Merb devel - Mar 2008 - how to spec @controller.dispatch(:index) ?

Merbies:

I have clawed my way to the next line in my spec:

require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "..",
''spec_helper.rb'')
require File.dirname(__FILE__) + ''/../mock_request''

describe Grepper, "index action" do
  before :each do
    @in = Merb::MockRequest.new # ?
    @res = StringIO.new  # ?
    @controller = Merb::Controller.new(:controller =>
''Grepper'',
                                           :action =>
''index'')
  end

  it ''should do something'' do
 #   @controller.dispatch(:index)
  end
end

Despite the merb-gen (and 
http://merb.lighthouseapp.com/projects/7435-merb-more/tickets/95 ), I seem 
to have a @controller that does not croak. But does it control? And how do I 
invoke its action, ''index''?

The classic code uses the line I commented out, with dispatch(), and 
naturally this doesn''t work.

Does anyone have a working example of a Merb 0.9 site with intact Controller 
specs in it?

-- 
  Phlip

On 30-Mar-08, at 13:01 , Phlip wrote:
> Merbies:
>
> I have clawed my way to the next line in my spec:

I''ve got a pair of spec helpers that function in current (0.9.2) merb,
for doing view and controller specs separately.

def describe_action(controller, action, &block)
   describe "#{controller}##{action}" do
     before(:each) do
       @controller_class, @action = controller, action
       @session = {}
     end

     def dispatch(params = {}, env = {})
       if obj = instance_variable_get(
                    
"@#{@controller_class.to_s.downcase.singularize}")
         params = {:id => obj.id}.merge(params)
       end

       @controller_class.any_instance.stubs(:session).returns(@session)
       @controller_class.any_instance.stubs(:render)
       @controller = dispatch_to(@controller_class, @action, params,  
env)

       if obj
         obj.reload unless obj.new_record?
       end
     end
     def post_dispatch(params = {}, env = {})
       dispatch(params, env.merge(:REQUEST_METHOD =>
''POST''))
     end

     instance_eval &block
   end
end

def describe_view(controller, template, &block)
   describe "/#{controller.to_s.downcase}/#{template}" do
     before(:each) do
       @controller_class, @template = controller, template
       @assigns = {}
     end

     def render(render_opts={})
       controller = @controller_class.new(fake_request)
       @assigns.each do |key, value|
         controller.instance_variable_set("@#{key}", value)
       end
       if @template.to_s =~ /^_/
         template = @template.to_s[1..-1].to_sym # strip leading _
         @content = controller.partial(template, render_opts)
       else
         @content = controller.render(@template.to_sym, render_opts)
       end
     end

     instance_eval &block
   end
end
> require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "..",
''spec_helper.rb'')
> require File.dirname(__FILE__) + ''/../mock_request''
>
> describe Grepper, "index action" do
>  before :each do
>    @in = Merb::MockRequest.new # ?
>    @res = StringIO.new  # ?
>    @controller = Merb::Controller.new(:controller =>
''Grepper'',
>                                           :action =>
''index'')
>  end
>
>  it ''should do something'' do
> #   @controller.dispatch(:index)
>  end
> end
You could probably get away with your example being:

require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "..",
''spec_helper.rb'')

describe_action Grepper, :index do
   it ''should do something'' do
     dispatch
   end
end


I really should get around to blogging them - those helpers are  
bouncing around between two apps right now, and they''ve mostly stopped
getting tweaks.

-- 
Jamie

Ben Burkert wrote:

 > try using dispatch_to instead of dispatch:
 >
 > 
http://github.com/hornbeck/blerb-core/tree/master/spec/controllers/articles_spec.rb

Thanks but...

...That depends on missing goodies like controller_spec_helper.rb.

Pretend, for a moment, that I were a newb who is just starting with Merb. How do
I test a controller? The 0.9 way? The answer can''t be "copy
various things out
of Blerb!"!

-- 
   Phlip