rspec users - May 2007 - help with rspec''ing controller

Hi,

I''m a rspec newbie. I''m having trouble with rspec''ing
a simple
controller to Create a record.

I''ve tried a couple of approaches and still get errors:
Mock ''remedy'' expected :save! with (any args) once, but
received it 0
times

-or-

Mock ''Remedy'' received unexpected message :save with (no
args).

Here are my two sample approaches:

describe "Create with a valid product and authenticated user" do
     controller_name :products

     before(:each) do
       @product= mock(Product)
       Product.stub!(:new).and_return(@product)
     end

     it "should tell the Product model to create a new product" do
         #mock_user_authentication(true)
         Product.should_receive(:new).with(:params).and_return(@product)
         post ''create'', :product => :params
     end
end

describe "Create with a valid product and authenticated user with  
everything in setup" do
      controller_name :product

     setup do
         @product= mock(:product, :null_object => true)
         Product.stub!(:new).and_return(@product)
         @product.should_receive(:save!).and_return(true)
          #mock_user_authentication(true)

         post :create, :product => {''name'' =>
''a new product'',
''description'' => ''an editable
description'',
             ''user_id'' => 1, ''klass''
=> 1}
       end

       specify "should redirect to list" do
           response.should redirect_to(:action => ''list'')
       end

Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Thanks,

Steve

Looks like you''ve configured your mock to receive a call to #save!
while your controller is actually calling #save. #save! is not the
same as #save!

On 5/8/07, Steve Odom <steve.odom at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I''m a rspec newbie. I''m having trouble with
rspec''ing a simple
> controller to Create a record.
>
> I''ve tried a couple of approaches and still get errors:
> Mock ''remedy'' expected :save! with (any args) once, but
received it 0
> times
>
> -or-
>
> Mock ''Remedy'' received unexpected message :save with (no
args).
>
> Here are my two sample approaches:
>
> describe "Create with a valid product and authenticated user" do
>      controller_name :products
>
>      before(:each) do
>        @product= mock(Product)
>        Product.stub!(:new).and_return(@product)
>      end
>
>      it "should tell the Product model to create a new product"
do
>          #mock_user_authentication(true)
>          Product.should_receive(:new).with(:params).and_return(@product)
>          post ''create'', :product => :params
>      end
> end
>
> describe "Create with a valid product and authenticated user with
> everything in setup" do
>       controller_name :product
>
>      setup do
>          @product= mock(:product, :null_object => true)
>          Product.stub!(:new).and_return(@product)
>          @product.should_receive(:save!).and_return(true)
>           #mock_user_authentication(true)
>
>          post :create, :product => {''name'' =>
''a new product'',
> ''description'' => ''an editable
description'',
>              ''user_id'' => 1, ''klass''
=> 1}
>        end
>
>        specify "should redirect to list" do
>            response.should redirect_to(:action =>
''list'')
>        end
>
> Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>

Steve,

First concern is that your mock objects got stubbed after it is
returned by new method stub. I alway tend to prepair mock/stub
completely before I use it as argument or any other way.

Second is that tyou try to check that your controller''s setup creates
a valid product, but you use mocks, it''s up to you to decide whether
your model is valid or not, what it expects to receive and what it
returns. It looks like you get this idea from your models specs where
such a check is useful.

Anyway I feel your problem is that you stub :save! but use :save that
is unexpected.
Could you post your controller code please (create action)?

On 08/05/07, Steve Odom <steve.odom at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I''m a rspec newbie. I''m having trouble with
rspec''ing a simple
> controller to Create a record.
>
> I''ve tried a couple of approaches and still get errors:
> Mock ''remedy'' expected :save! with (any args) once, but
received it 0
> times
>
> -or-
>
> Mock ''Remedy'' received unexpected message :save with (no
args).
>
> Here are my two sample approaches:
>
> describe "Create with a valid product and authenticated user" do
>      controller_name :products
>
>      before(:each) do
>        @product= mock(Product)
>        Product.stub!(:new).and_return(@product)
>      end
>
>      it "should tell the Product model to create a new product"
do
>          #mock_user_authentication(true)
>          Product.should_receive(:new).with(:params).and_return(@product)
>          post ''create'', :product => :params
>      end
> end
>
> describe "Create with a valid product and authenticated user with
> everything in setup" do
>       controller_name :product
>
>      setup do
>          @product= mock(:product, :null_object => true)
>          Product.stub!(:new).and_return(@product)
>          @product.should_receive(:save!).and_return(true)
>           #mock_user_authentication(true)
>
>          post :create, :product => {''name'' =>
''a new product'',
> ''description'' => ''an editable
description'',
>              ''user_id'' => 1, ''klass''
=> 1}
>        end
>
>        specify "should redirect to list" do
>            response.should redirect_to(:action =>
''list'')
>        end
>
> Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>

-- 
This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.

Chasing the beauty in programming:
www.ruby-lang.org | www.rubyonrails.org

Thanks Aslak and Michael.

You were both right. Changing save! to save in my second context made  
that test pass.

Michael also mentioned...
 >First concern is that your mock objects got stubbed after it is
 >returned by new method stub. I alway tend to prepair mock/stub
 >completely before I use it as argument or any other way.

I''m not sure what you mean by prepair mock/stub completely. Can you  
provide a sample of how you would rspec a simple create action, such as:

def create
     @product = Product.new(params[:product])
     if @product.save
       flash[:notice] = ''Product was successfully created.''
       redirect_to :action => ''list''
     else
       render :action => ''new''
     end
   end


 >Second is that tyou try to check that your controller''s setup
creates
 >a valid product, but you use mocks, it''s up to you to decide
whether
 >your model is valid or not, what it expects to receive and what it
 >returns. It looks like you get this idea from your models specs where
 >such a check is useful.

I might be misunderstanding you, but I thought it was preferable to  
mock/stub all the ActiveRecord instances in your controller and only  
focus on the controller responsibilities.

thanks for the help.

Steve

On May 8, 2007, at 10:43 AM, Michael Klishin wrote:
> t
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On 08/05/07, Steve Odom <steve.odom at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I''m not sure what you mean by prepair mock/stub completely. Can
you provide
> a sample of how you would rspec a simple create action, such as:
>
> def create
>     @product = Product.new(params[:product])
>     if @product.save
>       flash[:notice] = ''Product was successfully
created.''
>       redirect_to :action => ''list''
>     else
>       render :action => ''new''
>     end
>   end
I am still using 0.8.2 so:

specify "should save valid object and redirect to list of objects" do
	@model = mock("model")
	@model.should_receive(:save).and_return(true)
	
	post :create, { :product => @model }
	assigns[:product].should be_instance_of(Product) # not nil and
instance of right class
																									 # save call verified by mock object
	response.should be_redirect											 # redirect
	controller.should_redirect_to(:action => :list)  # redirected to :list
end

specify "should redirect to new object page if instance cannot be
saved" do
	@model = mock("model")
	@model.should_receive(:save).and_return(false)
	
	post :create, { :product => @model }
	assigns[:product].should be_instance_of(Product) # not nil and
instance of right class
																									 # save call verified by mock object
	response.should be_redirect											 # redirect
	controller.should_redirect_to(:action => :new)   # redirected to :new
end
> I might be misunderstanding you, but I thought it was preferable to
> mock/stub all the ActiveRecord instances in your controller and only focus
> on the controller responsibilities.
Exactly. But no need to verify that your mock creates valid object :)
If I got the idea of last example right... It was what you trying to
do.

-- 
This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.

Chasing the beauty in programming:
www.ruby-lang.org | www.rubyonrails.org