Dissecting PlaySpecification

The tests written using Specs2 can also be written as follows:

class UtilSpec extends PlaySpecification {...}

PlaySpecification is a trait that provides the required helper methods to test a Play application using Specs2. It is defined as:

trait PlaySpecification extends Specification
    with NoTimeConversions
    with PlayRunners
    with HeaderNames
    with Status
    with HttpProtocol
    with DefaultAwaitTimeout
    with ResultExtractors
    with Writeables
    with RouteInvokers
    with FutureAwaits {
}

Let's scan through the API exposed by each of these traits to understand its significance:

• Specification and NoTimeConversions are traits of Specs2. NoTimeConversions can be used to deactivate the time conversions.

• PlayRunners provides helper methods to execute a block of code in a running application or server with or without specifying the browser.

• HeaderNames and Status define constants for all the standard HTTP headers and HTTP status codes, respectively...