rspec testing for order of json response - ruby-on-rails

Question

So my code is returning json like this:
"offenses": [
{
"name": "Speeding",
"penalties": [
{
"name": "Ticket",
"severity": "Medium"
}
}
]
I have the following fatcory girl:
FactoryGirl.define do
factory :person_offense_penalty do
person_offense
name 'Ticket'
severity 'Medium'
end
end
FactoryGirl.define do
factory :person_offense do
name 'Speeding'
person
end
end
Here my testing for the response and it works fine
person_offenses = person.person_offenses
expect(response_body['offenses'].size).to eq(person_offenses.size)
person_offenses.each_with_index do |offense, offense_index|
expect(response_body['offenses'][offense_index]['name']).to eq(offense.name)
offense.person_offense_penaltys.each_with_index do |penalty, penalty_index|
expect(response_body['offenses'][offense_index]['penaltys'][penalty_index]['name']).to eq(penalty.name)
expect(response_body['offenses'][offense_index]['penaltys'][penalty_index]['severity']).to eq(penalty.severity)
end
end
I need to write another test that makes sure the offense names are sorted in ascending order.
Can someone help me with that

Answer 1

First, let's get your JSON into a valid string:
[1] pry(main)> x = "{\"offenses\": [{ \"name\": \"Speeding\", \"penalties\": [ { \"name\": \"Ticket\", \"severity\": \"Medium\" } ] }] }"
Now we can parse it ActiveSupport::JSON.decode
[2] pry(main)> offenses = ActiveSupport::JSON.decode(x)["offenses"]
=> [{"name"=>"Speeding", "penalties"=>[{"name"=>"Ticket", "severity"=>"Medium"}]}]
You can get a list of the offense names with map
[3] pry(main)> names = offenses.map { |o| o["name"] }
=> ["Speeding"]
Now you can simply sort the names and compare
expect(names).to eq(names.sort)
This will pass if the original JSON has each "offense" in place ordered by it's "name" property.