Rspec for the following method - ruby-on-rails

Question

Can anyone please help me in writing rspec for the following method The write_entry_to_xml method write xml nodes.
The entry is an object which looks like
entry = Sitemap::Entry.new("http://www.example.com", 'monthly', 0.8, "2011-11-23 13:56:42 UTC")
def write_entry_to_xml(entry)
node = Nokogiri::XML::Node.new("url", #xml_document)
node["loc"] = entry.loc
node["lastmod"] = entry.lastmod.to_s
node["changefreq"] = entry.changefreq.to_s
node["priority"] = entry.priority.to_s
node.to_xml
end
Thanks

Answer 1

First off you should know what the expected output of your method should be. We can't tell you what your code is supposed to be doing. Once you have that, your spec doesn't have to be anything more than
describe SomeClass do
describe('write_entry_to_xml') do
let(:entry) { Sitemap::Entry.new("http://www.example.com", 'monthly', 0.8, "2011-11-23 13:56:42 UTC")}
it 'should return a properly formatted xml fragment' do
SomeClass.write_entry_to_xml(entry).should == "<url>...</url>"
end
end
end
Here I've assumed that this method is a class method on SomeClass - change to match what you've done, you should also obviously replace "..." with the desired output

Answer 2

There are various ways to get some pre-defined data that you would use as input in ur spec.
1.
before :each do
#input = input
end
Now #input will be accessible to the specs as this block will be run before every spec.
2. You could define the inputs inside the spec as a local variable and then access it. If you require to access the same variable at many places then you can use the above method.
You could get some XML via using a library like Builder.
builder = Builder::XmlMarkup.new
xml = builder.url do | b|
b.loc = "http://www.experteer.de/jobboerse/deutschland/jobs/mannheim"
b.changefreq =0.8
b.priority = "monthly"
b.lastmod = "2011-11-23 13:56:42 UTC"
end
this code should give you the XML object. Do let me know if you need further help.