Testing has been the thing I've avoided until I realized that with well written tests I can avoid having to enter console and running a string of commands over and over again. The big issue I'm having, however, is that when a test fails, I can't see much data to use to debug with. For example, when I'm testing models I need to see the models attributes, and I need to control when it's been built, created, and saved, and a way to detect these states. With rails fixtures and plain vanilla tests this is annoying to do.
How can I make debugging fixtures and rails tests easier? Is there a way to display more console-like information when a test fails? Which testing tools can I use to debug more easily? After all, debugging the tests themselves is a huge waste of time, and the biggest obstacle to using them in the first place.
Thanks!
Debugging your tests is not very different from debugging your code.
Rails already comes with byebug gem (uncomment it, if necessary):
group :development, :test do
gem 'byebug'
end
Now you are ready to put
debugger
line anywhere in your code.
Byebug supports many additional features, which you can find here: https://github.com/deivid-rodriguez/byebug
Also check https://github.com/deivid-rodriguez/pry-byebug project which provides even better experience for debugging.