Why won't the test class save to the server?

Question

I have written a test class for a trigger in the force.com ide. It saves just fine, with no errors but only locally. Why won't it save to the server?

 @isTest
private with sharing class UpdateContact {
    static testMethod void myUnitTest() {

Rating__c testRating = [select id,name from rating__c where Contact__c='003a000001bEJdb'];

testRating.Rating__c='8';
testRating.Rating_Type__c='overall';
update testRating;

Rating__c updatedRating = [SELECT rating__c FROM Rating__C Where Contact__c='003a000001bEJdb'];
System.assertEquals('8',updatedRating.rating__c);

}}

Answer 1

It most likely won't save to the server because of errors in another class as the syntax looks like it should save, however, you will most likely have failures when you attempt to run this unit test anyway. The main reason for that is the fact that you are attempting to access a record already in the system. That is a very poor practice in general because:

1. You never want to depend on records being in the system for a unit test. These tests would fail in any system that doesn't have this record in the system.

2. You won't even be able to access this data the way your class is set up currently with any API version after 24.0. For this to even work, ou would need to set the class up to access the data:

@isTest(SeeAllData=true)

http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/apexcode/Content/apex_classes_annotation_isTest.htm

Without knowing what your trigger does, I would also be wary of your assert statement. You are asserting that the value you set on the record and updated is the same. Unless you are validating that a trigger did NOT update that value, that test isn't very valid and may not provide you with much. Remember, just because a piece of code can provide you code coverage, you still want to strive for valid tests to fully verify your code is functioning properly.

Finally, you should be able to see what the problem with your class is by viewing the Problems perspective of your IDE. In the Menu bar it is under Window > Show View > Problems.

Answer 2

If you are attempting to save multiple files at once then an error in any of the files will cause the entire operation to fail.

To see the errors for just that class right click on it and go to force.com -> "save to server" it should only fail to save if there are errors with that class.

Note that if you are saving to production it will also run all the unit tests and fail to save if there are any errors.

Answer 3

Are other things saving to the server when you edit them? If not, then the problem may be with Eclipse.

Try working within the app and creating/saving the class. Then note any error messages that come up.