a way to provide the same pre-test
hooks without being tied in to autorun, I could use that instead.

autorun is orthogonal to TestCase, so again… I don’t understand the
problem well enough to help.

4

On Mar 7, 2013, at 15:02 , James H.on [email protected] wrote:

$stderr.puts argument
puts "This is here so minitest does something."

end
end

TestProblemReproduction.new(“stuff”)

#######

Expected Output is to see the class Dependency output “stuff”.
The actual output is that the class Dependency outputs “stuff\ntest_something”

The #1 rule of OO is if you override a method you NEED to call super.
The #2 rule of OO is if you override a method you NEED to make sure it
conforms to the contract.

You’re breaking both these rules. #initialize is defined on TestCase,
and it takes an arg which is the name of the test being run.

However, I have a use case where I would like to use minitest to run my test
cases, but I have a bunch of tests written in selenium. With one flag, the
selenium browser will be constructed to run locally on my desktop, for local
testing. With a different flag, the selenium browser is constructed to run
remotely on a set of remote test servers.

Is there any way I can hand a dependency into my minitest based test cases? Or
do they have to be static?

There is nothing static about minitest. I don’t see why you need to do
this via initialize/new tho, so I’m guessing I don’t understand the
problem well enough.

You shouldn’t be instantiating TestCase instances. That’s the runner’s
job.