simplified spec running. Added new instructions for it. Managed case where __toString throws an error. Made local a function that was global by mistake

README.textile

@@ -128,11 +128,10 @@ Also, make sure to read the license file; the text of that license file must app
 
 h1. Specs
 
-This project uses "telescope":https://github.com/norman/telescope for its specs. If you want to run the specs, you will have to install telescope first. Then just enter the spec folder and execute run.lua:
+This project uses "telescope":https://github.com/norman/telescope for its specs. If you want to run the specs, you will have to install telescope first. Then just execute the following from the root inspect folder:
 
 <pre>
-cd path/to/inspect.lua/specs
-lua run.lua
+tsc -f spec/*
 </pre>
 
 

inspect.lua

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ local sortOrdersByType = {
   ['function'] = 5, ['userdata'] = 6, ['thread'] = 7
 }
 
-function sortKeys(a,b)
+local function sortKeys(a,b)
   local ta, tb = type(a), type(b)
   if ta ~= tb then return sortOrdersByType[ta] < sortOrdersByType[tb] end
   if ta == 'string' or ta == 'number' then return a < b end
@@ -60,6 +60,16 @@ local function getDictionaryKeys(t)
   return keys
 end
 
+local function getToStringResultSafely(t, mt)
+  local __tostring = type(mt) == 'table' and mt.__tostring
+  local string, status
+  if type(__tostring) == 'function' then
+    status, string = pcall(__tostring, t)
+    string = status and string or 'error: ' .. tostring(string)
+  end
+  return string
+end
+
 local Inspector = {}
 
 function Inspector:new(v, depth)
@@ -125,9 +135,8 @@ function Inspector:putTable(t)
 
       local length = #t
       local mt = getmetatable(t)
-      local __tostring = type(mt) == 'table' and mt.__tostring
-      local string = type(__tostring) == 'function' and __tostring(t)
 
+      local string = getToStringResultSafely(t, mt)
       if type(string) == 'string' and #string > 0 then
         self:puts(' -- ', unescape(string))
         if length >= 1 then self:tabify() end -- tabify the array values

spec/inspect.lua

@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../inspect.lua

spec/inspect_spec.lua

@@ -186,6 +186,18 @@ context( 'inspect', function()
 }]])
       end)
 
+      test('Should not include an error string if __tostring metamethod throws an error', function()
+        local foo = { foo = 1, __tostring = function() error('hello', 0) end }
+        local bar = setmetatable({a = 1}, foo)
+        assert_equal(inspect(bar), [[<1>{ -- error: hello
+  a = 1,
+  <metatable> = <2>{
+    __tostring = <function 1>,
+    foo = 1
+  }
+}]])
+      end)
+
 
     end)
 

spec/run.lua

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env lua
-
-os.execute("tsc -f inspect_spec.lua")