Default `use_parent_strategy` to true

Background
---

In issues #64 and #66 (from 2010) people expressed surprise
that using the `build` strategy would still `create` any associations.
I remember being similarly surprised by that behavior when I first
started using factory_bot.

The main reason for this behavior is to ensure the built instance will
be valid if there were any foreign key validations
(like `validates_presence_of :user_id`). If we don't save the
associations, there won't be any ids present.

PR #191 (from 2011) offers a workaround for people who don't want
records to be saved automatically. Passing `strategy: :build`
(originally `method: :build`, but later renamed) when declaring the
association will prevent it from being saved when using `build`.

But #191 isn't really a complete solution (as discussed on the PR
after it was merged). `strategy: :build` may do
the right thing when building objects with the `build` strategy, but it
can cause new problems when using the `create` strategy.

A better solution would be something like:
`strategy: <whatever strategy I was already using>`.
PRs #749 and #961 (merged in 2016) introduce something like that,
with the `use_parent_strategy` configuration option.
With this turned on `build` end up being generally [a little faster][]
than `build_stubbed`, since it no longer needs to hit the database for
each association.

[a little faster]: https://gist.github.com/composerinteralia/d4796df9140f431e36f88dfb6fe9733a

I have set `use_parent_strategy` on several projects now. I also added
it to suspenders in thoughtbot/suspenders#952.
On newer projects I have not run into any problems. On existing
projects I have seen the occasional test failure, which are easy enough
to fix by changing `build` to `create`.

Unfortunately I don't think `use_parent_strategy` is widely known,
since it wasn't documented until #1234 (about a month ago).
I also learned in #1234 that the `use_parent_strategy` setting gets
wiped out with `FactoryBot.reload`, which can be problematic when using
factory_bot_rails.

To summarize, we have been exploring having a `build` strategy that uses
`build` all the way down since 2010, but there still isn't a totally
reliable way to get that.

This PR
---

* Default to using the parent strategy for factory_bot 5, as suggested
in #749.
* In the original PR for this (#1240) I had removed
`use_parent_strategy`, but to make the transition smoother I ended up
fixing the reload problem in #1244

Once factory\_bot 5 is released and the dust has settled, it may make
sense to deprecate `use_parent_strategy`, and maybe also the strategy
option for associations.
This commit is contained in:
Daniel Colson 2019-01-04 19:57:22 -05:00
parent 3e1a941347
commit d0208eda9c
No known key found for this signature in database
GPG Key ID: 88A364BBE77B1353
3 changed files with 31 additions and 25 deletions

View File

@ -347,9 +347,35 @@ factory :post do
end
```
The behavior of the association method varies depending on the build strategy used for the parent object.
In factory\_bot 5, associations default to using the same build strategy as
their parent object:
```ruby
FactoryBot.define do
factory :author
factory :post do
author
end
end
post = build(:post)
post.new_record? # => true
post.author.new_record? # => true
post = create(:post)
post.new_record? # => false
post.author.new_record? # => false
```
This is different than the default behavior for previous versions of
factory\_bot, where the association strategy would not always match the strategy
of the parent object. If you want to continue using the old behavior, you can
set the `use_parent_strategy` configuration option to `false`.
```ruby
FactoryBot.use_parent_strategy = false
# Builds and saves a User and a Post
post = create(:post)
post.new_record? # => false
@ -364,6 +390,8 @@ post.author.new_record? # => false
To not save the associated object, specify strategy: :build in the factory:
```ruby
FactoryBot.use_parent_strategy = false
factory :post do
# ...
association :author, factory: :user, strategy: :build
@ -384,28 +412,6 @@ factory :post do
author strategy: :build # <<< this does *not* work; causes author_id to be nil
```
To have unspecified associations use the parent's strategy, instead of using :create, you can use the configuration `use_parent_strategy`:
```ruby
FactoryBot.use_parent_strategy = true
factory :post do
# ...
author
end
post = build(:post)
post.new_record? # => true
post.author.new_record? # => true
post = create(:post)
post.new_record? # => false
post.author.new_record? # => false
```
If you are using rspec, you can set this configuration in your spec_helper.rb (or rails_helper.rb, if using Rails).
If you want to set it globally, you can use an intializer (if using Rails).
Generating data for a `has_many` relationship is a bit more involved,
depending on the amount of flexibility desired, but here's a surefire example
of generating associated data.

View File

@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ module FactoryBot
@configuration = nil
end
mattr_accessor :use_parent_strategy, instance_accessor: false, default: false
mattr_accessor :use_parent_strategy, instance_accessor: false, default: true
# Look for errors in factories and (optionally) their traits.
# Parameters:

View File

@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
config.before do
FactoryBot.reload
FactoryBot.use_parent_strategy = false
FactoryBot.use_parent_strategy = true
end
config.after do