rspec users - Oct 2007 - Failure trying to test ApplicationController

I''m trying to write some tests for the ApplicationController as shared
tests that can be run in all of my other controller tests, but am getting
a nil.rewrite error. Below is what I have...

describe AccountController do
  it_should_behave_like ''Application controller''  
end

describe ''Application controller'', :shared => true do
  
  it ''should fail require_login check if not logged in'' do
    User.current = nil
    controller.require_login.should be_false
    response.should redirect_to(:controller => ''account'',
:action => ''logon'')
  end
end

def require_login
  return true if User.current.logged_in?
    
  redirect_to :controller => "account", :action =>
"logon" and return false
end

The line it''s failing on is the redirect_to in require_login. What am I
doing wrong?

Thanks,
Steve

On 10/15/07, Steve <vertebrate at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I''m trying to write some tests for the ApplicationController as
shared
> tests that can be run in all of my other controller tests, but am getting
> a nil.rewrite error. Below is what I have...
>
> describe AccountController do
>   it_should_behave_like ''Application controller''
> end
>
> describe ''Application controller'', :shared => true do
>
>   it ''should fail require_login check if not logged in''
do
>     User.current = nil
>     controller.require_login.should be_false
>     response.should redirect_to(:controller =>
''account'', :action => ''logon'')
>   end
> end
>
> def require_login
>   return true if User.current.logged_in?
>
>   redirect_to :controller => "account", :action =>
"logon" and return false
> end
>
> The line it''s failing on is the redirect_to in require_login. What
am I
> doing wrong?
What''s the error?

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:46:32 -0500, David Chelimsky wrote:
> On 10/15/07, Steve <vertebrate at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I''m trying to write some tests for the ApplicationController
as shared
>> tests that can be run in all of my other controller tests, but am
getting
>> a nil.rewrite error. Below is what I have...
>>
>> describe AccountController do
>>   it_should_behave_like ''Application controller''
>> end
>>
>> describe ''Application controller'', :shared => true
do
>>
>>   it ''should fail require_login check if not logged
in'' do
>>     User.current = nil
>>     controller.require_login.should be_false
>>     response.should redirect_to(:controller =>
''account'', :action => ''logon'')
>>   end
>> end
>>
>> def require_login
>>   return true if User.current.logged_in?
>>
>>   redirect_to :controller => "account", :action =>
"logon" and return false
>> end
>>
>> The line it''s failing on is the redirect_to in require_login.
What am I
>> doing wrong?
> 
> What''s the error?
NoMethodError in ''AccountController should fail require_login check if
not logged in''
You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
trunk/app/controllers/application.rb:28:in `require_login''
./spec/controllers/application_controller_spec.rb:12:

The "redirect_to" call is line 28, and
"controller.require_login.should"
is line 12.

On 10/15/07, Steve <vertebrate at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I''m trying to write some tests for the ApplicationController as
shared
> tests that can be run in all of my other controller tests, but am getting
> a nil.rewrite error. Below is what I have...
>
> describe AccountController do
>   it_should_behave_like ''Application controller''
> end
>
> describe ''Application controller'', :shared => true do
>
>   it ''should fail require_login check if not logged in''
do
>     User.current = nil
>     controller.require_login.should be_false
>     response.should redirect_to(:controller =>
''account'', :action => ''logon'')

You get responses (i.e. the response object in the spec) from actions
using get, post, put, delete, not by calling methods directly on the
controller.

Part of the problem is that you''re trying to spec something that
already exists. Developing spec-first, you wouldn''t likely end up with
this problem because this method would have appeared because you
refactored it out of an existing action, which was already spec''d.

To be honest, I''m not quite sure how to spec this. One way would be to
set a message expectation for the call to redirect_to:

  controller.should_receive(:redirect_to)
  controller.require_login

Anybody else have any ideas?

On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:26:13 -0500, David Chelimsky
wrote:
> 
> You get responses (i.e. the response object in the spec) from actions
> using get, post, put, delete, not by calling methods directly on the
> controller.
> 
> Part of the problem is that you''re trying to spec something that
> already exists. Developing spec-first, you wouldn''t likely end up
with
> this problem because this method would have appeared because you
> refactored it out of an existing action, which was already spec''d.
> 
> To be honest, I''m not quite sure how to spec this. One way would
be to
> set a message expectation for the call to redirect_to:
> 
>   controller.should_receive(:redirect_to)
>   controller.require_login
> 
> Anybody else have any ideas?
I see what you''re saying I think. That the application controller stuff
isn''t setup properly because no initial request(get/post) has been
made.

Attaching these tests to every describe out there for a given
controller seems overkill. Since if the one spec for testing the
application controller tests all of its methods, then it should be fine
wherever its used it would seem. Would it be enough to just make a call to
some controller/action in the app to get everything initialized?

On 10/16/07, Steve <vertebrate at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:26:13 -0500, David Chelimsky wrote:
> > Part of the problem is that you''re trying to spec something
that
> > already exists. Developing spec-first, you wouldn''t likely
end up with
> > this problem because this method would have appeared because you
> > refactored it out of an existing action, which was already
spec''d.
>
> I see what you''re saying I think. That the application controller
stuff
> isn''t setup properly because no initial request(get/post) has been
> made.
>
> Attaching these tests to every describe out there for a given
> controller seems overkill. Since if the one spec for testing the
> application controller tests all of its methods, then it should be fine
> wherever its used it would seem.
But how do you know that it''s being used? The behaviour you''re
spec''ing is that a given action should redirect if the user is not
logged in, right? If you look at it that way, then it seems perfectly
acceptable to do this:

describe "some action on some controller" do
  it_should_behave_like "action that requires login"
  ...
end

On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:02:58 -0500, David Chelimsky wrote:
> But how do you know that it''s being used? The behaviour
you''re
> spec''ing is that a given action should redirect if the user is not
> logged in, right? If you look at it that way, then it seems perfectly
> acceptable to do this:
> 
> describe "some action on some controller" do
>   it_should_behave_like "action that requires login"
>   ...
> end
I see what you''re saying now, and agree that that''s probably
the best way
to approach it.

Thanks.