example of using the disable_test_fixtures rails plugin

test_helper.rb

ENV["RAILS_ENV"] = "test"
require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../config/environment")
require 'test_help'

# A plain old Rails test helper.
class ActiveSupport::TestCase

  self.use_transactional_fixtures = true

  self.use_instantiated_fixtures  = false

  # Setup all fixtures in test/fixtures/*.(yml|csv) for all
  # tests in alphabetical order.
  fixtures :all

  # The disable_test_fixtures plugin provides this module
  # to be included in test cases. No fixture changes happen
  # yet by including it, we're only doing it here thus we
  # don't have to include it in each and every test.
  # We'll have two class methods available :
  #  #disable_fixtures_for and #enable_fixtures_for
  include DisableTestFixtures

end

user_test.rb

require 'test_helper'

class UserTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase

  # disable fixtures for all test (names) not matching
  # "remember_token" in this test case :
  disable_fixtures_for { |test| test !~ /remember_token/ }

  # an old test using fixtures
  def test_should_unset_remember_token
    steve = users(:steve)
    steve.remember_me
    assert_not_nil steve.remember_token
    steve.forget_me
    assert_nil steve.remember_token
  end

  # another old test using fixtures
  def test_should_set_remember_token_for_one_week
    steve = users(:steve)
    before = 1.week.from_now
    steve.remember_me_for 1.week
    after = 1.week.from_now
    assert_not_nil steve.remember_token
    assert_not_nil steve.remember_token_expires_at
    assert steve.remember_token_expires_at.between?(before, after)
  end

  # a new test that does not need fixtures
  test 'should validate email on valid?' do
    user = Factory.create_user
    user.email = 'invalid@email'
    assert ! user.valid?
    assert user.errors.on(:email)
  end

  # another new test that does not rely on fixtures,
  # esp useful if fixture data is "disabled" during
  # this test as if there is an existing user with
  # Steve's mail address it might clash !
  test 'should not allow to change email' do
    user = Factory.create_user :email => '[email protected]'
    user.email = '[email protected]'
    user.save!
    user.reload
    assert_equal '[email protected]', user.email
  end

end