Hi All, So I worked out how to have my logged in session data persist across functional tests: login_admin post :users, nil, {:user_id => session[:user_id]} assuming that our login_admin operation succeeds I can maintain that session data in the subsequent post. However, I am now confronted with the problem that while the controller can see this session data, some of the partials in the associated layout don''t seem to be able to see the session, i.e. I get an error like this: ----------------------- ActionView::TemplateError: WARNING: You have a nil object when you probably didn''t expect it! Odds are you want an instance of Array instead. Look in the callstack to see where you''re working with an object that could be nil. Investigate your methods and make sure the object is what you expect! On line #6 of /layouts/_logout.rhtml 3: <tr> 4: <td nowrap> 5: logged in as<br> 6: <%= User.find(session[:user_id]).full_name %> 7: </td> 8: </tr> 9: <tr> ---------------------------- The partial _logout.rhtml is pulled in as part of the layout my controller uses, and while all this works fine in a browser on devel, running in test mode I am kind of stuck. Is there something I can do ensure that the session passed in by a test post will be available through all parts of the layout ...? Many thanks in advance. CHEERS> SAM