Overview

The RKTestFactory class provides an interface for initializing RestKit objects within a unit testing environment. The factory is used to ensure isolation between test cases by ensuring that RestKit’s important singleton objects are torn down between tests and that each test is working within a clean Core Data environment. Callback hooks are provided so that application specific set up and tear down logic can be integrated as well.

The factory also provides for the definition of named factories for instantiating objects quickly. At initialization, there are factories defined for creating instances of AFHTTPClient, RKObjectManager, and RKManagedObjectStore. These factories may be redefined within your application should you choose to utilize a subclass or wish to centralize configuration of objects across the test suite. You may also define additional factories for building instances of objects specific to your application using the same infrastructure.

Customizing the Factory

The test factory is designed to be customized via an Objective-C category. All factory methods are implemented using blocks that have sensible defaults, but can be overridden by providing an alternate implementation. To do so, implement a category on the RKTestFactory class and provide an implementation of the + (void)load method. Within the method body, configure your blocks as you see fit. An example implementation is provided below:

@interface RKTestFactory (MyApp)
// Create a convenience method for retrieving an object from the factory
+ (GGAirport *)ohareAirport;
@end
@implementation RKTestFactory (MyApp)
+ (void)load
{
    [self setSetUpBlock:{
        // I am called on every invocation of `setUp`!
    }];
    // Replace the default object manager factory
    [RKTestFactory defineFactory:RKTestFactoryDefaultNamesObjectManager withBlock:^id {
        GGObjectManager *objectManager = [[GGObjectManager alloc] initWithBaseURL:[self baseURL]];
        return objectManager;
     }];
    // Define a new factory called 'ORD' that returns a representation of Chicago's O'Hare Airport
    [RKTestFactory defineFactory:@"ORD" withBlock:^id{
        GGAirport *ord = [RKTestFactory insertManagedObjectForEntityForName:@"Airport" inManagedObjectContext:nil withProperties:nil];
        ord.airportID = @16;
        ord.name = @"Chicago O'Hare International Airport";
        ord.code = @"ORD";
        ord.city = @"Chicago";
        ord.favorite = @(YES);
        ord.timeZoneName = @"America/Chicago";
        ord.latitude = @(41.9781);
        ord.longitude = @(-87.9061);
        return ord;
     }];
}
+ (GGAirport *)ohareAirport
{
    return [self objectFromFactory:@"ORD"];
}
@end