How to test the number of database calls in Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am creating a REST API in rails. I'm using RSpec. I'd like to minimize the number of database calls, so I would like to add an automatic test that verifies the number of database calls being executed as part of a certain action.
Is there a simple way to add that to my test?
What I'm looking for is some way to monitor/record the calls that are being made to the database as a result of a single API call.
If this can't be done with RSpec but can be done with some other testing tool, that's also great.

Answer 1

The easiest thing in Rails 3 is probably to hook into the notifications api.
This subscriber
class SqlCounter< ActiveSupport::LogSubscriber
def self.count= value
Thread.current['query_count'] = value
end
def self.count
Thread.current['query_count'] || 0
end
def self.reset_count
result, self.count = self.count, 0
result
end
def sql(event)
self.class.count += 1
puts "logged #{event.payload[:sql]}"
end
end
SqlCounter.attach_to :active_record
will print every executed sql statement to the console and count them. You could then write specs such as
expect do
# do stuff
end.to change(SqlCounter, :count).by(2)
You'll probably want to filter out some statements, such as ones starting/committing transactions or the ones active record emits to determine the structures of tables.

Answer 2

You may be interested in using explain. But that won't be automatic. You will need to analyse each action manually. But maybe that is a good thing, since the important thing is not the number of db calls, but their nature. For example: Are they using indexes?
Check this:
http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2011/12/6/what-s-new-in-edge-rails-explain/

Answer 3

Use the db-query-matchers gem.
expect { subject.make_one_query }.to make_database_queries(count: 1)

Answer 4

Fredrick's answer worked great for me, but in my case, I also wanted to know the number of calls for each ActiveRecord class individually. I made some modifications and ended up with this in case it's useful for others.
class SqlCounter< ActiveSupport::LogSubscriber
# Returns the number of database "Loads" for a given ActiveRecord class.
def self.count(clazz)
name = clazz.name + ' Load'
Thread.current['log'] ||= {}
Thread.current['log'][name] || 0
end
# Returns a list of ActiveRecord classes that were counted.
def self.counted_classes
log = Thread.current['log']
loads = log.keys.select {|key| key =~ /Load$/ }
loads.map { |key| Object.const_get(key.split.first) }
end
def self.reset_count
Thread.current['log'] = {}
end
def sql(event)
name = event.payload[:name]
Thread.current['log'] ||= {}
Thread.current['log'][name] ||= 0
Thread.current['log'][name] += 1
end
end
SqlCounter.attach_to :active_record
expect do
# do stuff
end.to change(SqlCounter, :count).by(2)