RSpec with Rails 3.1rc4: spec test won't recognize <%= %> (should be simple)

[David Zhang]

In my user_sessions_controller:

class UserSessionsController < ApplicationController

  before_filter :require_no_user, :only => [:create, :new]

  before_filter :require_user, :only => :destroy

  

  def new

    @user_session = UserSession.new

    @message = "Hello."

  end

  

  def create

    @user_session = UserSession.new(params[:user_session])

    if @user_session.save

      flash[:notice] = "Login successful!"

      redirect_back_or_default admin_path

    else

      render :action => :new

    end

  end

  

  def destroy

    current_user_session.destroy

    flash[:notice] = "Logout successful!"

    redirect_back_or_default new_user_session_url

  end

end

========

In views/user_sessions/new.html.erb:

<!--user_sessions#new-->

Admin Login

<%= @message %>

========

In spec/views/user_sessions/new.html.erb_spec.rb:

require 'spec_helper'

describe "user_sessions/new.html.erb" do

  

  context "displays the admin login form" do

    it "shows the title" do

      render

      rendered.should have_content("Admin Login") # this is fine

      rendered.should have_content("Hello.") # I added this just to test something simple, but it didn't work

    end

    

    it "shows the form"

    

    it "shows the button"

  end

  

end

========

If I do "rails server" and check out the page in the browser, there is the "Hello." just as I expect.  But the spec test fails to get it.. it /should/ pass:

1) user_sessions/new.html.erb displays the admin login form shows the title

     Failure/Error: rendered.should have_content("Hello.")

       expected there to be content "Hello." in "Admin Login\n\n\n\n"

     # ./spec/views/user_sessions/new.html.erb_spec.rb:9:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'

So why might the <%= %> not be properly showing the @message?

I actually originally had the form code in the view:

<%= form_for @user_session, :url => user_session_path do |f| %>

<%= f.label :login %>

<%= f.text_field :login, :id=>"admin_login" %>

<%= f.label :password %>

<%= f.password_field :password, :id=>"admin_password" %>

<%= f.submit "Login", :id=>"admin_login_button" %>

<% end %>

.. but testing for this yielded

Failure/Error: render

     ActionView::Template::Error:

       undefined method `model_name' for NilClass:Class

So the @user_session variable wasn't being recognized by the spec test.  Similar problem?

Assistance is appreciated.

[David Chelimsky]

This is not really an rspec issue, but a rails view testing issue.
When you render a view directly in a test, it does not use the
associated controller, and it is up to you to set up the instance
variables needed by the view. In this case:

it "shows the title" do

assign(:message, "Hello.")

render
rendered.should have_content("Admin Login")

rendered.should have_content("Hello.")
end

HTH,
David

[David Zhang]

Thank you very much!  So I guess it was a simple issue.

But what would I do for the form_for @user_session?  I tried...

    before(:each) do

      assign(:user_session, mock_model("UserSession").as_new_record)

    end

But that returns the error:

Failure/Error: assign(:user_session, mock_model("UserSession").as_new_record)

     ArgumentError:

       The mock_model method can only accept as its first argument:

         * A String representing a Class that does not exist

         * A String representing a Class that extends ActiveModel::Naming

         * A Class that extends ActiveModel::Naming

       

       It received UserSession

Is this because I'm using Authlogic and the UserSession model extends Authlogic::Session::Base?  How would I work around this?

[David Chelimsky]

Don't use mock_model :) You can use a standard test double:

assign(:user_session, double("UserSession"))

or a real UserSession object if it's not complicated to set up.

HTH,
David

[David Zhang]

...That's odd.  I just read The RSpec Book, and it explains how double isn't sufficient when you're testing something related to form_for.  The book, in its example, says to use mock_model("Message").as_new_record...

and anyway in my case neither method is working.  If I use mock_model, I get 

Failure/Error: assign(:user_session, mock_model("UserSession").as_new_record)

     ArgumentError:

       The mock_model method can only accept as its first argument:

         * A String representing a Class that does not exist

         * A String representing a Class that extends ActiveModel::Naming

         * A Class that extends ActiveModel::Naming

       

       It received UserSession

...and if I use double, I get the error the book says I'd get: "undefined method `model_name' for RSpec::Mocks::Mock:Class"

:/ so I wonder what the best way to test form_for is now with rspec... btw I'm using Capybara.

[David Chelimsky]

Didn't realize you needed it for form_for. You'll need to either use
the real object, or stub out all the necessary methods yourself (or
submit a patch to Authlogic to get it to conform to ActiveModel's
API).

Cheers,
David

[David Zhang]

Thanks again - I just used the model directly.