Lightweight specs

The default Specification class mixes in most of specs2 features in order to make it very easy to write your first specifications without worrying too much about where the feature resides.

There at least 2 downsides to this approach:

It is thus possible to use another class, org.specs2.Spec (or org.specs2.mutable.Spec), which only provides the minimum number of implicits to create specifications.

With the Spec class you can create examples and expectations with simple matchers. For example:

class HelloWorldSpec extends Spec { def is = s2"""

 This is a specification to check the 'Hello world' string

 The 'Hello world' string should
   contain 11 characters                                         $e1
   start with 'Hello'                                            $e2
   end with 'world'                                              $e3
                                                                 """

 def e1 = "Hello world" must haveSize(11)
 def e2 = "Hello world" must startWith("Hello")
 def e3 = "Hello world" must endWith("world")
}

Or, for mutable specs:

class HelloWorldSpec extends mutable.Spec {

  addParagraph("This is a specification to check the 'Hello world' string")

 "The 'Hello world' string" should {
   "contain 11 characters" in {
     "Hello world" must haveSize(11)
   }
   "start with 'Hello'" in {
     "Hello world" must startWith("Hello")
   }
   "end with 'world'" in {
     "Hello world" must endWith("world")
   }
 }

}

If you compare those 2 specifications with the “HelloWorldSpec” examples using Specification you will notice some differences:

But not all is lost! For each functionality you might want to use there is a trait which you can mix-in to get it.

Adding features

When creating expectations:

Feature Trait Comment
Use should for expectations org.specs2.matcher.ShouldMatchers
Describe expectations with ==> org.specs2.matcher.ExpectationsDescription
Describe expectations with aka and must org.specs2.matcher.MustExpectations
Use list must have size(3) org.specs2.matcher.TraversableMatchers For each matcher you want to use after be/have/not, you need to mix-in the corresponding matchers trait
Use matchers in contain or beSome matchers org.specs2.matcher.ValueChecks
Use ===, ==== to check for equality org.specs2.matcher.TypedEqual
Create matchers from functions org.specs2.matcher.MatchersCreation
Combine MatchResults with and/or org.specs2.matcher.MatchResultsCombinators
Transform a Matcher[T] to Matcher[Seq[T]] org.specs2.matcher.SequenceMatchersCreation
Use forall(values)(t => t must xxx) org.specs2.matcher.SequenceMatchersCreation You can combine all matchers features by using the org.specs2.matcher.MatchersImplicits trait

When creating acceptance specifications

Feature Trait Comment
Interpolate anything else than a Result in a s2 string org.specs2.specification.create.S2StringContext
Use “bang” examples: "example" ! ok org.specs2.specification.dsl.ExampleDsl
Create and append Fragments with ^ org.specs2.specification.dsl.FragmentsDsl
Add arguments and a title to Fragments with ^ org.specs2.specification.dsl.SpecStructureDsl
Create a title with "A title".title" org.specs2.specification.dsl.TitleDsl
Create references to other specifications org.specs2.specification.dsl.ReferenceDsl
Create steps and actions org.specs2.specification.dsl.ActionDsl
Use tags org.specs2.specification.dsl.TagDsl To use all of the Dsl traits use AcceptanceDsl

When creating mutable specifications

Feature Trait Comment
Use “bang” examples: "example" ! ok org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.ExampleDsl
Create a title with "A title".title" org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.TitleDsl
Set arguments org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.ArgumentsDsl
Create references to other specifications org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.ReferenceDsl
Create steps and actions org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.ActionDsl
Add text and paragraphs org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.TextDsl
Use tags org.specs2.specification.dsl.mutable.TagDsl To use all of the Dsl traits use MutableDsl