Skip callbacks on Factory Girl and Rspec

Question

I'm testing a model with an after create callback that I'd like to run only on some occasions while testing. How can I skip/run callbacks from a factory?

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  after_create :run_something
  ...
end

Factory:

FactoryGirl.define do
  factory :user do
    first_name "Luiz"
    last_name "Branco"
    ...
    # skip callback

    factory :with_run_something do
      # run callback
  end
end

Answer 1

I'm not sure if it is the best solution, but I have successfully achieved this using:

FactoryGirl.define do
  factory :user do
    first_name "Luiz"
    last_name "Branco"
    #...

    after(:build) { |user| user.class.skip_callback(:create, :after, :run_something) }

    factory :user_with_run_something do
      after(:create) { |user| user.send(:run_something) }
    end
  end
end

Running without callback:

FactoryGirl.create(:user)

Running with callback:

FactoryGirl.create(:user_with_run_something)

Answer 2

When you don't want to run a callback do the following:

User.skip_callback(:create, :after, :run_something)
Factory.create(:user)

Be aware that skip_callback will be persistant across other specs after it is run therefore consider something like the following:

before do
  User.skip_callback(:create, :after, :run_something)
end

after do
  User.set_callback(:create, :after, :run_something)
end

Answer 3

None of these solutions are good. They deface the class by removing functionality that should be removed from the instance, not from the class.

factory :user do
  before(:create){|user| user.define_singleton_method(:send_welcome_email){}}

Instead of suppressing the callback, I am suppressing the functionality of the callback. In a way, I like this approach better because it is more explicit.

Answer 4

I'd like to make an improvement to @luizbranco 's answer to make after_save callback more reusable when creating other users.

FactoryGirl.define do
  factory :user do
    first_name "Luiz"
    last_name "Branco"
    #...

    after(:build) { |user| 
      user.class.skip_callback(:create, 
                               :after, 
                               :run_something1,
                               :run_something2) 
    }

    trait :with_after_save_callback do
      after(:build) { |user| 
        user.class.set_callback(:create, 
                                :after, 
                                :run_something1,
                                :run_something2) 
      }
    end
  end
end

Running without after_save callback:

FactoryGirl.create(:user)

Running with after_save callback:

FactoryGirl.create(:user, :with_after_save_callback)

In my test, I prefer to create users without the callback by default because the methods used run extra stuff I don't normally want in my test examples.

----------UPDATE------------ I stopped using skip_callback because there were some inconsistency issues in the test suite.

Alternative Solution 1 (use of stub and unstub):

after(:build) { |user| 
  user.class.any_instance.stub(:run_something1)
  user.class.any_instance.stub(:run_something2)
}

trait :with_after_save_callback do
  after(:build) { |user| 
    user.class.any_instance.unstub(:run_something1)
    user.class.any_instance.unstub(:run_something2)
  }
end

Alternative Solution 2 (my preferred approach):

after(:build) { |user| 
  class << user
    def run_something1; true; end
    def run_something2; true; end
  end
}

trait :with_after_save_callback do
  after(:build) { |user| 
    class << user
      def run_something1; super; end
      def run_something2; super; end
    end
  }
end

Answer 5

This solution works for me and you don´t have to add an additional block to your Factory definition:

user = FactoryGirl.build(:user)
user.send(:create_without_callbacks) # Skip callback

user = FactoryGirl.create(:user)     # Execute callbacks

Answer 6

A simple stub worked best for me in Rspec 3

allow(User).to receive_messages(:run_something => nil)

Answer 7

Calling skip_callback from my factory proved problematic for me.

In my case, I have a document class with some s3-related callbacks in before and after create that I only want to run when testing the full stack is necessary. Otherwise, I want to skip those s3 callbacks.

When I tried skip_callbacks in my factory, it persisted that callback skip even when I created a document object directly, without using a factory. So instead, I used mocha stubs in the after build call and everything is working perfectly:

factory :document do
  upload_file_name "file.txt"
  upload_content_type "text/plain"
  upload_file_size 1.kilobyte
  after(:build) do |document|
    document.stubs(:name_of_before_create_method).returns(true)
    document.stubs(:name_of_after_create_method).returns(true)
  end
end

Answer 8

FactoryGirl.define do
  factory :order, class: Spree::Order do

    trait :without_callbacks do
      after(:build) do |order|
        order.class.skip_callback :save, :before, :update_status!
      end

      after(:create) do |order|
        order.class.set_callback :save, :before, :update_status!
      end
    end
  end
end

Important note you should specify both of them. If only use before and run multiple specs, it'll try to disable callback multiple times. It'll succeed the first time, but on the second, callback isn't going to be defined anymore. So it'll error out

Answer 9

This will work with current rspec syntax (as of this post) and is much cleaner:

before do
   User.any_instance.stub :run_something
end

Answer 10

James Chevalier's answer about how to skip before_validation callback didn't help me so if you straggle the same as me here is working solution:

in model:

before_validation :run_something, on: :create

in factory:

after(:build) { |obj| obj.class.skip_callback(:validation, :before, :run_something) }

Answer 11

Rails 5 - skip_callback raising Argument error when skipping from a FactoryBot factory.

ArgumentError: After commit callback :whatever_callback has not been defined

There was a change in Rails 5 with how skip_callback handles unrecognized callbacks:

ActiveSupport::Callbacks#skip_callback now raises an ArgumentError if an unrecognized callback is remove

When skip_callback is called from the factory, the real callback in the AR model is not yet defined.

If you've tried everything and pulled your hair out like me, here is your solution (got it from searching FactoryBot issues) (NOTE the raise: false part):

after(:build) { YourSweetModel.skip_callback(:commit, :after, :whatever_callback, raise: false) }

Feel free to use it with whatever other strategies you prefer.

Answer 12

In my case I have the callback loading something to my redis cache. But then I did not have/want a redis instance running for my test environment.

after_create :load_to_cache

def load_to_cache
  Redis.load_to_cache
end

For my situation, similar to above, I just stubbed my load_to_cache method in my spec_helper, with:

Redis.stub(:load_to_cache)

Also, in certain situation where I want to the test this, I just have to unstub them in the before block of the corresponding Rspec test cases.

I know you might have something more complicated happening in your after_create or might not find this very elegant. You can try to cancel the callback defined in your model, by defining an after_create hook in your Factory (refer to factory_girl docs), where you can probably define a the same callback and return false, according to the 'Canceling callbacks' section of this article. (I am unsure about order in which callback are executed, which is why I didn't go for this option).

Lastly, (sorry I am not able to find the article) Ruby allows you to use some dirty meta programming to unhook a callback hook (you will have to reset it). I guess this would be the least preferred option.

Well there is one more thing, not really a solution, but see if you can get away with Factory.build in your specs, instead of actually creating the object. (Would be the simplest if you can).

Answer 13

Regarding the answer posted above, https://stackoverflow.com/a/35562805/2001785, you do not need to add the code to the factory. I found it easier to overload the methods in the specs themselves. For example, instead of (in conjunction with the factory code in the cited post)

let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }

I like using (without the cited factory code)

let(:user) do
  FactoryGirl.build(:user).tap do |u|
      u.define_singleton_method(:send_welcome_email){}
      u.save!
    end
  end
end

This way you do not need to look at both the factory and the test files to understand the behavior of the test.

Answer 14

I found the following solution to be a cleaner way since the callback is run/set at a class level.

# create(:user) - will skip the callback.
# create(:user, skip_create_callback: false) - will set the callback
FactoryBot.define do
  factory :user do
    first_name "Luiz"
    last_name "Branco"

    transient do
      skip_create_callback true
    end

    after(:build) do |user, evaluator|
      if evaluator.skip_create_callback
        user.class.skip_callback(:create, :after, :run_something)
      else
        user.class.set_callback(:create, :after, :run_something)
      end
    end
  end
end

Answer 15

FactoryGirl.define do
 factory :user do
   first_name "Luiz"
   last_name "Branco"
   #...

after(:build) { |user| user.class.skip_callback(:create, :after, :run_something) }

trait :user_with_run_something do
  after(:create) { |user| user.class.set_callback(:create, :after, :run_something) }
  end
 end
end

You could just set the callback with a trait for those instances when you want run it.