Back to Repositories

Testing Cron Schedule Generation Patterns in Whenever

This test suite validates the time-based scheduling functionality in the Whenever gem, focusing on cron job generation with various temporal patterns and command configurations.

Test Coverage Overview

The test suite comprehensively covers cron job scheduling patterns including:

Weekday scheduling with single and multiple time points
Complex scheduling patterns with diverse time combinations
Periodic job scheduling (monthly, daily, minutes-based)
Command execution variations (rake tasks, runners, shell commands)
Custom Chronic time parsing configurations

Implementation Analysis

The testing approach employs Minitest assertions to verify correct cron syntax generation. It uses heredoc syntax for test fixtures and implements systematic validation of output patterns.

The tests utilize string pattern matching to verify generated cron expressions against expected formats, with particular attention to time format conversion and command wrapping.

Technical Details

Key technical components include:

Whenever::TestCase as the base test class
Minitest assertion framework
Chronic time parsing library integration
Ruby heredoc for test input definition
Regular expression pattern matching for validation

Best Practices Demonstrated

The test suite exemplifies several testing best practices:

Comprehensive edge case coverage for time formats
Isolated test cases with clear, specific assertions
Consistent test structure and naming conventions
Thorough validation of configuration options
Clear separation of test scenarios and assertions

javan/whenever

test/functional/output_at_test.rb

            
require 'test_helper'

class OutputAtTest < Whenever::TestCase
  test "weekday at a (single) given time" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every "weekday", :at => '5:02am' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2 5 * * 1-5 blahblah', output
  end

  test "weekday at a multiple diverse times, via an array" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every "weekday", :at => %w(5:02am 3:52pm) do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2 5 * * 1-5 blahblah', output
    assert_match '52 15 * * 1-5 blahblah', output
  end

  test "weekday at a multiple diverse times, comma separated" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every "weekday", :at => '5:02am, 3:52pm' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2 5 * * 1-5 blahblah', output
    assert_match '52 15 * * 1-5 blahblah', output
  end

  test "weekday at a multiple aligned times" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every "weekday", :at => '5:02am, 3:02pm' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2 5,15 * * 1-5 blahblah', output
  end

  test "various days at a various aligned times" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every "mon,wed,fri", :at => '5:02am, 3:02pm' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2 5,15 * * 1,3,5 blahblah', output
  end

  test "various days at a various aligned times using a runner" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      set :path, '/your/path'
      every "mon,wed,fri", :at => '5:02am, 3:02pm' do
        runner "Worker.perform_async(1.day.ago)"
      end
    file

    assert_match %(2 5,15 * * 1,3,5 cd /your/path && bundle exec script/runner -e production 'Worker.perform_async(1.day.ago)'), output
  end

  test "various days at a various aligned times using a rake task" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      set :path, '/your/path'
      every "mon,wed,fri", :at => '5:02am, 3:02pm' do
        rake "blah:blah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2 5,15 * * 1,3,5 cd /your/path && RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake blah:blah --silent', output
  end

  test "A command every 1.month at very diverse times" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every [1.month, 1.day], :at => 'january 5:02am, june 17th at 2:22pm, june 3rd at 3:33am' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    # The 1.month commands
    assert_match '2 5 1 * * blahblah', output
    assert_match '22 14 17 * * blahblah', output
    assert_match '33 3 3 * * blahblah', output

    # The 1.day commands
    assert_match '2 5 * * * blahblah', output
    assert_match '22 14 * * * blahblah', output
    assert_match '33 3 * * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "Multiple commands output every :reboot" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every :reboot do
        command "command_1"
        command "command_2"
      end
    file

    assert_match "@reboot command_1", output
    assert_match "@reboot command_2", output
  end

  test "Many different job types output every :day" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      set :path, '/your/path'
      every :daily do
        rake "blah:blah"
        runner "runner_1"
        command "command_1"
        runner "runner_2"
        command "command_2"
      end
    file

    assert_match '@daily cd /your/path && RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake blah:blah --silent', output
    assert_match %(@daily cd /your/path && bundle exec script/runner -e production 'runner_1'), output
    assert_match '@daily command_1', output
    assert_match %(@daily cd /your/path && bundle exec script/runner -e production 'runner_2'), output
    assert_match '@daily command_2', output
  end

  test "every 5 minutes but but starting at 1" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every 5.minutes, :at => 1 do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '1,6,11,16,21,26,31,36,41,46,51,56 * * * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "every 4 minutes but starting at 2" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every 4.minutes, :at => 2 do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '2,6,10,14,18,22,26,30,34,38,42,46,50,54,58 * * * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "every 3 minutes but starting at 7" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every 3.minutes, :at => 7 do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file


    assert_match '7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,55,58 * * * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "every 2 minutes but starting at 27" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every 2.minutes, :at => 27 do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '27,29,31,33,35,37,39,41,43,45,47,49,51,53,55,57,59 * * * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "using raw cron syntax" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      every '0 0 27,31 * *' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '0 0 27,31 * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "using custom Chronic configuration to specify time using 24 hour clock" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      set :chronic_options, :hours24 => true
      every 1.day, :at => '03:00' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '0 3 * * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "using custom Chronic configuration to specify date using little endian preference" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      set :chronic_options, :endian_precedence => :little
      every 1.month, :at => '02/03 10:15' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '15 10 2 * * blahblah', output
  end

  test "using custom Chronic configuration to specify time using 24 hour clock and date using little endian preference" do
    output = Whenever.cron \
    <<-file
      set :job_template, nil
      set :chronic_options, :hours24 => true, :endian_precedence => :little
      every 1.month, :at => '01/02 04:30' do
        command "blahblah"
      end
    file

    assert_match '30 4 1 * * blahblah', output
  end
end