Add a gotcha about FactoryGirl sequencesadd-gotcha-following-24341

Related to https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/24341

Signed-off-by: Rémy Coutable <remy@rymai.me>

2 files changed, 90 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/development/gotchas.md b/doc/development/gotchas.md
index b25ce79e89f..7bfc9cb361f 100644
--- a/doc/development/gotchas.md
+++ b/doc/development/gotchas.md
@@ -32,6 +32,95 @@ spec/models/user_spec.rb|6 error|  Failure/Error: u = described_class.new NoMeth
 Except for the top-level `describe` block, always provide a String argument to
 `describe`.
 
+## Don't assert against the absolute value of a sequence-generated attribute
+
+Consider the following factory:
+
+```ruby
+FactoryGirl.define do
+  factory :label do
+    sequence(:title) { |n| "label#{n}" }
+  end
+end
+```
+
+Consider the following API spec:
+
+```ruby
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+describe API::Labels do
+  it 'creates a first label' do
+    create(:label)
+
+    get api("/projects/#{project.id}/labels", user)
+
+    expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
+    expect(json_response.first['name']).to eq('label1')
+  end
+
+  it 'creates a second label' do
+    create(:label)
+
+    get api("/projects/#{project.id}/labels", user)
+
+    expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
+    expect(json_response.first['name']).to eq('label1')
+  end
+end
+```
+
+When run, this spec doesn't do what we might expect:
+
+```sh
+1) API::API reproduce sequence issue creates a second label
+   Failure/Error: expect(json_response.first['name']).to eq('label1')
+
+     expected: "label1"
+          got: "label2"
+
+     (compared using ==)
+```
+
+That's because FactoryGirl sequences are not reseted for each example.
+
+Please remember that sequence-generated values exist only to avoid having to
+explicitly set attributes that have a uniqueness constraint when using a factory.
+
+### Solution
+
+If you assert against a sequence-generated attribute's value, you should set it
+explicitly. Also, the value you set shouldn't match the sequence pattern.
+
+For instance, using our `:label` factory, writing `create(:label, title: 'foo')`
+is ok, but `create(:label, title: 'label1')` is not.
+
+Following is the fixed API spec:
+
+```ruby
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+describe API::Labels do
+  it 'creates a first label' do
+    create(:label, title: 'foo')
+
+    get api("/projects/#{project.id}/labels", user)
+
+    expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
+    expect(json_response.first['name']).to eq('foo')
+  end
+
+  it 'creates a second label' do
+    create(:label, title: 'bar')
+
+    get api("/projects/#{project.id}/labels", user)
+
+    expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
+    expect(json_response.first['name']).to eq('bar')
+  end
+end
+```
+
 ## Don't `rescue Exception`
 
 See ["Why is it bad style to `rescue Exception => e` in Ruby?"][Exception].
diff --git a/doc/development/testing.md b/doc/development/testing.md
index b0b26ccf57a..4dc535fb359 100644
--- a/doc/development/testing.md
+++ b/doc/development/testing.md
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ the command line via `bundle exec teaspoon`, or via a web browser at
   methods.
 - Use `context` to test branching logic.
 - Don't `describe` symbols (see [Gotchas](gotchas.md#dont-describe-symbols)).
+- Don't assert against the absolute value of a sequence-generated attribute (see [Gotchas](gotchas.md#dont-assert-against-the-absolute-value-of-a-sequence-generated-attribute)).
 - Don't supply the `:each` argument to hooks since it's the default.
 - Prefer `not_to` to `to_not` (_this is enforced by Rubocop_).
 - Try to match the ordering of tests to the ordering within the class.