How to use minitest fixtures in Cucumber steps?

Question

How can I use the fixtures that come with the stock minitest in Cucumber steps?

Say, I have `test/fixtures/users.yml:

harry:
  email: [email protected]
  password: caputdraconis

In minitest, this would be used in e.g. @user = users(:harry). But it cannot be used in Cucumber: undefined method 'users' for #<Cucumber::Rails::World:0xaf2cd1c> (NoMethodError).

How can I make the fixtures and their helpers available in Cucumber? Is this a good idea in the first place?

Answer 1

Place this into your features/support/env.rb:

module FixtureAccess
  def self.extended(base)
    ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.reset_cache
    fixtures_folder = File.join(Rails.root, 'test', 'fixtures')
    fixtures = Dir[File.join(fixtures_folder, '*.yml')].map {|f| File.basename(f, '.yml') }
    fixtures += Dir[File.join(fixtures_folder, '*.csv')].map {|f| File.basename(f, '.csv') }

    ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.create_fixtures(fixtures_folder, fixtures)    # This will populate the test database tables

    (class << base; self; end).class_eval do
      @@fixture_cache = {}
      fixtures.each do |table_name|
        table_name = table_name.to_s.tr('.', '_')
        define_method(table_name) do |*fixture_symbols|
          @@fixture_cache[table_name] ||= {}

          instances = fixture_symbols.map do |fixture_symbol|
            if fix = ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.cached_fixtures(ActiveRecord::Base.connection, table_name).first.fixtures[fixture_symbol.to_s]
              @@fixture_cache[table_name][fixture_symbol] ||= fix.find  # find model.find's the instance
            else
              raise StandardError, "No fixture with name '#{fixture_symbol}' found for table '#{table_name}'"
            end
          end
          instances.size == 1 ? instances.first : instances
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

World(FixtureAccess)

My fixtures are located in test/fixtures since I'm using Minitest, so you should update your fixtures_folder to match the location of your fixtures if you're using RSpec.

After this you can do something like:

When(/^a user exists$/) do
  users(:harry)
end

inside your step definitions.