Fixtures

Paste this code snippet into env.rb to load all fixtures from spec/fixtures before each scenario.

Before do
  Fixtures.reset_cache
  fixtures_folder = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'spec', 'fixtures')
  fixtures = Dir[File.join(fixtures_folder, '*.yml')].map {|f| File.basename(f, '.yml') }
  Fixtures.create_fixtures(fixtures_folder, fixtures)
end

If you are using transactional fixtures in Rails then instead of loading your fixtures before each scenario you can load it just once by placing the same code in your env.rb file. This way will be much faster than loading the fixtures before each scenario. For example:

# Sets up the Rails environment for Cucumber
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] = "test"
require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../config/environment')
require 'cucumber/rails/world'
Cucumber::Rails::World.use_transactional_fixtures

#Seed the DB
Fixtures.reset_cache  
fixtures_folder = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'spec', 'fixtures')
fixtures = Dir[File.join(fixtures_folder, '*.yml')].map {|f| File.basename(f, '.yml') }
Fixtures.create_fixtures(fixtures_folder, fixtures)

Usage

Once you’ve done one of the two load methods above (please, don’t do both ;-) you can access your fixture data from the database using Model.find. Example to find the first User model you’d use User.find(:first).

Fixture helper methods

If you want to also enable the fixture helper methods, such as users(:admin), you need to add the following to your env.rb file (pretty much stolen straight from the Rails guts). This includes loading of the fixtures.

module FixtureAccess

  def self.extended(base)

    Fixtures.reset_cache
    fixtures_folder = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'spec', 'fixtures')
    fixtures = Dir[File.join(fixtures_folder, '*.yml')].map {|f| File.basename(f, '.yml') }
    fixtures += Dir[File.join(fixtures_folder, '*.csv')].map {|f| File.basename(f, '.csv') }

    Fixtures.create_fixtures(fixtures_folder, fixtures)    # This will populate the test database tables

    (class << base; self; end).class_eval do
      @@fixture_cache = {}
      fixtures.each do |table_name|
        table_name = table_name.to_s.tr('.', '_')
        define_method(table_name) do |*fixture_symbols|
          @@fixture_cache[table_name] ||= {}

          instances = fixture_symbols.map do |fixture_symbol|
            if fix = Fixtures.cached_fixtures(ActiveRecord::Base.connection, table_name)[fixture_symbol.to_s]
              @@fixture_cache[table_name][fixture_symbol] ||= fix.find  # find model.find's the instance
            else
              raise StandardError, "No fixture with name '#{fixture_symbol}' found for table '#{table_name}'"
            end
          end
          instances.size == 1 ? instances.first : instances
        end
      end
    end
  end

end

and then

World(FixtureAccess)

This works for Cucumber 0.2.3.2 and later. For older versions, view forum post