Test database vs. dev database when connecting Livebook notebook to local app

I am in love with Livebook! My hope is to use it for everything from data exploration and feature planning, documentation, and TDD in a cohesive way… amazing if it comes together!

On the TDD front, I have successfully connected a livebook notebook to my local app and am able to run basic tests. However, I’m stumped trying to test data creation. The snippet below worked the first time this was run (without the ref to the DataCase), but then fails thereafter because the original record is not being deleted after the test as happens with mix test. I tried adding the use DataCase line, but that results in the compile error below. Is this possible and can someone point me to any documentation to assist?

Many thanks in advance!

ExUnit.start(autorun: false)

defmodule MyTest do
  use ExUnit.Case, async: true
  # Everything above is boiler plate for livebook testing

  use myApp.DataCase  
  alias myApp.Members
  alias myApp.Members.Member

  test "creates new Member with valid attrs and sets member_uuid" do
      assert {:ok, %Member{member_uuid: member_uuid}} =
               Members.create_member(%{name: "New Member", member_type: "foe", collapsed_name: "newmember"})

      refute nil == member_uuid
    end
end

# run below is boiler plate for livebook testing
ExUnit.run()

** (CompileError) priv/livebook/Adventures_in_testing.livemd#cell:6: module PreOrderApp.DataCase is not > loaded and could not be found
(elixir 1.13.2) expanding macro: Kernel.use/1
priv/livebook/Adventures_in_testing.livemd#cell:6: MyTest (module)

2 Likes

Your mix.exs file probably contains the following lines:

  defp elixirc_paths(:test), do: ["lib", "test/support"]
  defp elixirc_paths(_), do: ["lib"]

so the "test/support" folder which contains your DataCase isn’t compiled in the default env for the notebook (which is :dev).

But I think there is currently no way to set the MIX_ENV before attaching to the notebook.

You could add:

  defp elixirc_paths(:dev), do: ["lib", "test/support"]

above elixirc_paths(_) to compile the test/support files also in :dev.

2 Likes

Hi - I am so sorry about not responding to this. I missed the reply entirely. I’m buried with another item that I just posted on, but will circle back to this when I have some breathing room. I loved the idea of embedding tests rather than iex examples in the docs.

Cheers

I usually have an easier time running my app first via iex -S mix with a short name and cookie. After that you can configure Livebook to connect to your newly spawned iex process/node, as described in this blog post:

Here’s a similar thread on it as well:

Once that’s set up, all of your application code (including your use myApp.DataCase) should be mostly usable from Livebook.