RSpec test custom validator

Question

I have the following validator in my model:

class ContinuumValidator < ActiveModel::Validator
  def validate(record)
    if !record.end_time.nil? and record.end_time < record.start_time
      record.errors[:base] << "An event can not be finished if it did not start yet..."
    end
  end
end

class Hrm::TimeEvent < ActiveRecord::Base
  validates_with ContinuumValidator
end

How can I test it using Rspec?

Here is what I have tried so far: (thanks to zetetic)

describe "validation error" do
  before do
    @time_event = Hrm::TimeEvent.new(start_time: "2012-10-05 10:00:00", end_time: "2012-10-05 09:00:00", event_type: 2)
  end

  it "should not be valid if end time is lower than start time" do
    @time_event.should_not be_valid
  end

  it "raises an error if end time is lower than start time" do
    @time_event.errors.should include("An event can not be finished if it did not start yet...")
  end
end

But I get the following errors:

1) Hrm::TimeEvent validation error raises an error if end time is lower than start time
   Failure/Error: @time_event.errors.should include("An event can not be finished if it did not start yet...")

   expected #<ActiveModel::Errors:0x007fd1d8e02c50 @base=#<Hrm::TimeEvent id: nil, start_time: "2012-10-05 08:00:00", end_time: "2012-10-05 07:00:00", event_type: 2, employee_id: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, not_punched: false, validated: false, replace_id: nil>, @messages={}> to include "An event can not be finished if it did not start yet..."

   Diff:
   @@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
   -["An event can not be finished if it did not start yet..."]
   +#<ActiveModel::Errors:0x007fd1d8e02c50
   + @base=
   +  #<Hrm::TimeEvent id: nil, start_time: "2012-10-05 08:00:00", end_time: "2012-10-05 07:00:00", event_type: 2, employee_id: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, not_punched: false, validated: false, replace_id: nil>,
   + @messages={}>

What am I doing wrong? And how can I achieve my goal? Any help or suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

The problem is that you're expecting @time_event.errors to behave like an array of strings. It doesn't, it returns ActiveModel::Errors. As others pointed out, you also need to trigger the validations with a call to valid?:

it "raises an error if end time is lower than start time" do
  @time_event.valid?
  @time_event.errors.full_messages.should include("An event can not be finished if it did not start yet...")
end