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Ruby Build a Todo List Application with Rails 4 Build a Todo List Application with Rails 4 Creating Methods in Tests

How does the options hash actually work?

I am not fully understanding how the options hash is working within the create_todo_list method. I understand that the method is taking a parameter ( ) but not entirely sure what options={} is doing other than creating a hash.

def create_todo_list(options={})
    options[:title] ||= "My todo list" #If we do not send in title, it's going to default be My todo list
    options[:description] ||= "This is my todo list."

    visit "/todo_lists"
    click_link "New Todo list"
    expect(page).to have_content("New todo_list")

    fill_in "Title", with: options[:title]
    fill_in "Description", with: options[:description]
    click_button "Create Todo list"
end

1 Answer

Zachary Green
Zachary Green
16,359 Points

by setting the parameter to a default value you dont always have to pass in that parameter when using the function. its like saying if the options hash is set then use it else set options to an empty hash.