Rspec 3 vs Rspec 2 matchers

Question

Learning how to Rspec 3. I have a question on the matchers. The tutorial i am following is based on Rspec 2.

describe Team do

  it "has a name" do
    #Team.new("Random name").should respond_to :name
    expect { Team.new("Random name") }.to be(:name)
  end


  it "has a list of players" do
    #Team.new("Random name").players.should be_kind_of Array
    expect { Team.new("Random name").players }.to be_kind_of(Array)
  end

end

Why is the code causing an error while the one i commented out passing with depreciation warning.

Error

Failures:

  1) Team has a name
     Failure/Error: expect { Team.new("Random name") }.to be(:name)
       You must pass an argument rather than a block to use the provided matcher (equal :name), or the matcher must implement `supports_block_expectations?`.
     # ./spec/team_spec.rb:7:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'

  2) Team has a list of players
     Failure/Error: expect { Team.new("Random name").players }.to be_kind_of(Array)
       You must pass an argument rather than a block to use the provided matcher (be a kind of Array), or the matcher must implement `supports_block_expectations?`.
     # ./spec/team_spec.rb:13:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'

Portiaportico

Check this answer for why? – Starlastarlene

Answer 1

You should use normal brackets for those tests:

expect(Team.new("Random name")).to eq :name

When you use curly brackets, you are passing a block of code. For rspec3 it means that you will put some expectations about the execution of this block rather than on the result of execution, so for example

expect { raise 'hello' }.to raise_error

EDIT:

Note however that this test will fail, as Team.new returns an object, not a symbol. You can modify your test so it passes:

expect(Team.new("Random name")).to respond_to :name

# or

expect(Team.new("Random name").name).to eq "Random name"

Sibilla

I get an error with this. gist.github.com/vezu/85661922adda6a877b48 . Thank you for the explanation. – Portiaportico

@Portiaportico - I would say it is expected, as Team.new returns an object, not a symbol. Answer updated. – Sibilla