rspec-webservice-outputter¶ ↑
Developing a JSON API in Rails? The rspec-webservice-outputter gem will print the JSON request/response data when running your rspec request specs.
There are some other tools for inspecting HTTP request/response data such as the Chrome DevTools or the Postman Chrome extension. This gem takes a different approach by providing a method to inspect the HTTP request/response from the command-line when running/debugging tests.
Installation¶ ↑
In your Rails Gemfile, add:
group :test do gem 'rspec-webservice-outputter' end
Usage¶ ↑
When running your request spec(s), set an environmental variable call WEBSERVICE:
WEBSERVICE=1 rspec path_to_your_spec.rb
The rspec example's output will look like:
REQUEST: POST /v1/some_url { "some_field": 5, "another_field": "2016-06-08" } RESPONSE (201): { "id": 55, "some_field": 5, "another_field": "2016-06-08" "created_at": "2016-06-09T01:35:41.709Z", "updated_at": "2016-06-09T01:35:41.709Z" }
If your response body is empty (e.g. 204 No Content), you'll see:
RESPONSE (204): [Empty response body]
If your response body's JSON data can't be parsed, you'll see:
RESPONSE (200): [Non-JSON response body]
Future Possibilities¶ ↑
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Explore ways of implementing as a rspec custom formatter instead of an after hook
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Or, toggle output via switch instead of env variable
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Support XML webservices