How to insert json fixture data in Play Specification tests? - json

Question

I have a Scala Play 2.2.2 application and as part of my Specification tests I would like to insert some fixture data for testing preferably in json format. For the tests I use the usual in-memory H2 database. How can I accomplish this? I have searched all the documentation but there is no mention to this anywhere.
Note that I would prefer not to build my own flavor of fixture implementation via the Global. There should be a non-hacky way to this right?

Answer 1

AFAIK there is no built-in stuff to do this, ala Rails, and it's hard to imagine what the devs could do without making Play Scala much more opinionated about the way persistence should be handled (which I'd personally consider a negative.)
I also use H2 for testing and employ plain SQL fixtures in a resource file and load them before tests using a couple of (fairly simple) helpers:
package object helpers {
import java.io.File
import java.sql.CallableStatement
import org.specs2.execute.{Result, AsResult}
import org.specs2.mutable.Around
import org.specs2.specification.Scope
import play.api.db.DB
import play.api.test.FakeApplication
import play.api.test.Helpers._
/**
* Load a file containing SQL statements into the DB.
*/
private def loadSqlResource(resource: String)(implicit app: FakeApplication) = DB.withConnection { conn =>
val file = new File(getClass.getClassLoader.getResource(resource).toURI)
val path = file.getAbsolutePath
val statement: CallableStatement = conn.prepareCall(s"RUNSCRIPT FROM '$path'")
statement.execute()
conn.commit()
}
/**
* Run a spec after loading the given resource name as SQL fixtures.
*/
abstract class WithSqlFixtures(val resource: String, val app: FakeApplication = FakeApplication()) extends Around with Scope {
implicit def implicitApp = app
override def around[T: AsResult](t: => T): Result = {
running(app) {
loadSqlResource(resource)
AsResult.effectively(t)
}
}
}
}
Then, in your actual spec you can do something like so:
package models
import helpers.WithSqlFixtures
import play.api.test.PlaySpecification
class MyModelSpec extends PlaySpecification {
"My model" should {
"locate items correctly" in new WithSqlFixtures("model-fixtures.sql") {
MyModel.findAll().size must beGreaterThan(0)
}
}
}
Note: this specs2 stuff could probably be better.
Obviously if you really need JSON you'll have to add extra machinery to deserialise your models and persist them in the database (often in your app you'll be doing these things anyway, in which case that might be relatively trivial.)
You'll also need:
Some evolutions to establish your DB schema in conf/evolutions/default
The evolution plugin enabled, which will build your schema when the FakeApplication starts up
The appropriate H2 DB config