Allow recursive associations from cucumber table arguments

features/factory_girl_steps.feature

@@ -123,3 +123,29 @@ Feature: Use step definitions generated by factories
     And 2 categories exist
     And 2 categories exist with a name of "Future"
     Then there should be 6 categories
+
+  Scenario: create a post with an existing category group
+    Given the following category exists:
+      | ID  | name    | category group |
+      | 123 | fiction | Name: books    |
+    And the following post exists:
+      | Title                      | Author    | Category                    |
+      | a title                    | Name: Joe | Category Group: Name: books |
+    Then I should find the following for the last post:
+      | title   | category_id |
+      | a title | 123         |
+
+  Scenario: create a post with an existing category group and a new category
+    Given the following category group exists:
+      | ID  | name  |
+      | 456 | books |
+    And the following post exists:
+      | Title     | Author    | Category                    |
+      | a title   | Name: Joe | Category Group: Name: books |
+    Then I should find the following for the last post:
+      | title   |
+      | a title |
+    And I should find the following for the last category:
+      | category_group_id |
+      | 456               |
+

features/step_definitions/database_steps.rb

@@ -15,4 +15,6 @@ Before do
   Post.delete_all
   User.delete_all
   Category.delete_all
+  CategoryGroup.delete_all
 end
+

features/support/factories.rb

@@ -12,7 +12,12 @@ class CreateSchema < ActiveRecord::Migration
       t.string  :body
     end
 
+    create_table :category_groups, :force => true do |t|
+      t.string :name
+    end
+
     create_table :categories, :force => true do |t|
+      t.integer :category_group_id
       t.string :name
     end
 
@@ -28,7 +33,11 @@ CreateSchema.suppress_messages { CreateSchema.migrate(:up) }
 class User < ActiveRecord::Base
 end
 
+class CategoryGroup < ActiveRecord::Base
+end
+
 class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
+  belongs_to :category_group
 end
 
 class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
@@ -48,6 +57,11 @@ end
 
 Factory.define :category do |f|
   f.name "programming"
+  f.association :category_group
+end
+
+Factory.define :category_group do |f|
+  f.name "tecnhology"
 end
 
 Factory.define :post do |f|
@@ -60,3 +74,4 @@ Factory.define :non_active_record do |f|
 end
 
 require 'factory_girl/step_definitions'
+

lib/factory_girl/step_definitions.rb

@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 module FactoryGirlStepHelpers
+
   def convert_association_string_to_instance(factory_name, assignment)
     attribute, value = assignment.split(':', 2)
     return if value.blank?
-    attributes = convert_human_hash_to_attribute_hash(attribute => value.strip)
     factory = FactoryGirl.factory_by_name(factory_name)
+    attributes = convert_human_hash_to_attribute_hash({attribute => value.strip}, factory.associations)
+    attributes_find = {}
+    attributes.each do |k, v|
+      k = "#{k}_id" if v.is_a? ActiveRecord::Base
+      attributes_find[k] = v
+    end
     model_class = factory.build_class
-    model_class.find(:first, :conditions => attributes) or
+    model_class.find(:first, :conditions => attributes_find) or
       Factory(factory_name, attributes)
   end
 
@@ -51,3 +57,4 @@ FactoryGirl.factories.values.each do |factory|
     end
   end
 end
+