Rails - Apr 2010 - Finding it difficult to test a before_filter on my ApplicationController

Hi All,
I''m writing tests for my new rails app and I''ve run into a bit
of a brick
wall.  I''m trying to write a test for my ApplicationController which
has a
simple authorize method.  And when I try and run the test I''m hitting a
nil
object exception.  Here''s what my ApplicationController looks like:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  before_filter :authorize, :except => :login
  helper :all # include all helpers, all the time
  protect_from_forgery # See ActionController::RequestForgeryProtection for
details

  # Scrub sensitive parameters from your log
  # filter_parameter_logging :password
  
  public
    def authorize
      unless User.find_by_id(session[:user_id])
        session[:original_uri] = request.request_uri
        flash[:notice] = "Please log in"
        redirect_to :controller => ''access_control'',
:action => ''login''
      end
    end
end

I''ve created a test for the Application Controller and tried to mock
out the
controller as much as possible but I don''t think I''ve covered
everything.

require ''test_helper''

class ApplicationControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
 
  def setup
    @controller = ApplicationController.new
    @request = ActionController::TestRequest.new
    @response = ActionController::TestResponse.new
    @controller.session = ActionController::TestSession.new
  end
 
require ''test_helper''

class ApplicationControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
 
  def setup
    @controller = ApplicationController.new
    @request = ActionController::TestRequest.new
    @response = ActionController::TestResponse.new
    @controller.request = @request
    @controller.response = @response
    @controller.session = ActionController::TestSession.new
  end
 
 def test_authorize_works_when_user_logged_in
   #setup
   logged_in

   @request.request_uri = "http://test.host/"
   
   #exercise 
   ApplicationController.new.authorize
   
   #assertions
   assert_equals @request_uri = "http://test.host/"
 end
end


When I run my tests this is what I get :

1) Error:
test_authorize_works_when_user_logged_in(ApplicationControllerTest):
NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
You might have expected an instance of ActiveRecord::Base.
The error occurred while evaluating nil.[]
    app/controllers/application_controller.rb:14:in `authorize''
    functional/application_controller_test.rb:21:in
`test_authorize_works_when_user_logged_in''

Its failing on the line where I try to look up the user from the session
object.  

Is there a better way to mock out the ApplicationController?  Why
doesn''t
rails generate a test in the first place for the application controller am I
barking up the wrong tree?  I have execised this code from another
controller test but it doesn''t feel right to have to use another
controller
to test this, and in the future I can see it being awkward when I want to
test locale or cookie functionality.

I''ve had a good search for this and found a lot of questions relating
to
this but no good answers which leads me to believe that I''m missing an
obvious convention of rails around not testing the application controller.

Any help or advise would be appreciated.

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In my opinion this test belongs to the UserSession or User controller 
cause you''re testing if a user is authorized not the application. You 
just need to put it into the application controller for its 
application-wide accessibility. Besides that I can''t find anything
wrong
in the authorize function. Put it in an user test and it should work.
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Marnen Laibow-Koser-2 wrote:
> 
> In my opinion this test belongs to the UserSession or User controller 
> cause you''re testing if a user is authorized not the application.
You
> just need to put it into the application controller for its 
> application-wide accessibility. Besides that I can''t find anything
wrong
> in the authorize function. Put it in an user test and it should work.
> 
I''m not sure if I agree with you on that point.  I have a user model
and an
AccessControlController (terrible name I know) which handles the
login/logout actions, and the user model handles encrypting the password and
comparing a password against what''s in the database.

What I''m doing in this method is merely checking if the user_id is
present
in the session and if that''s a valid user id.  If it is I do nothing,
if it
isn''t I retain the uri they were trying to hit and redirect to the
login
page.

This is application wide behavior and I feel its correct as far as I
understand the rails pattern to keep it in the application_controller.  

Whether this is the right or wrong place for it, is it possible to test the
ApplicationController I should I just never put code into it?

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Of course, you can keep it in the ApplicatonController. That''s what the
ApplicationController is for. I just wouldn''t test the 
ApplicationController itself cause it doesn''t make sense to me and I 
guess you''re not supposed to test it anyway since there''s no 
application_test.rb or anything being created when you create a Rails 
application :)
I''d move the tests you have right now in your ApplicationController
test
file to the UserController test or wherever you think it belongs to and 
you should be fine.
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Marnen Laibow-Koser-2 wrote:
> 
> Of course, you can keep it in the ApplicatonController. That''s
what the
> ApplicationController is for. I just wouldn''t test the 
> ApplicationController itself cause it doesn''t make sense to me and
I
> guess you''re not supposed to test it anyway since there''s
no
> application_test.rb or anything being created when you create a Rails 
> application :)
> I''d move the tests you have right now in your
ApplicationController test
> file to the UserController test or wherever you think it belongs to and 
> you should be fine.
> 
Yeah I guess that works, I''ve already exercised this code elsewhere its
just
seems cleaner to me to have a test as close to the code its testing as
possible.  So when it eventually breaks in a few months time and I''ve
forgotten all about the fact that I couldn''t test in the
ApplicationController I wont be looking in the UserController for the
problem.  I guess I can just drop a comment in stating that.  

Anyone know if it was a deliberate design decision not to test the
ApplicationController or if there was a reason it couldn''t be done?  Or
even
better if there''s a way to test it?

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> 
> Anyone know if it was a deliberate design decision not to test the
> ApplicationController or if there was a reason it couldn''t be
done?  Or
> even
> better if there''s a way to test it?
>
I do not know about any design decisions but I do agree with Cojones to 
move test_authorize_works_when_user_logged_in into the User or 
AccessControl test.
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Marnen Laibow-Koser-2 wrote:
> 
> 
> I do not know about any design decisions but I do agree with Cojones to 
> move test_authorize_works_when_user_logged_in into the User or 
> AccessControl test.
> 
> 
I don''t mean to be pedantic when asking this, only want to have a
better
understanding of the situation.  But why do you feel that way?  The
functionality belongs in the ApplicationController so surely it follows that
any tests on that functionality should be in the ApplicationControllerTest.
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On Apr 15, 12:48 pm, BarryOg
<barryodrisc...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Anyone know if it was a deliberate design decision not to test the
> ApplicationController or if there was a reason it couldn''t be
done?  Or even
> better if there''s a way to test it?
Assuming for a moment (and I don''t know if this is true) that you
can''t test application controller directly, there''s no reason
you
cannot create a subclass of ApplicationController that only exists in
your test and which you use to exercise the methods provided by
ApplicationController.

Fred

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Frederick Cheung-2 wrote:
> 
> 
> Assuming for a moment (and I don''t know if this is true) that you
> can''t test application controller directly, there''s no
reason you
> cannot create a subclass of ApplicationController that only exists in
> your test and which you use to exercise the methods provided by
> ApplicationController.
> 
> Fred
> 
> 
That''s a fair point, but it involves mocking out the
ApplicationController
and everything it relies on, that''s what the rails framework is there
for,
just curious why I can''t seem to access it.

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Frederick Cheung wrote:
> On Apr 15, 12:48�pm, BarryOg
<barryodrisc...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> 
>> Anyone know if it was a deliberate design decision not to test the
>> ApplicationController or if there was a reason it couldn''t be
done? �Or even
>> better if there''s a way to test it?
> 
> Assuming for a moment (and I don''t know if this is true) that you
> can''t test application controller directly, there''s no
reason you
> cannot create a subclass of ApplicationController that only exists in
> your test and which you use to exercise the methods provided by
> ApplicationController.
As you''ve discovered, controller tests are painful. Forget about them 
and use Cucumber features instead.  You''ll be a lot happier.
> 
> Fred
Best,
--
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http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org

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On Apr 15, 3:02 pm, BarryOg
<barryodrisc...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> Frederick Cheung-2 wrote:
>
> > Assuming for a moment (and I don''t know if this is true) that
you
> > can''t test application controller directly, there''s
no reason you
> > cannot create a subclass of ApplicationController that only exists in
> > your test and which you use to exercise the methods provided by
> > ApplicationController.
>
> > Fred
>
> That''s a fair point, but it involves mocking out the
ApplicationController
> and everything it relies on, that''s what the rails framework is
there for,
> just curious why I can''t seem to access it.

That''s not quite what I meant. What i meant was


class ApplicationControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
  class StubController < ApplicationController
    def index
       render :text => ''index action''
    end
  end
  tests ApplicationControllerTest::StubController

  test "non logged in user should be redirected to login page" do
    get :index
    assert_redirected_to ''/login''
  end
end

No mocking involved!

Fred

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Frederick Cheung-2 wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> That''s not quite what I meant. What i meant was
> 
> 
> class ApplicationControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
>   class StubController < ApplicationController
>     def index
>        render :text => ''index action''
>     end
>   end
>   tests ApplicationControllerTest::StubController
> 
>   test "non logged in user should be redirected to login page" do
>     get :index
>     assert_redirected_to ''/login''
>   end
> end
> 
> No mocking involved!
> 
> Fred
> 
Yeah no mocking involved if I''m testing a method with nothing in it but
I''m
testing a method with calls to the session object, request object, flash
object and redirect_to

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