RSpec use_transactional_fixtures=false not working - ruby-on-rails

Question

Setting use_transactional_fixtures=false in my spec_helper.rb file, though when I look at the output of my test log, it appears a transaction is still being used? Why is that the case and how do I eliminate the transaction?
rails_helper.rb...
# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require 'spec_helper'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
require 'rspec/rails'
# Add additional requires below this line. Rails is not loaded until this point!
ActiveRecord::Migration.maintain_test_schema!
RSpec.configure do |config|
# Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
config.use_transactional_fixtures = false
config.infer_spec_type_from_file_location!
config.include FactoryGirl::Syntax::Methods
end
spec_helper.rb...
require 'devise'
require "paperclip/matchers"
require 'simplecov'
require 'database_cleaner'
require 'capybara/rspec'
SimpleCov.start 'rails'
module SphinxHelpers
def index
ThinkingSphinx::Test.index
# Wait for Sphinx to finish loading in the new index files.
sleep 0.25 until index_finished?
end
def index_finished?
Dir[Rails.root.join(ThinkingSphinx::Test.config.indices_location, '*.{new,tmp}*')].empty?
end
end
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.include SphinxHelpers
config.before(:suite) do
# Ensure sphinx directories exist for the test environment
ThinkingSphinx::Test.init
# Configure and start Sphinx, and automatically
# stop Sphinx at the end of the test suite.
ThinkingSphinx::Test.start_with_autostop
end
config.before(:each) do |example|
index
end
config.include Paperclip::Shoulda::Matchers
config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :controller
config.raise_errors_for_deprecations!
config.before(:suite) do
DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :transaction
DatabaseCleaner.clean_with(:truncation)
end
config.around(:each) do |example|
DatabaseCleaner.cleaning do
example.run
end
end
config.expect_with :rspec do |expectations|
expectations.include_chain_clauses_in_custom_matcher_descriptions = true
end
config.mock_with :rspec do |mocks|
mocks.verify_partial_doubles = true
end
end
RSpec::Matchers.define :accept_nested_attributes_for do |association|
match do |model|
#model = model
#nested_att_present = model.respond_to?("#{association}_attributes=".to_sym)
if #nested_att_present && #reject
model.send("#{association}_attributes=".to_sym,[#reject])
#reject_success = model.send("#{association}").empty?
end
if #nested_att_present && #accept
model.send("#{association}_attributes=".to_sym,[#accept])
#accept_success = ! (model.send("#{association}").empty?)
end
#nested_att_present && ( #reject.nil? || #reject_success ) && ( #accept.nil? || #accept_success )
end
failure_message_for_should do
messages = []
messages << "expected #{#model.class} to accept nested attributes for #{association}" unless #nested_att_present
messages << "expected #{#model.class} to reject values #{#reject.inspect} for association #{association}" unless #reject_success
messages << "expected #{#model.class} to accept values #{#accept.inspect} for association #{association}" unless #accept_success
messages.join(", ")
end
description do
desc = "accept nested attributes for #{expected}"
if #reject
desc << ", but reject if attributes are #{#reject.inspect}"
end
end
chain :but_reject do |reject|
#reject = reject
end
chain :and_accept do |accept|
#accept = accept
end
end
a spec that displays the problem....
require 'rails_helper'
RSpec.describe "The homepage", :type => :feature do
it "displays articles" do
article = create(:article)
visit "/"
assert page.has_css?(".article")
end
end
the test log output when running the spec (note the transaction)...
(0.2ms) ALTER TABLE "annotations" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "categories" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "schema_migrations" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "articles" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "comments" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "contents" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "galleries" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "gallery_images" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "users" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL
(13.5ms) TRUNCATE TABLE "annotations", "categories", "articles", "comments", "contents", "galleries", "gallery_images", "users" RESTART IDENTITY CASCADE;
(0.7ms) ALTER TABLE "annotations" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "categories" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "schema_migrations" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "articles" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "comments" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "contents" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "galleries" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "gallery_images" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "users" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL
ActiveRecord::SchemaMigration Load (0.3ms) SELECT "schema_migrations".* FROM "schema_migrations"
(0.6ms) ALTER TABLE "annotations" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "categories" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "schema_migrations" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "articles" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "comments" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "contents" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "galleries" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "gallery_images" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "users" DISABLE TRIGGER ALL
(1.0ms) select table_name from information_schema.views where table_schema = 'site_test'
(23.8ms) TRUNCATE TABLE "annotations", "categories", "articles", "comments", "contents", "galleries", "gallery_images", "users" RESTART IDENTITY CASCADE;
(0.7ms) ALTER TABLE "annotations" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "categories" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "schema_migrations" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "articles" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "comments" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "contents" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "galleries" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "gallery_images" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;ALTER TABLE "users" ENABLE TRIGGER ALL
(0.1ms) BEGIN
(0.1ms) COMMIT
(0.1ms) BEGIN
(0.1ms) SAVEPOINT active_record_1
User Exists (0.5ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."username" = 'testuser' LIMIT 1
User Exists (0.2ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."email" = 'testuser#miscia.net' LIMIT 1
User Exists (0.2ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."email" = 'testuser#miscia.net' LIMIT 1
SQL (0.7ms) INSERT INTO "users" ("created_at", "email", "encrypted_password", "updated_at", "username") VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5) RETURNING "id" [["created_at", "2015-03-08 20:48:58.017027"], ["email", "testuser#miscia.net"], ["encrypted_password", "$2a$04$vHQdcMEuRC2mdrNebemS5e9zMOUaloIhcIBEHlu6z7ms8Rh2NJ0F."], ["updated_at", "2015-03-08 20:48:58.017027"], ["username", "testuser"]]
(0.2ms) RELEASE SAVEPOINT active_record_1
Command :: file -b --mime '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-hsarwm.png'
Command :: identify -format '%wx%h,%[exif:orientation]' '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-hlhno1.png[0]' 2>/dev/null
Command :: identify -format %m '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-hlhno1.png[0]'
Command :: convert '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-hlhno1.png[0]' -auto-orient -resize "100%" '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-hlhno120150308-5197-1j86yzw'
Command :: file -b --mime '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-hlhno120150308-5197-1j86yzw'
(0.1ms) SAVEPOINT active_record_1
Command :: file -b --mime '/var/folders/px/vlftvj1j43j7369cy2_sz_j40000gn/T/aacb8db341826e828273a80db5d60d5220150308-5197-h4xfii.png'
Article Exists (0.5ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "articles" WHERE "articles"."title" = 'Article Title' LIMIT 1
SQL (6.4ms) INSERT INTO "articles" ("body", "created_at", "description", "header_one", "header_two", "photo_content_type", "photo_file_name", "photo_file_size", "photo_updated_at", "posted_at", "title", "updated_at", "url", "user_id") VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, $11, $12, $13, $14) RETURNING "id" [["body", "This is the article body."], ["created_at", "2015-03-08 20:48:58.218394"], ["description", "This is a test article!"], ["header_one", "Article Header One"], ["header_two", "Article Header Two"], ["photo_content_type", "image/png"], ["photo_file_name", "test_image.png"], ["photo_file_size", 96884], ["photo_updated_at", "2015-03-08 20:48:58.036313"], ["posted_at", "2015-03-08 20:48:51.398651"], ["title", "Article Title"], ["updated_at", "2015-03-08 20:48:58.218394"], ["url", "http://www.testurl.com"], ["user_id", 1]]
(0.2ms) RELEASE SAVEPOINT active_record_1
Started GET "/" for 127.0.0.1 at 2015-03-08 16:48:58 -0400
Processing by SiteController#index as HTML
Sphinx Query (9.3ms) SELECT * FROM `article_core` WHERE `sphinx_deleted` = 0 ORDER BY `created_at` DESC LIMIT 0, 5
Sphinx Found 0 results
Rendered articles/_pagination.html.erb (0.7ms)
Rendered articles/_list.html.erb (13.0ms)
Category Load (0.3ms) SELECT "categories".* FROM "categories"
Rendered site/homepage/_filters.html.erb (1.3ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_search.html.erb (57.1ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_twitter.html.erb (0.5ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_sidebar.html.erb (61.2ms)
Rendered site/index.html.erb within layouts/application (76.3ms)
Rendered site/_head.html.erb (19.8ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_social_media.html.erb (0.5ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_social_media.html.erb (0.1ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_social_media.html.erb (0.1ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_social_media.html.erb (0.1ms)
Rendered site/homepage/_menu.html.erb (8.0ms)
Content Load (0.4ms) SELECT "contents".* FROM "contents" WHERE "contents"."name_slug" = 'footer_left' ORDER BY "contents"."id" ASC LIMIT 1
Content Load (0.3ms) SELECT "contents".* FROM "contents" WHERE "contents"."name_slug" = 'footer_middle' ORDER BY "contents"."id" ASC LIMIT 1
Rendered site/_footer.html.erb (8.6ms)
Rendered site/_ga.html.erb (0.4ms)
Completed 200 OK in 128ms (Views: 116.4ms | ActiveRecord: 2.2ms)
(0.2ms) ROLLBACK

Answer 1

When you set config.use_transactional_fixtures = false you are telling RSpec to not bother cleaning the database each time it starts a new example. Sometimes I set this to false because I instead use database_cleaner (GitHub) to handle it.
So, based on your logs, I believe RSpec is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing.
You can read about this setting in the RSpec manual