rspec-puppet

Basic Test Structure

require 'spec_helper'

describe '<function name>' do
  # tests go here
end

The name of the function being tested must be provided as the top level description (<function name> in the above example).

The run matcher

Specifying the arguments to the function

Arguments to the function can be specified by chaining the with_params method on to the run matcher

it { is_expected.to run.with_params('foo', 'bar') }

Passing lambdas to the function

A lambda (block) can be passed to functions that support either a required or optional lambda by chaining the with_lambda method on to the run matcher.

it { is_expected.to run.with_lambda { |x| x * 2 } }

Testing the return value

The return value of the function can be tested by chaining the and_return method on to the run matcher.

it { is_expected.to run.with_params('foo').and_return('bar') }

Testing for errors

If the function is expected to raise an exception (for example, when testing input validation), this can be tested by chaining the and_raise_error method on to the run matcher.

it { is_expected.to run.with_params('foo').and_raise_error(Puppet::ParseError, 'some message') }

Accessing the parser scope

Some complex functions require access to the parser’s scope (for example, functions that look up values of variables that are not passed in as arguments). For this reason, the scope is available to the tests as the scope object.

Using the above example, to stub out a lookupvar call that the function being tested uses, the following could be used (if using rspec-mocks).

before do
  allow(scope).to receive(:lookupvar).with('some_variable').and_return('some value')
end

Testing functions that modify the catalogue

If the function being tested modifies the catalogue in some way, the standard catalogue matchers (as used when testing classes or defined types) are available to be used.

An example of a function where this is needed is the ensure_resource function from puppetlabs/stdlib which adds resources to the catalogue.

The catalogue is exposed to the tests as the catalogue object.

describe 'ensure_resource' do
  it 'creates a resource in the catalogue' do
    is_expected.to run.with_params('user', 'lak', {'ensure' => 'present'})
    expect(catalogue).to contain_user('lak').with_ensure('present')
  end
end

Testing Functions