Rails - Nov 2005 - How I access controller instance variables from functional tests?

People,

I noticed that instance variables in a controller
are automatically available to corresponding templates in the view.

Can any of you explain how this magic is implemented?

What I''d like to do is work some more of this magic so I can access
the instance variables from within functional tests.

Thanks,

-Dan

On Sat, Nov 19, 2005 at 05:35:36PM -0800, Dan Bikle
wrote:
> I noticed that instance variables in a controller
> are automatically available to corresponding templates in the view.
> 
> Can any of you explain how this magic is implemented?
It''s in actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb

  add_variables_to_assigns

And then in actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb

  assign_variables_from_controller
> What I''d like to do is work some more of this magic so I can
access
> the instance variables from within functional tests.
In functional tests you can use the assigns method that is documented here:
http://ap.rubyonrails.com/classes/Test/Unit/Assertions.html

In your controller:

  class FooController < ApplicationController
    def bar
      @baz = ''...''
    end
  end

In your functional test:

  def test_bar
    assert_equal ''...'', assigns(:baz)
  end

marcel
--
Marcel Molina Jr. <marcel-WRrfy3IlpWYdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org>

Hi,

The instance variables are already available to your functional
tests via the assigns method which returns a hash of all instance
variables (ie :symbol => value).

For example

assigns(:comment).description

accesses the description field of the comment instance variable
''@comment'' from within my functional test after I have done
the get/post.

HTH,

On 11/20/05, Dan Bikle <dan.bikle-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> People,
>
> I noticed that instance variables in a controller
> are automatically available to corresponding templates in the view.
>
> Can any of you explain how this magic is implemented?
>
> What I''d like to do is work some more of this magic so I can
access
> the instance variables from within functional tests.
--
Cheers,

Peter Donald
RealityForge.org