3 files changed, 20 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
index 8672aeec83..0b955165f2 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Allow set_fixture_class to take Classes instead of strings for a class in a module.  Raise FixtureClassNotFound if a fixture can't load.  [Rick Olson]
+
 * Fix quoting of inheritance column for STI eager loading #4098 [Jonathan Viney <jonathan@bluewire.net.nz>]
 
 * Added smarter table aliasing for eager associations for multiple self joins #3580 [Rick Olson]
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
index 57d286aecd..71a28f4712 100755
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ module YAML #:nodoc:
   end
 end
 
+class FixtureClassNotFound < ActiveRecord::ActiveRecordError #:nodoc:
+end
+
 # Fixtures are a way of organizing data that you want to test against; in short, sample data. They come in 3 flavours:
 #
 #   1.  YAML fixtures
@@ -391,9 +394,11 @@ class Fixture #:nodoc:
   end
 
   def find
-    if Object.const_defined?(@class_name)
-      klass = Object.const_get(@class_name)
+    klass = @class_name.is_a?(Class) ? @class_name : Object.const_get(@class_name) rescue nil
+    if klass
       klass.find(self[klass.primary_key])
+    else
+      raise FixtureClassNotFound, "The class #{@class_name.inspect} was not found."
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/activerecord/test/fixtures_test.rb b/activerecord/test/fixtures_test.rb
index 51f7109645..b1da54b43f 100755
--- a/activerecord/test/fixtures_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/fixtures_test.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ require 'fixtures/company'
 require 'fixtures/task'
 require 'fixtures/reply'
 require 'fixtures/joke'
+require 'fixtures/category'
 
 class FixturesTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   self.use_instantiated_fixtures = true
@@ -332,9 +333,13 @@ class SetTableNameFixturesTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_kind_of Joke, funny_jokes(:a_joke)
   end
 end
-    
-    
-    
-    
-    
-    
+
+class InvalidTableNameFixturesTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  fixtures :funny_jokes
+
+  def test_raises_error
+    assert_raises FixtureClassNotFound do
+      funny_jokes(:a_joke)
+    end
+  end
+end