= FlexMock 0.8.0 Released

FlexMock is a flexible mocking library for use in unit testing and
behavior specification in Ruby.  It is a minor release that contains
some new funtionality.

== New Features in 0.8.0

* When should_ignore_missing is specified, the mock will return an
  undefined object for any method calls that are ignored.

* A user can also specify an undefined object to be returned
  explicitly by using FlexMock.undefined.

* Expectations may now be marked with "by_default".  Default
  expectations will be used unless a non-default expectation is given
  for a matching method name.

* The :respond_to? method on mocks will now accept multiple arguments.
  This eases the testing of models in certains situations.

* An experimental view mocker method is availble to mock out views in
  Rails controller tests.  See flexmock/rails/view_mocking.rb for more
  details.

== What is FlexMock?

FlexMock is a flexible framework for creating mock object for testing. When
running unit tests, it is often desirable to use isolate the objects being
tested from the "real world" by having them interact with simplified test
objects. Sometimes these test objects simply return values when called, other
times they verify that certain methods were called with particular arguments
in a particular order.

FlexMock makes creating these test objects easy.

=== Features

* Easy integration with both Test::Unit and RSpec. Mocks created with the
  flexmock method are automatically verified at the end of the test or
  example.

* A fluent interface that allows mock behavior to be specified very
  easily.

* A "record mode" where an existing implementation can record its
  interaction with a mock for later validation against a new
  implementation.

* Easy mocking of individual methods in existing, non-mock objects.

* Easy mocking of chains of method calls.

* The ability to cause classes to instantiate test instances (instead of real
  instances) for the duration of a test.

=== Example

Suppose you had a Dog object that wagged a tail when it was happy.
Something like this:

  class Dog
    def initialize(a_tail)
      @tail = a_tail
    end
    def happy
      @tail.wag
    end
  end

To test the +Dog+ class without a real +Tail+ object (perhaps because
real +Tail+ objects activate servos in some robotic equipment), you
can do something like this:

require 'test/unit'
require 'flexmock/test_unit'

  class TestDog < Test::Unit::TestCase
    def test_dog_wags_tail_when_happy
      tail = flexmock("tail")
      tail.should_receive(:wag).once
      dog = Dog.new(tail)
      dog.happy
    end
  end

FlexMock will automatically verify that the mocked tail object received the
message +wag+ exactly one time. If it doesn't, the test will not pass.

See the FlexMock documentation at http://flexmock.rubyforge.org for details on
specifying arguments and return values on mocked methods, as well as a simple
technique for mocking tail objects when the Dog class creates the tail objects
directly.

== Availability

You can make sure you have the latest version with a quick RubyGems command:

  gem install flexmock    (you may need root/admin privileges)

Otherwise, you can get it from the more traditional places:

Download::  http://rubyforge.org/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170

You will find documentation at: http://flexmock.rubyforge.org.

-- Jim Weirich

